iTV versus Broadband
By Lucas Daniel
Broadband Web experiences have garnered a barrage of attention lately. All this fuss has given the design community yet another headache to tend to—namely, predicting the market's viability. Nearly every article on the subject informs us that the broadband market is at least a good two years away. So shops are left to decide whether to gather rich-media designers in preparation for the high-bandwidth mass audience, or to capitalize only on current market opportunities.
For Spiderdance, the broadband experience exists now in the space between the television and the PC—what most refer to as "interactive television," or iTV. A Showtime/Kagan study reports that 55 percent of U.S. online households surf the Web and watch TV in the same room at the same time. So Spiderdance figured, why not provide them with an experience that combines the two?
The success of MTV's webRiot has indicated the potential of such an idea. webRiot, a game show with a real-time interactive component, now has one million registered users. Most Web companies would give up beer Fridays for such customer loyalty.
Yet, large design firms are acquiring broadcast designers and adding motion graphics to their skills list in preparation for broadband viability. In fact, Razorfish bought two broadcast design companies—Fuel in Los Angeles and Lee Hunt & Associates in New York. This move is making independent broadcast design companies like
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