Adoption versus use diffusion of iDTV in flanders - personalized television content as a tool to cross the chasm?

• Authors: Dimitri Schuurman;Lieven De Marez;Katrien Berte
• Venue: Computers in Entertainment (CIE) - Theoretical and Practical Computer Applications in Entertainment
• Year: 2011

Digital television was introduced to the Belgian market in 2005, which is fairly late compared to other European countries. By 2010, in Flanders the 50% penetration threshold of digital television households was surpassed. Considering previous research into the adoption of digital television in Belgium, it can be stated that the “majority segments” have embraced iDTV. However, research suggests that this has not necessarily induced a change in their viewing habits and that interactive applications such as video on demand, time-shifted viewing, voting, email, etc., have remained “underused.” Therefore, the user adoption rate of 50% for iDTV does not automatically imply a 50% use diffusion rate of interactive services. Within the iDTV industry, an important challenge will be to convince the remaining 50% of analog viewers to make the switch to digital television. A review of the literature on the adoption and diffusion processes of technologies shows that these later adopters (laggards and late majority) base their decision on the behavior of peers who have already acquired the technology. As they are the least innovative market segment, they will require some compelling arguments to adopt iDTV. These selling arguments could be related to the added value of interactive services which are currently not being used to their full potential by iDTV subscribers. One of the ideas that is currently explored is personalized television content, recommended to television viewers based on their viewing behavior. This article discusses three important research questions based on quantitative empirical data. Firstly, what is the current state-of-the-art in Flanders regarding the adoption and use diffusion of digital television in Flanders? Secondly, what is the interest in a personalization and recommendation tool for iDTV in Flanders? Thirdly, how would an introduction of this tool affect the adoption and use diffusion of iDTV in Flanders? Based on the results presented in this article, it seems that the implementation of a personalization and recommendation tool might stimulate the adoption as well as the use diffusion of digital TV in Flanders.