TV as a social sidebar

Yeah, you likely know about the YouTube button at the right of G+, allowing you to stream television while chatting or working in Excel or doing whatever on your computer. But why? Why would Google make TV part of its supposed social media play?

Because TV remains king of all media. U.S. consumers watch about 500 billion hours of television each year vs. 70 billion hours on the Internet -- which works out to 5 hours of TV a day on average per person. Of course, "watching" is not really what happens; the latest studies by Nielsen show that nearly half the time TV is on consumers are doing something else such as eating, laundry, or playing on, yes, the computer. (Somehow Nielsen left out "sex" as a finding, making me question the validity of the research instrument, but let's go on...) This doing two things at once is called concurrent media use and it is what you are likely doing now, reading this post with the TV or radio on in the background while checking your smartphone and telling your lover hey, just a minute.

Concurrent media use is the hottest trend in all media. For proof, look at any teen.

So here comes Google, giving you TV as a sidebar ... making it even easier to do what you want to do, kindascanning video while playing online or texting on the iPhone. There are huge dollars at stake if anyone can tap video consumption while meeting this human need to intake/output communication in multiple channels at once. More than $70 billion is spent annually by advertisers on television spots in the U.S.; surely Google would love to carve off a piece of that pie. So that pretty white-and-red YouTube button teasing you at top right is not a free giveaway; it's Google's chance to get the 40 million G+ users to drive more ad revenue its way.

And who's to complain? It's what we want. Google's play is brilliant, and more similar plays are likely to come from Apple and Facebook and video apps. If I were a cable conglomerate, I'd be a little nervous. Now, back to SNL.

Originally posted on Google+.