Published:  9.6.2017

During
spring 2017, Taloustutkimus and Digita have been examining the possibilities of
developing new digital services and research methods. The aim of the pilot
survey in the hybrid TV environment was to find out how Digita’s hybrid TV
could be utilised in research. Another aim was to find out how widely hybrid TV
services are already used in Finnish households and to gather user experiences
of the services.

 

“Taloustutkimus
wants to develop new ways for consumers to participate in research panels.
Digita’s hybrid TV provided us with an interesting new research platform,” says
Pasi Huovinen of Taloustutkimus. “We
conducted the survey using our own Internet panel but, in principle, any hybrid
TV owner had the opportunity to participate by registering as a panellist
through a hybrid application on the Estradi TV channel,” Huovinen continues.

 

Big
Data and the data collection methods of the new digital age have been widely
discussed recently on different forums. Consumers have been worried about their
privacy. “Together with Digita, we developed a new way of collecting data,
where the respondents could control the data that was combined and for what
period. The respondents were also informed of the use of the data in a clear
and easily understandable manner,” says Huovinen. A total of 93 respondents
participated in the pilot project. The respondents had a positive attitude
towards the use of viewing data. The participants were mostly interested in the
opportunity to take part in the development of future TV and a new research
method.

 

“Digita’s
aim is to understand consumers’ TV viewing habits better and to utilise this
understanding when developing new kinds of TV services by means of extended
content offering, targeting and interactivity,” says Teppo Ahonen, Director of Video Delivery Services at Digita. “This
cooperation pilot allowed us to combine data from two different sources and to
use the combined data to analyse the viewing habits of different kinds of
households. The results help us to understand the TV viewers’ needs better and
to offer not only new kinds of services but also new business opportunities for
TV companies,” Ahonen continues. 

 

Use of hybrid TV services on
the rise

 

The
hybrid TV launched by Digita in 2015 combines the services of terrestrial TV
and the Internet. A difference between Digita’s hybrid TV and smart TV is that
the services provided by the hybrid TV, such as Yle Areena, Ruutu and the
Finnish ice hockey league results service, are sent out with the programme flow
instead of as separate applications. Hybrid TV thus allows many services to be
connected to the programme flow, while also enabling interactive advertising.

 

From
the perspective of developing new services, hybrid TV penetration is already
significant, with some 150,000 devices now being connected to Digita’s network.
Digita estimates that the penetration will grow to approximately one million by
2020.

 

  

Media contacts: 

Taloustutkimus
Oy, Research Director, Pasi Huovinen, pasi.huovinen@taloustutkimus.fi,
tel. + 358 40 757 7737

 

Digita Oy, Director, Video Delivery
Services, Teppo Ahonen, teppo.ahonen@digita.fi,
tel. +358 40 563 0299

 

 

Taloustutkimus Oy,
established in 1971, is a private owned market research company in Finland.
Today we have 70 full time employees and a nationwide interviewer network with
nearly 300 interviewers. In all our projects, the most experienced research
specialists are assigned to carry out the surveys. Our fieldwork organization –
CATI, CAPI and CAWI – use the best information technology available.

Taloustutkimus has a strong experience in international
projects, both in consumer studies and business-to-business research.

 

Digita Oy
transmits radio and television programmes to everyone living in every corner of
Finland every day of the year. We also apply the latest digital technology in
order to develop and offer versatile online television and radio services. In
addition, our service portfolio includes comprehensive IoT services based on
our nation-wide network, as well as world-class Data Centre Services. Our
clients are media houses and mobile and broadband operators that provide the
very best contents.