Virtual reality hitting its stride, cognitive technology and a slow decline of the telly are among the hot new trends from Deloitte’s annual Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions report, released this morning at a media briefing.

Cognitive tech is one of those trends that isn’t slowing down, and Deloitte technology partner Stuart Scotis said this will become more and more mainstream.

“We expect software like speech recognition, machine learning and natural language processing, such as Siri, automation software and text converting apps, to become increasingly mainstream” he said.

“The perception of AI (artificial intelligence) is that computers are becoming smarter than humans… and we (expect to see) the capability for the things you do to become smarter, like personalisation on browsing, or home automation.”

Virtual reality (VR) is also getting a moment in the sun, even more so than 2016, and Deloitte TMT risk advisory partner Dennis Moth said, “2016 will be the year VR will crack the billion dollar mark globally”.

“This is yet to really turn into its full capacity.

“It will look at the home you might purchase or the holiday you might go on,” Moth quipped, adding it will eventually “become the norm” for interacting with such decision making processes.

“The GoPro is striving to become the content choice for VR as well… In 2016, watch this space as this will become a real hot button in content creation and consumption areas.

“The gap between technology and user experience is starting to close… But we’re still a long way from some of the real sensory experiences like the wetness of diving in water, or feeling the taste and broader touch sensory experiences.”

The TV is another area of interest for Deloitte’s TMT.

National media lead partner Clare Harding said looking to the US, a big indicator for Australian trends, traditional TV remains resilient, approaching a plateau rather than a sharp drop.

“We’re not likely to see a cliff for traditional TV but we’re likely to see a gradual erosion of the market.”

Harding said there is a shift as more mobile content becomes available.

“The growth of Netflix, availability of other OTT services such as Stan and Presto and offerings such as iTunes and YouTube clips are unlikely to herald the end of PayTV or free to air.

“But the dominance of live and time shifted TV is likely to diminish, exacerbated by the consumption patterns of Millennials, with their greater focus on Internet and mobile video consumption.”

Amazingly, some 320 minutes of TV is watched a day, with Millennials only tuning in to about 120 minutes a day, however as Harding noted, “We’re ‘watching’ TV, but a large proportion of us are multitasking and using two or more devices at the same time.”