Participate instead of watch: HbbTV changed television viewing habits

Interactive television is becoming more real: Thanks to HbbTV TV viewers in commercials can turn on.

The future dream car across the screen just goes in the commercial. Simply click on the remote control, and the scene enters a virtual dealership: appear on screen price lists, specifications, contact information, and finally a model of the car, which the customer can put together according to his wishes. So "Hybrid TV" or called "Smart TV" devices work. You have the official standard hybrid broadcast broadband TV, short HbbTV.

HbbTV combines the traditional, one-sided and linear television with the interactive world of the Internet. It's not just about the TV chair to surf the Internet, but the inclusion of entirely new advertising and TV formats. HbbTV with the viewer can interactively design their program by, for example, as described above, during a commercial retrieve additional information from the Internet.

There are already some examples based on this technology: the HD Teletext, which contains additional audio or film, or the libraries of the public and private TV channels. And now, the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS) in Berlin have developed in cooperation with Volkswagen and SevenOne Media, the marketing company of the ProSiebenSat 1 group, a new application developed: the "interactive car configurator". With it, the viewers can make the car out of the current advertising itself and change or click with the remote control by supplementary information.

So if you just looking for a new car and sees your desire, has to remember not all the information must to view on the PC. HbbTV brings information and additional animations or videos directly on the screen. Because the transmitter sends a small addition to the commercial data stream, the link to HbbTV advertising integration. The bulk of the additional content that the advertiser, in this case, VW, provides, is available online. Pressing a button on the corresponding button on the remote control activates the link and the viewer ends up in an interactive environment. While running in parallel in a smaller window, the regular program, you can put together on the sofa and his personal dream car, compare different models and prices, or book a test drive at local dealers. Videos, animations, photo slide shows that are possible and can be controlled with the remote. With another push of a button, you will return to normal TV program.

The Fraunhofer researchers ensure that Web content can be displayed on the TV and use the entries and the users find their way back into the grid. They must consider both the different type of programs as well as the environment and the changing user behavior. "Basically, we create special Web pages for the TV, which we extend the usual programming," says FOKUS researcher Robert Seeliger. "The more personal is the audience itself can actively design, the more the TV program." Meanwhile, there is a uniform standard to prepare special online deals on the TV, and receivers that can handle both signals.

To use the HbbTV bids, however, consumers need a device that has an Internet function, and a transmitter that sends the offer combined with his program. Advertisers, broadcasters and equipment manufacturers are currently working on the technical foundations to switch to interactive advertising as the newest hybrid live TV service soon.