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Top trends shaping the APAC’s Pay-TV landscape in 2017

Consumer habits will continue to evolve with rapid advances in technology. In an increasingly fragmented market across Asia Pacific, innovation driven by consumer needs will be a key tool in the arsenal of pay-TV operators, both big and small. Operators who can offer their customers greater choice and value will flourish in 2017 and beyond.

Over the last few years, technology has transformed the consumption of television. As a result, the pay-TV industry is undergoing a period of change and development with intensifying competition and business model disruption. In Asia Pacific, the industry is projected to grow at a 5.8 per cent average annual rate from 2016 to 2021. However, traditional pay-TV platforms are being threatened by the rise of video on demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) services. 2016 saw the entrance of Netflix in markets across Asia. Other OTT players in the region such as iFlix, Hooq and Viu are also vying for a share of the market.

Although the markets in Asia Pacific are at varying stages of change and evolution, given the differences in economic conditions, demographics, penetration of broadband and pay-TV, and content preferences, there is no doubt that pay-TV providers across the region must develop viable new offerings to retain and grow their customer base.

On every front, at every step in the OTT workflow and ecosystem, evolving technologies and changing consumer habits are driving the industry and impacting the way content is created, delivered, viewed and monetized. Keeping pace in an increasingly fragmented market driven by consumer needs is challenging. Join us at the OTT Days event in Singapore we look into the myriad of technical and business decisions faced when launching an OTT solution.

Here we take a look at some of the top trends that are expected to shape the pay-TV landscape in 2017:

Moving from analog to digital: In order to provide enhanced services to customers and meet regulatory requirements on analog switch-off, pay-TV providers across the region are expected to continue the move to digital broadcasting. This will be seen across countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam as they work towards switching off analog broadcasting entirely. Customers will benefit from more programming options and higher quality images and sound.

Greater collaboration between pay-TV and OTT providers: The evolving consumer appetite for more on-demand and multiscreen viewing is transforming the TV market. As per the Pay-TV Innovation Forum, a research programme launched by NAGRA in partnership with MTM, Asia Pacific’s OTT video industry is developing rapidly, with around 100 million people subscribing to online video services in 2015. As such, pay-TV providers will have to further embrace all things OTT, including enhancing their core TV service with OTT partner offerings or integrating OTT into their hardware and infrastructure. The increased OTT investments will broaden content options, resulting in happier subscribers, who will have more viewing choices.

TV User Experience (UX): Modern consumers are looking for a seamless, easy-to-use TV experience combining linear and on-demand viewing across all screens. Pay-TV providers will have to rise to the challenge to remain competitive. This includes providing a better integration of the technology ecosystem into a rich UX that delivers the same services on all screens.

More flexibility with personalisation of pay-TV packages and pricing offers: Contract obligations for large channel bundles are losing traction, and one-size-fits-all business models are no longer going to cut it. By leveraging OTT, pay-TV providers are adjusting their business models with new offers, including skinny bundles and a-la-carte options. This also includes more app-based services, stand-alone OTT and TV Everywhere offerings to connect consumers to the content they love.

Diversification into adjacent services: Service providers looking to strengthen their offerings will explore diversification into adjacent offerings, including dynamic data-driven advertising and smart home solutions (such as in-home security and automation). These new services will be driven by large telcos and service providers. In particular, for pay-TV providers that own broadband networks, data is just too big of an opportunity to not be explored. Further investments should be expected from advanced providers looking at leveraging their own network infrastructure to develop new monetization engines.

Taking a broader view on content protection: The growing trend of streaming premium live TV channels and 4K content over the internet is forcing pay-TV operators and content owners to revisit their content security policies. Simply securing content distribution over managed networks is not enough anymore. Controlling piracy with a holistic approach is the new normal. For service providers, this will mean expanding beyond protecting distributed content over any network to incorporating cyber-security media services and forensic watermarking into their portfolio. This will be a necessity to meet content owner requirements and sustain revenues.

