Mobile Phones - Undoubtedly the First Screen

Mobile is the FIRST screen undoubtedly -- soak it in -- because this new reality should influence EVERYTHING we do.

Today for anything to everything we first look into the mobile screens, be it google searches, maps, chats, calls, news, entertainment, the choices we make, our influncers, our heros.... you name it and you are right there, straight, looking into the screen. It has become an extremely intimate and interactive medium (can even be referred to as your soul mate). I can't imagine even a moment without my phone -- my whole world lies in there. Can you....?

Looking into the changing TV/video watching habits, which is part of major entertainment, source of information and education for people, this is what I found.

Since, people today, specially the new generation - call them the Millennials, are most of the time mobile, TV viewing habits are thus also changing. They can't afford to sit for long hours infront of the TV sets during specified hours....they do not have that kind of time and patience. They want customised, tailor made, specific to their choice and interest programs and video content, on the go.

Here are some of the latest "must read" stats from Deloitte:

(1) Millennials now watch more TV shows (not just YouTube videos!) on mobile devices than on the traditional TV box -- 57% of their viewing behaviour is on the small screen -- their first screen;

(2) 25% of these Millennials outright cancelled their pay-TV services in the past 12 months or haven't had one for over one year (that's why Cablevision's CEO, in a remarkable watershed announcement just last week, expressly marketed new "cord cutter" and "cord never" packages and told the Street that it considers itself to be a "connectivity" company rather than a content/programming company);

(3) 72% of these Millennials indicated that streaming video is the most important way for them to view video (including television programming).

Eric Scherer, Director of Future Media at French broadcaster France Televisions gave a speech sometime back. 

Here are some quotes from his speech:

"The TV industry will have to work on a mobile-first strategy. Not a digital-first strategy, but a mobile-first strategy, because mobile is now the first screen, and it's taking time away from the TV."

"They (the millennials) are always mobile, they are always social, they are always interactive....and it is more and more live....".

"The young people will not come back to the TV screen -- at least the major TV screen that we knew for the last 40 years."

In commenting about multi-channel networks (MCNs) -- most of whom increasingly consider themselves to be multi-platform networks (MPNs) -- Scherer said, "These are the kids now ruling the entertainment, and it's just the beginning of it. Again, new grammar, new syntax, new vocabulary."

So there we are in the age of millennials and no matter what, mobile phones ARE the first screen....this is the reality....likewise we must adapt.