Apps are the new Pogs

Ooo, it’s been awhile. I must have overslept.

Do you remember Pogs? What about those Premier league/WWF (WWE for the young uns)/Street Fighter 2 Panini Stickers? They were the collectible, pocket money eating "thing" of a time twice gone. I think mobile Apps have become their digital successors. Here is why.

Blank Calories

According to these lovely SD snaps, 48% of Smartphone users are "enthusiastic" about Apps, have tons of them and think their Smartphone has improved their life - great, I am SO one of them! However, 26% of Apps are only ever opened once... I can vouch for this many a post install too! SO... we love Apps, download tons of them, but we don't have the time nor interest to use them all - fair. So what makes an App a "reopener"? It sure as heck isn’t just “functionality”.

I actually think it’s more the visual and novelty of certain App that make them keepers and "reopeners". From that icon that sits on your screen, and the Apps coolness/smoothness/eyeball service when you interacting with it. Exclusivity is also a nice icing on that cake is it not? Remember iPhone owners banging on about Angry Birds and Android owners showing off Google Goggles for the sake of exclusivity before they both crossed over? I wonder how often they used them (ok, no replies on that one from Angry Bird fans please!).

So Pogs/Panini Stickers and Mobile Apps? Well, I haven't even played Angry Birds past 8 levels... How many times have you got that Pog collection or Panini Album out to admire since you *almost* completed them? If only I had that last top right sticker of a 6x6...

This is what Apps are for me: short burst use, time killers, things to show off, not essential but nice things to have if you can; trinkets that are in themselves digital currency for their visual presence when executed properly.

Apps & Brands

Now brands and Apps... mixed bag. Take HTC sponsoring the Onion App, nice brands with no relationship or relevance, and somewhat meaningless as a partnership to me (screams MARKETING, SALES) Vs. Rotten Tomatoes sponsoring the Movie App logical, useful, adds credibility to both parties.

I wonder if brands their agencies will start to think of App sponsorship from the perspective of "Why would I want an App from this brand, what would it do, and why would I want it over the other App without the branding that probably does it better". So far, it’s looking like most branded Apps are still being created from the requirement to fill a missing Campaign component > fill it with an App approach.

Remember that Carling iPhone App? A visual treat, yet utterly pointless - how many times did you show it off or have it shown off by one of your iPhone buddies, hmm? YEAH.

Shows over

I saw a statistic in the lift at work last week (random stats are our graffiti). It said “1 in 10 people watch TV in bed on their laptops” (or something similar). This shocked me – not the part about 1 in 10 blah blah – no, it shocked me because seeing this stat as a poster in 2010 indicated me just how shockingly divided consumption cultures must be. Ask any student where and how they watch their TV most, I bet my £6 sushi lunch that 8 of 10 would say online and on their computer (downloaded).

Being a complete serial US TV show addict, I have seen many a good show start off, pick up momentum only to be cut short (quite irritating really). I read recently that the viewing figures that networks such as Fox, MSNBC and ABC(edfg) use to decide show success (failures) still only take into account broadcast television figures. By this point some of you may be thinking “well duh, TV channels are the source of revenue for the networks”, and yes ok fair point... in a way. However, with the world now logging on more for their viewing consumption than tuning into TV, shouldn’t the networks be keeping up with the times and taking into account the massive hordes of show audiences that watch online and adding them to the pool of television figures to judge a shows success?

Channel 4 “recently” moved gargantuan chunks of their library online and even onto a fully branded YouTube channel, BBC iPlayer can be widgetted via everything from PS3 to iPhones and “independent” online video streaming sites are (have) become the young and connected audiences preferred port of call for their latest episode fix. I think its high time networks started to get strategies in place to adapt ways of monetising without charging audiences (#fail much? Many a brand would pay to speak to your aggregated masses), and supporting new creative ideas by accepting dominant online viewing trends?

I overheard a conversation by some “media types” on the tube the other day (the underground is that boring when I forget my music on the go…). These guys had JUST discovered the “new way forward” (yes, quote, unquote) way of watching TV – on the iPod ladies and gentlemen! I was blown away by this revelation! Now as slow as these guys were to “discover” the on-demand media world around them, they had still embraced it (hurrah!).

If TV networks can learn from past mistakes of being slow to react to change, and adapt in a way that connects their audiences, both on and offline, with shows they love then the vicious cycle of the “industry suffering by online consumption” and audiences feeling let down by the networks can be remedied. No more of this “online streaming is killing the industry” nonsense – word of your shows are mostly spread by people discovering them online and sharing them online! Some cool augmented reality marketing usually works a treat and the odd adverts here and there won’t piss the majority of us off. Let us choose to watch latest episodes of 48 and Found online, show me an ad from a brand I probably like and give me a “gift” to share with my friends… or something. C’mon, the “revolution” is here after all right?

Here’s an exit thought from me to solve the excuse-come-problem with show airing slots that networks benchmark ratings upon. Is this not technically remedied online, with people streaming or downloading shows as and when? How about experimenting with measuring viewing figures based upon how many times a show is streamed and/or downloaded within 24 hours model than the old and tired battle of the prime time slots on broadcast television slots? Just a thought…