January 2010 has been something breakthrough in world of 3D Television, no longer are we talking about cardboard glasses with red and white cellophane lenses, things have moved on and instead we’re talking about:
- James Cameron’s Avatar racing towards becoming the highest grossing film of all time.
- All of the major TV manufacturers launching 3DTV models at CES 2010 in Las Vegas.
- O2’s announcement that they’ll be screening the Six Nations Rugby in 3D at Odeon and Cineworld cinemas.
Many people are asking “Haven’t we been here before with HDTV? “. After all we’ve all stood in Dixons or John Lewis and stared at a bank of TV screens, desperately squinting to try and see the difference between conventional TV and HDTV – dismissing the extra cost as too great.
But that isn’t the case with 3D - the difference is obvious, consumers don’t need to be convinced, its genuine innovation and that’s why I’m convinced that 3D will succeed.
Unfortunately there is a shortage of 3D movie content for 2010, a few classics will be made available and the film studios will begin to make more 3D movies – but there is still going to be a shortage of 3D available for the home.
Not everything is suited to 3D, I’m pretty sure that we won’t be watching Eastenders or Newsnight in 3D –actually the thought of 3D Eastenders chills me to the bone.Gaming is tailor-made for 3D, it’ll be cheaper and easier to create 3D content and gamers stare directly at the monitor in immersive gameplay for hours so they’ll really get the 3D benefit.
But the area that I’m really interested in is sport and 3D. Sports content is the without doubt the best broadcast content suited for 3D, and the area that consumers will really engage with 3D.
ESPN have announced that they will be showing 25 football matches during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including the opening game, South Africa v Mexico, on 11th June.
Through ad agency AIS, O2 have also announced that they are screening some of the RBS 6 Nations in 3D. It’ll be interesting to see how many rugby fans actually wish to spend a Saturday afternoon in an Odeon Cinema rather than drinking with their mates down the pub. Perhaps the 3D cinemas will attract a younger audience. And for O2 it’s a room full of brand receptive fans - putting O2 at the forefront of innovation.
Some sports will be more suited to 3D than others, and for 3D to be a success then rugby and football have to be successful. It’ll be interesting to see the TV manufacturers marketing campaigns behind 3D, sports sponsorship must look very attractive – I suspect we’ll see an increase in sport / team sponsorship with an increase in ground advertising during the World Cup and during the 2010/11 seasons.So how big is 3D TV going to be in 2010? Well I’m not saying that 2010 is going to be the year of 3D, but it’s definitely going to be the birth of 3D.