雅思阅读第058套P3-Texting the Television
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3below.
Texting the Television
A Once upon a time, if a televisionshow with any self-respect wanted to target a young audience, it needed to havean e-mail address. However, in Europe’s TV shows, such addresses are graduallysubstituted by telephone numbers so that audiences can text the show from theirmobile phones. Therefore, it comes as no shock that according to Gartner’sresearch, texting has recently surpassed Internet usage across Europe. Besides,among the many uses of text messaging, one of the fastest-growing uses is tointeract with television. The statistics provided by Gartner can display that20% of French teenagers, 11% in Britain and 9% in Germany have responded to TVprogrammes by sending a text message.
B This phenomenon can be largelyattributed to the rapid growth of reality TV shows such as 'Big Brother’, whereviewers get to decide the result through voting. The majority of reality showsare now open to text-message voting, and in some shows like the latest seriesof Norway’s 'Big Brother’, most votes are collected in this manner. ButTV-texting isn’t just about voting. News shows encourage viewers to, comment bytexting messages; game shows enable the audience to be part of the competition;music shows answer requests by taking text messages; and broadcasters set upon-screen chatrooms. TV audiences tend to sit on the sofa with their mobile phonesright by their sides, and 'it’s a supernatural way to interact.’ says Adam Daumof Gartner.
C Mobile service providers chargeappreciable rates for messages to certain numbers, which is why TV-texting canbring in a lot of cash. Take the latest British series of 'Big Brother’ as anexample. It brought about 5.4m text-message votes and £1.35m ($2,1m) of profit.In Germany, MTV’s 'Videoclash’ encourages the audience to vote for one of tworival videos, and induces up to 40,000 texts per hour, and each one of thosetexts costs €0.30 ($0.29), according to a consultancy based in Amsterdam. TheBelgian quiz show '1 Against 100’ had an eight-round texting match on the side,which brought in 110,000 participants in one month, and each of them paid €0.50for each question. In Spain, a cryptic-crossword clue invites the audience tosend their answers through text at the expense of €1, so that they can beenrolled in the poll to win a €300 prize. Normally, 6,000 viewers wouldparticipate within one day.
At the moment, TV-related textmessaging takes up a considerable proportion of mobile service providers’ datarevenues. In July, Mm02 (a British operator) reported an unexpectedlysatisfactory result, which could be attributed to the massive text wavescreated by 'Big Brother’. Providers usually own 40%-50% of the profits fromeach text, and the rest is divided among the broadcaster, the programmeproducer and the company which supplies the message-processing technology. Sofar, revenues generated from text messages have been an indispensable part ofthe business model for various shows. Obviously, there has been grumbling thatthe providers take too much of the share. Endemol, the Netherlands-basedproduction firm that is responsible for many reality TV, shows including 'BigBrother’, has begun constructing its own database for mobile-phone users. Itplans to set up a direct billing system with the users and bypass theproviders.
D How come the joining forces oftelevision and text message turn out to be this successful? One crucial aspectis the emergence of one-of-a-kind four-, five- or six-digit numbers known as'short codes’. Every provider has control over its own short codes, but notuntil recently have they come to realise that it would make much more sense towork together to offer short codes compatible with all networks. The emergenceof this universal short codes was a game-changer, because short codes are mucheasier to remember on the screen, according to Lars Becker of Flytxt, amobile-marketing company.
E Operators’ co-operation on enlargingthe market is by a larger trend, observes Katrina Bond of Analysys, aconsultancy. When challenged by the dilemma between holding on tight to theirmargins and permitting the emergence of a new medium, no provider has everchosen the latter WAP, a technology for mobile-phone users to read cut-down webpages on their screens, failed because of service providers’ reluctance towardsrevenue sharing with content providers. Now that they’ve learnt their lesson,they are altering the way of operating. Orange, a French operator, has comesuch a long way as to launch a rate card for sharing revenue of text messages,a new level of transparency that used to be unimaginable.
F At a recent conference, Han Weeginkof CMG, a company that offers the television market text-messageinfrastructure, pointed out that the television industry is changing in asubtle yet fundamental way. Instead of the traditional one-way presentation,more and more TV shows are now getting viewers’ reactions involved.
Certainly, engaging theaudiences more has always been the promise of interactive TV. An interactive TVwas originally designed to work with exquisite set-top devices, which could bedirectly plugged into the TV. However, as Mr Daum points out, that method wasflawed in many ways. Developing and testing software for multiple andincompatible types of set-top box could be costly, not to mention that the 40%(or lower) market penetration is below that of mobile phones (around 85%).What’s more, it’s quicker to develop and set up apps for mobile phones. 'Youcan approach the market quicker, and you don’t have to go through as manygreedy middlemen,’ Mr Daum says. Providers of set-top box technology are nowadding texting function to the design of their products.
G The triumph of TV-related textingreminds everyone in the business of how easily a fancy technology can all of asudden be replaced by a less complicated, lower-tech method. That being said,the old-fashioned approach to interactive TV is not necessarily over; at leastit proves that strong demands for interactive services still exist. It appearsthat the viewers would sincerely like to do more than simply staring at the TVscreen. After all, couch potatoes would love some thumb exercises.
SECTION 3: QUESTIONS 28-40
Questions 28-32
Reading Passage 3 has sevensections, A-G.
Choose the correct heading forsections B-E and G from the list of headingsbelow.
Write the correct number, i-ix,inboxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i
An application of short codes on the TV screen
ii
An overview of a fast-growing business
iii
The trend that profitable games are gaining more concerns
iv
Why Netherlands takes the leading role
v
A new perspective towards sharing the business opportunities
vi
Factors relevant to the rapid increase in interactive TV
vii
The revenue gains and bonus share
viii
The possibility of the complex technology replaced by the simpler ones
ix
The mind change of set-top box providers
Example Answer
Section A ii
28 ___________ Section B
29 ___________ Section C
30 ___________ Section D
31 ___________ Section E
Example Answer
Section F ix
32 ___________ Section G
Questions 33-35
Choose the correctletter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letterin boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet.
33In Europe, a research hints that youngaudiences spend more money on
Athumbing text messages.
Bwriting e-mails.
Cwatching TV programmes.
Dtalking through mobile phones.
34What would happen when reality TV showsinvite the audience to vote?
AViewers would get attractive bonus.
BThey would be part of the competition.
CTheir questions would be replied.
DTheir participation could change theresult.
35Interactive TV will change fromconcentrating on set-top devices to
Aincreasing their share in the market.
Bsetting up a modified set-top box.
Cbuilding an embedded message platform.
Dmarching into the European market.
Questions 36-40
Look at the followingdescriptions (Questions 36-40) and the list of companies below.
Match each description with thecorrect company, A-F.
Write the correct letter, A-F,in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
List of Companies
A
Flytxt
B
Analysys
C
Endemol
D
CMG
E
Mm02
F
Gartner
36 ___________ offeredmobile phone message technology
37 ___________ earnedconsiderable amount of money through a famous programme
38 ___________ expressedthe view that short codes are convenient to remember when turning up
39 ___________ built theirown mobile phone operating applications
40 ___________ indicatedthat it is easy for people to send message in an interactive TV
