How television can maintain its position in the media competition

How does AI contribute to television?

American viewers will get to experience AI while watching the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on NBCUniversal and its Peacock streaming service thanks to a new partnership between NBCUniversal, Google, and Team USA.

AI-enhanced Google Map images of Olympic venues will give viewers a sense of Paris, while NBC hosts will be able to answer questions about the competition using Google's AI search.

NBCUniversal will also use AI to create personalized daily recaps of Olympic events, narrated in the recreated voice of sports commentator Al Michaels.

2024 Olympics opening ceremony. (Photo: Marca)

Olympic Broadcasting Services, a neutral content production unit that can be used by media companies around the world, is also applying AI to help quickly cut large amounts of footage into concise highlights.

"It's probably just one more Summer Olympics before we see the real impact of AI," said Scott Young, senior vice president at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, which is streaming the Olympics across Europe.

Commenting on this trend, journalist Ta Bich Loan - Head of Entertainment Program Production Department (VTV3) - Vietnam Television said that nowadays, AI technology is becoming more and more popular and is a revolution in all fields including journalism and media. For television, AI has been, is and will be widely applied in searching, selecting topics, and designing content suitable for the public.

Over the years, Vietnam Television has developed many technological solutions to attract audiences to its content, especially in the context of the strong development of digital platforms and creating real-time connections and interactions, completely different from the old broadcasting method.

Many TV shows have taken advantage of online voting and scoring on the VTVGo application as a basis for selecting teams and contestants such as: SV2020, VTV Awards, Tieu Trang Nguyen...

"These online voting and scoring results contribute to enhancing the "power" of the audience through the programs, helping users connect more with the VTVGo online platform as well as with VTV channels," said journalist Ta Bich Loan.

To expand the options for interacting with the audience, according to journalist Ta Bich Loan, Vietnam Television is also researching and testing a number of new technologies such as Gamification applying Blockchain technology, building interactive scenarios with content such as Quiz Game, BlackBox... to encourage viewers to spend more time on VTVGo and VTVNews.

Journalist Ta Bich Loan. (Photo: VTV)

Interactivity is also reflected in the option to share content with friends and acquaintances via social networks. VTV's content on VTVGo/VTVNews all has a Share button so viewers can easily share it on popular social networks such as Facebook, TikTok, Zalo... and spread VTV's content to a wider audience.

"Collecting user behavior on VTV's platforms such as VTVGo/VTVNews is also a priority," Ms. Loan shared, adding that all listening, viewing, and following behaviors of the audience are saved on the station's Big Data system, from which analysis is made about the audience's habits, devices, regional information, gender, and age.

Based on this data, the system will automatically suggest suitable content to users such as: content based on habits and interests, content followed by many people of the same age and gender.

This is also an important point in personalizing content for users. Each user, depending on their preferences and habits, will have their own content suggestions when experiencing the platforms.

Three ways television can connect more closely with its audience

Interaction is an important factor that creates the attraction and spread of a video. According to journalist Ta Bich Loan, on television, it is possible to evoke a dialogue in the audience's mind through questions, quotes, text... however, it is still a one-way signal and lacks dialogue because the transmission technology is linear. Even though it is a live TV program, it is difficult for the audience to send their opinions and express themselves on television.

"A connection from the audience's mobile phone to the MCR Control Center software is needed to do this, but currently, television transmission technology does not meet this requirement," said Ms. Loan.

Meanwhile, under social media videos, users can press the button to express their attitude, send comments that will appear right in the video's comment section. The ability to share opinions and comments faster is also something that users' sharing and influence needs are met very easily.

Whenever they see a video that they find interesting or useful, they can easily and quickly send it to one or more people, satisfying their need to seek support or express their views in public.

Increased interactivity; replays and rewinds; and recommendations based on viewer needs are ways for television to engage more closely with audiences in the age of AI.

Regarding the ability to replay and rewind, the Head of VTV3 commented that television technology creates a meeting place for viewers to watch live when broadcasting on recording devices, creating a presence effect (viewers feel like they are at the event), an immediate effect (viewers feel like they are hearing and seeing what is happening at the event - the time of broadcasting and have an emotional and mental reaction when receiving information).

Social media videos, on the other hand, can be replayed and viewed at will. Viewers still get the feeling of being present and can repeat them when watching the video again. This helps the information from the video to be absorbed more fully and thoroughly.

For recommendation algorithms on social networking platforms, videos are continuously suggested and recommended. For example, the Video to Watch section is analyzed and synthesized by AI technology based on the needs of viewers, satisfying the need to continuously watch topics that a person is interested in.

In television, journalist Ta Bich Loan said, viewing needs are researched from there, and the broadcast framework is designed taking into account production capabilities, broadcast duration, etc. However, sometimes AI technology misunderstands viewers' needs even though it has researched and adjusted content to suit each user.

"And television, as a mass media, has met part of the demand by calculating and arranging broadcasting schedules to serve the majority. The scale of satisfaction demand is the number of television viewers, an important number that is regularly analyzed as a basis for better approaching and satisfying the audience," said journalist Ta Bich Loan.

According to the Head of VTV3, if we cannot deny the influence of media, including television, on human perception, emotions and behavior, it is important to find out which viewing needs will be suitable for the general needs of society. The need to communicate, interact, express one's own opinions and views is completely reasonable and requires more and more investment in new technology to bring satisfaction to the people.

Hoa Giang

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/doi-voi-truyen-hinh-ai-da-dang-va-se-duoc-ung-dung-rong-rai-post307943.html