2 Additional Brands to Launch ATSC 3.0 TVs by Q1 2022, Says Schelle

Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle “absolutely” expects one additional TV brand to join LG, Samsung and Sony in the ATSC 3.0-enabled NextGenTV market by the end of 2021, with a fifth brand to follow in 2022's first quarter, she told us Friday. Nondisclosure agreements bar Schelle from discussing specifics, she said. She's "hopeful" the year-end product will be announced at October's NAB Show, and the Q1 product at CES 2022 in January, she said.

The “scale that we’re starting to see” in 3.0's rollout is what’s pulling the additional TV brands into NextGenTV, including the “broadcast push on transitioning stations,” said Schelle. “We’ll have over 65% of households covered by the end of this year, and we’re continuing to drive investment.” Schelle previously cited goals of 50% U.S. coverage by year-end. She estimates 55 NextGenTV models collectively will be available for sale from LG, Samsung and Sony by the end of spring.

Achieving “scale” in NextGenTV consumer adoption is going to happen “way more quickly” than it did with the conversion to digital TV from analog, said Schelle. “We estimate over 800,000 sets are already in the market today,” outperforming CTA forecasts (see 2101130006), she said. Schelle thinks 2021 will be the year for NextGenTV-enabled live sports in 4K HDR, she said. “I don’t have specifics right now, but I’m pretty confident you’ll see some of that.” She also predicted that “cable integration of NextGen” will be an important area of progress in 2021.

Pearl is pleased with how its NextGenTV messaging campaign over the holiday selling season resonated with consumers (see 2011150001), said Schelle. The $10 million-plus campaign ran in six markets from late November to mid-January, she said. “We ran over 8,000 on-air spots,” generating “a significant number of impressions,” and the feedback was “tremendous,” she said.

Magid Research tested the campaign's impact, canvassing 2,000 adults online in Detroit, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tampa and Portland, Oregon, in February, and found one in four who, without prompting, were aware of a new service called NextGenTV. Awareness jumped to one in three after respondents read a description of the service, said Magid. About a quarter of those said they had bought a new TV with embedded NextGenTV technology, it said. The newfound awareness that respondents gleaned from the campaign spurred 40% of them to search online for more information, said Magid. It estimated 37% visited a TV retailer’s online or brick-and-mortar store, and 28% visited the NextGenTV website.

About six in 10 respondents said they were likely to buy a new TV with NextGenTV technology within the next year, said Magid. Four “elements” emerged among consumers as “strong unique differentiators” for the service: enhanced voice; consistent volume from channel to channel; the ability to upgrade as new services and capabilities are rolled out over time; and interactive content for news, sports and events. Interactivity has become a “lead feature” for NextGenTV desired by consumers, “whereas five or six years ago, it was at the bottom,” said Schelle.

Pearl and its partners “came to the advertising with a tremendous amount of research we had done over the last three years, both quantitative and qualitative,” said Schelle. “The messaging here was in collaboration” with LG, Samsung and Sony, plus CTA, she said. “We’re pleased to see that it resonated with consumers.” The three brands “saw a lift in their markets, in terms of sales,” as the result of the campaign, she said.

The consumer feedback “now allows us to go out with an integrated marketing campaign” with the TV makers and their retailers, said Schelle. “Now that we know we have the messaging right, we’ll be working with retailers” on an April “reset,” she said. “As we start to approach Grads and Dads, back-to-school, football and the holidays for 2022, the NextGen brand that’s on the side of the box, consumers will know what that means. If there’s a set of equal price sitting next to a set that has NextGenTV on it, I think consumers are saying they would purchase a NextGenTV over that other television set.”

There are no plans to “modify” the NextGenTV messaging in the April reset “because we hit it so well,” said Schelle. Any “tweaking” might be to integrate more social media into the campaign, she said. “We are also looking at ways to elevate the audio story around NextGen, because we feel that that continues to be focused on by consumers, and it’s an easy feature for them to understand.”