36
BROADCAST TECHNOLOGY 2018
Maximising
the digital
thematic content
environment
“Consumers do not want
to have 10 different
content apps with
10 different billing
relationships. And so
there is a question as to
whom the aggregators of
the future will be. ”
— Louis Boswell
CEO, Asia Video Industry Association
(AVIA) & an APB Panellist
BY GRAEME STANLEY
Fragmentation of
T
video industry calls
for aggregation
of service
BY LOUIS BOSWELL
T
he video industry today is an
incredibly exciting place to be.
But it is also a challenging one, as
video continues to grow as the world’s
pre-eminent form of entertainment.
Over recent years, it has burst out of
the confines of television, and television
has now become a device rather than
a service. The adoption of 4G mobile
services was a huge catalyst for this and
we now wait for the age of 5G, for which
video, to my mind at least, will be the
primary application.
There has never been a better time to
be a consumer as companies race to create
the next blockbuster series which you can
watch on the way to work, during your
lunch break or in the evening at home
with loved ones.
The challenge is this technology-
enabled shift in consumer behaviour is
creating havoc with business models that
have developed over the past 30-odd
years. On one level, nothing much has
changed in that monetisation still revolves
around subscription and advertising,
but with so much ad spend now going
to social media platforms, and streaming
subscription services charging far less than
traditional pay-TV bundles, the industry
has bigger questions to answer than at any
time in recent memory.
Linear television is far from dead but
2018 has been the year in which we have
seen growth stall in many markets, and
in some cases there has been significant
decline. The biggest challenge though is
not one of linear versus streaming, it is
one of content.
Content creators and owners need
to work out how to best monetise their
content, and while this will still be an
equation involving subscription and/or
advertising, exactly what that equation is
remains far from clear, and the equation
will be different for different genres of
content.
Ratings and viewership have always
An
Supplement
been important, but with pay-TV bundles
there was an ecosystem where channels
which served different niches could
make a good business without being a
ratings powerhouse. As streaming sees
the balance shift from curated channels to
curated content, there is a bigger emphasis
than ever before on creating the most
desired content, and not everyone can
win.
That is why, despite the fragmentation
we are seeing, there are also growing signs
of a need to aggregate again. Consumers
do not want to have 10 different
content apps with 10 different billing
relationships. And so there is a question as
to whom the aggregators of the future will
be. Streaming services like Netflix, iFlix or
HOOQ are all attempting to bring scale to
their content propositions, but the telcos
are also in a strong position to be that new
aggregator, providing data and a curated
selection of content offerings.
But while the industry grapples with
these changes, we face one existential
problem — video piracy. As companies
tackle the issue of changing business
models, the problem of piracy is like
trying to fly an aeroplane with a gaping
hole in the fuselage.
Our society does not allow people
to walk into a shop, help themselves to
whatever they want and then walk out
without paying. Neither should it allow
video signals to be stolen and streamed
for the profit of criminal cartels. Piracy is
not petty crime. It is organised crime and
accounts for losses to the industry and
profits to the criminals of hundreds of
millions of dollars.
The problem is far from a lost cause
though, and with industry coming
together through AVIA to fight it, with
successes in enforcement actions in Hong
Kong, site blocking in Singapore, and
the increasing cooperation of payment
gateways and e-commerce retailers, there
is more optimism than ever before that
significant progress in this fight can be
made.
here has been a lot of media
coverage — including in last
month’s issue of APB — regarding
the rise (and recent fall) of the collective
stock of FAANG (Facebook, Apple,
Amazon, Netflix and Google), and how
these tech giants have impacted the TV
industry. Netflix, in particular, took many
broadcasters by surprise by developing
an on-demand service globally that not
only goes directly to the consumer but
also considers consumer interest at the
programming level.
The trend for dropping whole seasons
of shows at once has fundamentally
changed viewing habits and as a result,
broadcasters large and small are re-
evaluating how they maintain relevance
and consumer interest as these new
services enter the market.
This direct-to-consumer proposition
means that companies in the media
industry that traditionally had a business-
to-business model are having to re-
orient their business and learn how to
talk to consumers. This is difficult for
smaller broadcasters that do not have the
same resources or global reach that the
large social media or FAANG group of
companies are able to command.
Insight TV is in a fortunate position
as we produce all of our own content and
thereby own all of the rights. This enables
us to deliver our content everywhere
and anywhere, and by that I mean
regionally as well as by different routes to
market — including our linear channel,
subscription video-on-demand (SVoD),
advertising video-on-demand (AVoD)
and transactional
video-on-demand
(TVoD) services.
This means
we can be fast
and flexible,
and are not
hampered by
the territorial
restrictions
that a
regional broadcaster, for example, might
have. The question we ask ourselves is:
Are we trying to compete with FAANG
in a scripted, general entertainment
multi-genre environment? Or, are we
going to compete within what we call
the ‘digital thematically focused’ content
environment?
We think it is the latter. Worldwide,
we know that there is a target audience
for which we create our content and
programming. Our audience is abundant
and because we can control, trade and
deliver our content across relevant groups
to market via our linear and digital
platforms, we are able to create the size,
scale and customer base that makes our
proposition a going concern.
How do we reach across those
different routes to market?
With linear, it is relatively
straightforward: There is a mature
market with satellite distribution, cable
TV platforms and subscriber bases who
understand the value proposition that is
offered to them by those operators. We
operate within that environment and we
continue to enjoy growing distribution
across them.
With digital, there is a significant
shift. Although not one of us has a crystal
ball, what we do know is that streaming
is where consumers are moving their
subscriptions and their money and
their interests. Working with partners,
our SVoD and AVoD services deliver
transactional opportunities that meet
global consumer demand.
In 2019, new over-the-top (OTT)
services will be launched that draw on
the resources and deep content libraries
of companies such as Disney and AT&T-
Warner. These new services will further
disrupt the market, challenging Netflix
and increasing the rate of cord-cutting in
mature markets. At Insight TV, we will
continue to educate consumers to use
SVoD as a way to find and experience
authentic content featuring global
influencers which is of interest to them.
It is our belief that 2019 is going to be
even more exciting and disruptive than
the past two years have been.
“In 2019, new over-the-
top (OTT) services will be
launched that draw on the
resources and deep content
libraries of companies such as
Disney and AT&T-Warner.”
— Graeme Stanley
COO, Insight TV