BSkyB will launch its Sky Player online TV service on Microsoft’s XBox 360 tomorrow.

The Sky Player will provide video-on-demand service and access to live TV on 24 channels including movies and sports.

It will also provide a range of “unique interactive services”, including apps that allow viewers to communicate real time via XBox Live avatars while watching Sky Sports, and Twitter and Facebook apps in association with TV programmes.

For the app loving, football following, social media sort it seems a dream come true…

But there’s a catch. You’ll need an XBox Live Gold subscription for this one, and you’ll also need to be subscribed to Sky Movies and Sky Sports.

Find out more here

PRWeek revealed the results of its inaugural digital survey yesterday (here) which, surprisingly, only received 64 responses.

But rather than debate the reasons for why this could be (confidentially breaches to uncovered industry blag) I thought it would be interesting to focus on the 61 per cent of respondents that found themselves pitching against non-PR agencies in the last 12 months.

For me Porter Novelli’s, Kerry Gaffney, hits an important nail on the head when saying: “Many clients are appreciating that PR is the natural champion of an organisation’s message and reputation, regardless of the particular channel used to deliver it.”

But, while this should be the case, in my experience ‘many clients’ still invite digital, advertising, social media, marketing and search agencies to tender. And who blames them? After all, they’re paying the bills so they unquestionably deserve to find the best agency for the job.

For me, the PR industry still lags a little behind the others. Over the next year or so I envisage the PR industry changing at a speed far greater than witnessed so far and at a level comparable to the impact of the internet on the advertising industry.

As clients and consumers become even more digitally-savvy the challenge will be put upon PRs to reach online communities, e.g. online media, bloggers and social network users, ahead of traditional print media. And in many cases, there will be a need to go direct to the consumer – bringing PR and other specialist forms of marketing, closer together.

There will also be a shift in the way PRs deal with video, audio, graphics and pictures. Indeed, news organisations like the BBC, Daily Telegraph and Press Association (PA Video Wire) have already changed their models to cater for video and digital graphics. And to fulfil this growing demand for content PRs will have to provide quality, rich multimedia content more frequently than before. Again, bringing PR and other specialist forms of marketing, closer together.

While advertising and digital marketing agencies have already embraced this ‘digital marketing communications revolution’, the road ahead remains rocky for the PR industry. PR agencies that have prepared, or are preparing for an increasing ‘digital demand’ will succeed if they can convince clients that their PR agency can not only web-build, run social media campaigns, create content etc., but can also get results, add value and measure all of the above.

However, for those agencies who fail to do this, they will lose clients, stop winning new business and fall by the wayside.

So, the onus is therefore on us, as PR people, to stamp our authority on the ‘digital marketing mix’ and grab valuable market share of this emerging communications market for our industry.

There are still many clients out there who do not understand how this ‘digital revolution’ is changing the way they need to communicate. As such, there are many opportunities for digitally-savvy PR agencies to explore, many potential client hands to hold and many long-term relationships to build…