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In 2012, video which had previously been consumed online, including YouTube clips, webisodes, and professionally curated content by established media companies will begin to ‘reverse-migrate’ to the living room, says Millward Brown in its Top 12 Digital Predictions For 2012 report.

“Slingbox, Roku, Boxee, Apple TV, and Google TV are all attempting to bridge the capabilities of the Internet and the sacred living room experience,” says the report. “However, only a few of these have begun to scratch the surface of a truly dynamic and immersive multimedia experience.

France is Europe’s most highly penetrated connected TV market, with 18% of French consumers already owning such a device – compared to 11% of Germans and 10% of Brits – according to YouGov. But the fact that consumers can already connect to the Net on their TV via other devices such as games consoles is a significant obstacle to smart TV take up, says the research firm. Fifteen percent of the UK population owns a Microsoft Xbox 360, and 13% has a Sony Playstation 3.

UK-based Reed.co.uk is giving consumers a say in which TV ads it airs. Together with digital agency Steel, the employment website has launched its Who’s Hired? You Decide campaign which tasks the public with voting to select the television spot they want to see broadcast, writes Maria Stadtmueller.

There are a half-dozen commercials to choose from, with these finalists whittled down from the 20 initially shot by 20 up-and-coming directors on the brand’s Love Mondays message.

Mobile discovery outfit Shazam has teamed with 20^th Century Fox to deploy the Shazam smartphone app to deliver exclusive content from the latest in the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which includes a limited-time free download of the film’s single, Vacation, and an extended version of the trailer.

Microsoft has signed up a raft of content owners around the globe for the latest version of its Kinect for Xbox 360 platform, says Mark Terry.That means lining up the likes of Hulu, the BBC, LoveFilm, Sky Go, 4 On Demand, Digi+, Vevo, YouTube, HBO and Televisa, to name but a few, to bring a customised, voice-controlled entertainment to Xbox 360 systems.

Tablet devices are cannibalising home TV viewing and PC usage, with 35% of UK users watching on-demand content, 40% watching streaming content and 39% watching TV on their tablets, according to the Orange Exposure 2011 study into media habits in the UK, France, Spain and Poland, from Orange and TNS.

French luxury brand Longchamp today launches an online drama series, Heels, on the French, German and UK websites of AuFeminin.com (SoFeminine.co.uk to British audiences), says Mark Terry. The seven-part series, created by The Makers Entertainment, will run for five weeks and follow the lives of workers at a fashion mag, Shine.

Some people think a reliance in comms on new technology à la augmented reality, QR codes, location-based services and the like is stifling creativity. But Laurent Delaporte, vp of Microsoft Advertising EMEA, isn’t one of them. Steve Mullins caught up with him at last week’s Microsoft Advertising Imagine London 2011 event.