Computer giants Apple are showing interest in joining the billion-pound battle for the next set of live Premier League TV rights when the tender goes out before the end of the season.

The Premier League is seen as the type of premium content that will help establish Apple TV in the UK and boost iPad sales, while the iTunes subscription service infrastructure is already in place.

The involvement of Apple - and their great multimedia rivals Google are also expected to make similar soundings - would give the PL a hugely competitive market at a time when the price of other TV sports rights are in decline.

Life through a lens: Computer giants Apple want a bite of the Premier League

The three certain bidders will be Sky, who paid £1.6billion for their current packages, ESPN, who say they are determined to buy more PL content, and Middle East network Al Jezeera, who also have the resources to break the Rupert Murdoch stranglehold on the Premier League.

In contrast the FA have had...

It’s been said that multitasking makes you less productive, yet that hasn’t stopped the majority of U.S. smartphone users from juggling multiple devices. As many as 80% of people multitask on a mobile device while watching TV, finds a new study.

Using a laptop in front of the TV is no new behavior, yet few TV spots capitalize on the fact many consumers hold an Internet-enabled device in their hands as commercials air. The DVR presented hurdles for advertisers a decade ago as viewers were able to fast forward through ads. Today, tablets and smartphones introduce a new challenge: A more engaged yet distracted consumer. Apps and tools, such as Shazam, might offer one way for marketers to get viewers interacting with ads.

Yahoo Mobile and RazorFish polled 2,000 U.S. adults on their mobile habits and device preferences, to help marketers better understand consumer behavior.

We pulled out 7 intriguing stats on consumer multitasking patterns.

• 38% of respondents say browsing the...

Google is giving advertisers buying TV ads through the company access to data that informs its search ad buys with a new product called Search Triggers.

The program will let advertisers adjust their buys if search data shows a trend. For instance, a grill manufacturer might heavy-up on an ad buys if searches for “grills” spike or if other related searches, like “barbecues” increase.

Though some ad agencies already use search data to make informed decisions about their TV buys, Jody Shapiro, a product manager at Google, says Google hasn’t linked its Google TV Ads to search data before. Previously, Previously, Google TV Ads let advertisers bid on slots related to what the advertiser was selling. For instance, a pet food advertiser would be able to bid on an episode of How I Met Your Mother if it featured a dog.

Google TV Ads, which launched in 2008, look just like ordinary commercials to viewers. The idea was to create a solution for advertisers modeled on Google’s successful...

American consumers are increasingly connected and our recent survey shows they are increasingly multitasking when it comes to multimedia.

Roughly 40 percent of tablet and smartphone owners in the U.S. used their devices daily while watching TV, while only 14 percent of eReader owners said they watched TV while using their device every day.

And what are smartphone and tablet owners doing while watching TV? Checking email. Email was the top activity for both men and women during television programming and commercial breaks. In addition, women reported engaging in social networking more than men, while men checked sports scores more often.

Advertisers should take note that while viewers may be splitting attention between two (or three!) screens, 19 percent of smartphone and tablet owners searched for product information and 13 percent searched for coupons or deals while the television was on.

Global online TV and video revenues will grow five times their current size to reach $21.52 billion in 2016 from $3.48 billion in 2010, according to London-based media research company Digital TV Research.

One big mover will be so-called "Over-The-Top" (OTT) alternative TV/video providers that use the Internet to act like terrestrial cable operators and/or satellite programming services.

The report says: “The OTT television and video sector is on the brink of a huge take-off as the key players expand internationally, companies consolidat[ing] (with Hulu about to be sold to one of existing major players) and as new partnerships are announced on a daily basis.”

Skyrocketing growth will also result as more global homes watch TV and video via the internet. By 2016, 415 million homes in 40 countries will watch online television and video, up from 177 million in 2010.

The...

September is always a huge month for TV with a slate of show premieres and returning favorites. But which networks ruled social TV? We’ve got a fresh set of data from Trendrr, a realtime social media tracker.

The big broadcast winner was FOX with a 29% share of the social traffic voice in September. Surprisingly, the CW had the lowest share of voice (13%) but had the highest growth (up 7% between August and September).

MTV came away as the top cable network with 19% share of social traffic. The top broadcast show was Glee (FOX) with 16% share and the top cable show was — wait for it — Jersey Shore! (MTV) with 18% share in September. The Charlie Sheen Roast only took up 4% of the share, which might have to do with the fact it was a one-off event. Trendrr’s metrics clearly favor sustained performance even though the Roast had a huge social media presence.

Trendrr compiles data from public profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Miso and GetGlue. It then ranks that data using buzz...

People aren’t just consuming content on social networks, they’re actively sharing it.  As television becomes more digital – in the form of sharable video clips or articles about a show’s premiere, for example – social media will continue to play an increasingly important role in how consumers discover and engage with various forms of content, including TV.

An analysis conducted by NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company, and Nielsen looked at the correlation between online buzz and television ratings and found a statistically significant relationship throughout a TV show’s season among all age groups, with the strongest correlation among younger demos (people ages 12-17 and 18-34), and a slightly stronger overall correlation for women compared to men.  Men over 50 showed the weakest buzz-to-ratings connection leading up to a show’s premiere through the middle of the season, but that relationship strengthened by the finale as all age groups were actively discussing a...

Brands spent more money advertising on the Internet in Britain than they did on TV for the first time in the first half of 2011, as companies moved online to reach the millions of Britons using social networks and watching videos.

The bi-annual report by the Internet Advertising Bureau, PwC and marketing group WARC said advertising online in Britain rose 13.5 percent in the first six months to 2.26 billion pounds ($3.48 billion), giving it a record high market share of 27 percent.

TV had a market share of 26 percent, the report said.

The medium was boosted by 100 percent growth in online video ads, strong spending by companies in the fast moving consumer goods sector (FMCG), and campaigns designed for social media.

Within the Internet category, 58 percent of revenues came from search advertising, with 23 percent on display ads and 17 percent on classified ads.

Search advertising grew 12.6 percent, while display advertising grew by 18.5 percent, boosted by new formats and demand...