Press Release, Elisa Plc / Tellyo Ltd, Nov 12, 2014

Watching television is becoming more personalized and at the same time more social. According to a recent study conducted in Finland, almost half of the 15-20 year olds regularly comment on the contents of TV shows in social media. Consumers are expecting more personalized television consumption. Watching TV on a smartphone, in particular, is changing the way we consume television. According to a recent study from Finland, 17% of people are watching TV on mobile devices every week.

Thanks to the new viewing options, programs are increasingly watched in small bites; they’re also taking advantage of technologies that make time shifted viewing easier, like cloudTV and DVR solutions. According to the study, people under 40 already watch more time-shifted TV content than real-time programming.

However, certain types of programmes continue to be popular in real-time.

– On the Elisa Viihde service real-time consumption is especially popular with sports and certain TV series formats, such as the hugely popular Vain Elämää reality show – although it’s also proving popular as a time-shifted show. “YLE’s Teema documentary series is also one of Finland’s most popular time-shifted TV events”, says Kirsi Valtari, business unit director of Elisa Viihde.

Young people are commenting regularly

Although people may not always gather together to watch TV shows, they still want to talk about them, and the conversation has largely moved into social media. Commenting on programmes while watching, is an increasingly popular habit especially among young people.

In the study, 32% of respondents said they often used tablet or a smartphone while watching television. Women are using the second screen devices for social media and messaging more often than men.

Watching TV programmes has become more social, especially among teenagers. According to the study, almost half of 15-20 year olds are regularly commenting on moments from programs via social media or messaging. Movies and sports are especially popular for attracting comments.

Sharing your favorite moments is now easier than ever

In early November Elisa started a pilot project with Tellyo, a Finnish technology startup developing a service for sharing TV moments. During the pilot, fans of Bisons basketball team are able to share video clips from the games directly to Twitter and Facebook.

– The clips were watched 10,000 times in social media during the first week. The service has clearly brought us new viewers to the live Bisons game streaming, says Ilkka Vanala, the business manager of sports content for Elisa Viihde.

– Live sports events are the fastest growing category of streaming video content. Fans of sports teams are extremely active in social media. That’s why we need new and convenient methods to share the favorite moments says Tellyo’s founder and CEO Kimmo Koivisto. This new Elisa study shows that young people especially want to have the ability to share their comments and clips with their friends on social media he adds.

Tellyo will demonstrate its broadcast-grade technology at the Slush startup conference in Helsinki, November 18-19, to an audience of more than 10,000 visitors, including some of the top-tier venture capital investors in the world.

Information about the study:

• The survey got responds from over 1300 people, with a good representation of Finns between 15 and 65 year old for age, gender, place of residence and education.
• The research was done as an online study in September 2014
• Prior Consulting Ltd conducted the research for Elisa Plc

Contacts for the media:

Elisa Oyj, Kirsi Valtari, Business Unit Director, tel. +358 50 506 5552, firstname.lastname@elisa.fi

Elisa Oyj, Ilkka Vanala, Business Manager, tel. +358 50 506 1082, firstname.lastname@elisa.fi

Tellyo Oy, Kimmo Koivisto, Founder & CEO, tel. +358  50 486 7543, firstname.lastname@tellyo.com