Television is a dying struggling medium thanks to the rising and proliferation of streaming services. I know that since canceling my cable subscription and not partaking in network television for the past few years, I can say that I don’t feel like I’m missing much.
NBC Universal and Viacom are looking to tackle the issue of what people like by each opening labs that will study, in great detail, how viewers watch television programming. This will include entire mock living rooms that will be outfitted with the latest in tracking technology in an attempt to read minds.
Rooms will be set up with infrared cameras to track the participants biometrics. These cameras can track things such as eye movements and facial reactions to what is happening on screen. Users will also be hooked up via skin sensors and heart monitors so that these TV people can better understand how you ‘feel’ while watching their programming. On top of that, these mock living room labs will have electroencephalograms (EEGs) to check brain activity.
If you are watching NBC programming I can guess that that activity will be a baseline minimum. I mean, have you seen The Mysteries of Laura? I hear it’s nearly un-watchable! NBC Universal and Viacom are pulling out all the stops in their attempt to understand their markets. Either that, or they decided to hire Edward Nygma from Batman Forever…
Read more on the project over at VentureBeat.
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