18
NEWS & VIEWS
October 2017
Unleashing the digital opportunities
in the Philippines’ media landscape
by josephine tan
MANILA – As of end-2014, TV
penetration stood at 76% in the
Philippines, which is equivalent to
17.1 million households with TV
sets, according to the Philippine
Statistics Authority.
While the media landscape may
represent a market set for growth,
digitisation means the Philippines,
like other growing markets, is fac-
ing challenges, said Christopher
Slaughter, CEO of CASBAA.
Speaking at the CASBAA Philip-
pines in View 2017 conference held
in Manila last August, Slaughter
explained: “Driven by new technol-
ogies, easy access to online video
content and changing viewership
habits are some of the issues media
operators today have to address.
“And with its unique geographi-
cal features and peculiarity in
content consumption, alongside
the satellite industry’s expan-
sion into the mobile broadband
environment and accurate audi-
ence measurement, all these are
playing a key role in developing a
healthy ecosystem for the pay-TV
and broadcast industries in the
Philippines.”
Carlo Katigbak, president and
CEO of ABS-CBN Corporation,
agreed with Slaughter’s point on
the rise of online viewing, and
reinforced that online viewing is
a “great opportunity” for media
operators to broaden their reach.
He elaborated: “Although our
subscriber base remains strong,
we’re also seeing our viewers be-
ing engaged in multiple services.
For instance, besides being pay-TV
subscribers, viewers are also access-
ing content from other over-the-
top (OTT) services.”
ABS-CBN, a Philippine me-
dia and entertainment group,
has been moving its content to
online platforms, in order to cater
With more OTT players entering the Philippines
market, Carlo Katigbak, president and CEO of
ABS-CBN Corporation, appealed to regulators
and associations to revise the regulatory
environment surrounding the broadcast industry.
The CASBAA Philippines in View 2017 conference, which was held in Manila in August, discussed the country’s
role as a continuing growth market for digital video in all its formats.
Jane Jimenez-Basas (extreme right), president and CEO of Cignal, revealed that
the company is now the largest pay-TV operator in the Philippines, with a 1.6
million subscriber count as of end-2016. Mark Lay (extreme right), vice-president, Singapore, CASBAA, with his line-up
of speakers from the OTT space — including HOOQ, iflix and Viu — as well as
cable TV operator Sky Cable.
to viewers who prefer watching
video-on-demand (VoD), Katigbak
shared. “We’re also thinking about
creating content specifically for
digital platforms. This is not just
repurposing the content, which
we’ve already created for TV or
movies, and shifting them online.
It’s really about creating creative
content that is designed to be
distributed on digital platforms.”
And with multiple OTT players
entering the Philippine market in
the past several years, Katigbak
urged both industry regulators and
associations to revise the regula-
tory environment surrounding the
broadcast industry. “Traditional TV
is still a heavily regulated industry,
but both distributors of pirated
content and OTT providers are
operating with less restrictions,
including foreign ownership. It
is time to think about whether volume of subscriber, has attained
a 1.6 million subscriber count as of
end-2016, Jimenez-Basas revealed.
As part of Philippine telco PLDT,
Cignal TV markets its services with
other relevant PLDT brands such
as PLDT Home and Smart to sell
bundled packages with DTH and
IPTV solutions.
Calling OTT the third wave
of TV, Mark Lay, vice-president,
Singapore, CASBAA, commented
that the combination of broadband
and mobile devices has brought
TV into a “whole new era”, and
asked his panellists — comprising
speakers from Viu, iflix, Sky Cable
and HOOQ — to share about the
role and focus of mobile devices in
their business.
“Over 80% of consuming time
is via mobile devices,” said Sheila
Paul, head of marketing for HOOQ.
“Initially, we tried to balance be-
regulations for pay-TV are out-of-
date, and need to be revised,” he
concluded.
Supporting Katigbak’s appeal
was Jane Jimenez-Basas, president
and CEO of Cignal TV, who sug-
gested that pay-TV is capable of
achieving further success if regula-
tors were to take the opportunity to
level the playing field. She contin-
ued: “When it comes to content, we
can’t be as ambitious as OTT service
providers because we are subjected
to stricter regulations.
“There is a real need for regula-
tors to review what are now dated
regulatory rules. Right now, OTT
providers are enjoying a free ride,
but eventually the regulators will
catch up.”
Direct-to-home (DTH) player
Cignal TV, who overtook Sky Cable
in 2015 to become the largest pay-
TV operator in the Philippines by
tween desktop and mobile, but
we noticed usage was weighted
towards mobile, so we redeveloped
our product and relaunched it last
year. Moving forward, we foresee
growth of mobile viewing on a
Wi-Fi connection, as broadband
penetration is getting better and
more affordable.”
With consumer power continu-
ing to grow, the market “is getting
more affluent” as viewers might
be subscribing to more than one
service, Paul elaborated. Hence,
there is definitely space for opera-
tors to grab a share of their viewers’
attention throughout the day, she
predicted.
Another mode of video con-
sumption is via mobile data, which
Philippine telco Globe Telecom has
been delivering since 2012. Nikko
Acosta, senior vice-president, con-
tent business, Globe Telecom, com-