Local and regional programming: While the market for global content remains strong, quality local and regional content will become increasingly important for providers and will serve as a key differentiator in an increasingly competitive market. The Pay-TV Innovation Forum research by NAGRA and MTM found that Asia Pacific is characterised by very high levels of cultural and linguistic diversity, with many consumers having a strong preference for content in a local language. As such, providers will be tasked with building a strategy that incorporates both local and global content in order to cater to the diverse customer base in Asia Pacific.

Source: Digital Market 

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We’re delighted to invite you to join us at the OTT Days in Singapore- a thought-leadership event for the future of OTT. You will hear from the people who are pioneering new strategies and partnerships and exploiting new market opportunities.

Across a half day, the OTT Days event in Singapore offers a free-to-attend summit that informs, inspires and connects members of the video, media and technology community with a combination of unique networking features and a high-level speaker program. Be inspired by industry thought leaders including; Vindicia, 24i Media, AWS Elemental, Diagnal and TiVo.

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24i & IRIS.TV HAPPY HOUR AT THE NABSHOW

24i and IRIS.TV invite you to join us for drinks at the IRIS.TV Suite at The Cosmopolitan in the East Side Tower suite nr 3093. WHEN Wednesday, April 20, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (PDT) WHERE The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas - 3708 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89109 About IRIS.TV IRIS.TV is a personalized video programming system that allows publishers and content owners to generate more video views and engage users across all devices. The software is designed to increase consumption and simplify operations for web and mobile video distribution, matching content based on audience preferences and user interactions. The video programming platform is powered by Adaptive Stream™, a personalization engine that delivers relevant content in a television-like experience, programmed to each viewer’s interests.

MILLENNIALS ON MILLENNIALS: A LOOK AT VIEWING BEHAVIOR, DISTRACTION AND SOCIAL MEDIA STARS

It’s hard enough to hold one person’s attention, let alone an entire generation’s. Millennials have grown alongside advancements in technology and media platforms, they engage in media like no one else and they’re “grown up” and have money to spend, placing them in intriguing territory with regard to media habits. When it comes to television, their eyes are glued to the screen. With commercials, they’re still tuned in—but their eyes are on their cell phones. Nielsen’s Millennials on Millennials report offers critical insight into the evolving media habits of this highly digital demographic, and it was produced by a team of Nielsen Millennial associates keen to help clients engage and reach a generation that every modern marketer is seeking a connection with. As marketers and advertisers look for the best opportunities to reach this demographic, they need precise insight into the evolving viewing and consumption habits of Millennials, which are closely watched and coveted. A new report from Nielsen, the Millennials on Millennials report, reveals three things you might not have known about Millennials. 1. MILLENNIALS LOVE TV-CONNECTED DEVICES TV still constitutes the majority of video consumption, but every other screen is much more valuable to Millennials. TV-connected devices compose four times the percentage of Millennials’ total video minutes than adults 35 and older: TV-connected devices account for 23% of Millennials’ total time with video, compared with just 6% for consumers 35 and older. And as a result, Millennials spend about 27% less time watching traditional TV (89% among 35+ vs. 66% among Millennials). 2.MILLENNIALS ARE A DISTRACTED AUDIENCE The report looked at a handful of popular, primetime programs to understand the dynamics of multi-tasking and attention among Millennials compared with other generations. During premiere episodes of various primetime programs in the fall of 2015, Millennials were least likely to change the channel during commercial breaks. Less than 2% of 18-34-year-olds changed the channel during commercials, compared with 5.5% of 35-54-year-olds and more than 8% of viewers 55 and older. Given their engagement with other devices, however, Millennials had the lowest program engagement and lowest ad memorability scores during the studied shows. Knowing that audiences, including Millennials, may opt to skip advertising if given the choice, content providers often disable ad-skipping features in their VOD content. In terms of openness to advertising, however, Millennials are quite open to viewing ads as long as the content they are viewing is free on their mobile devices. As a result, marketers and advertisers have a notable opportunity to present their value propositions to young viewers who are tapping into the realm of content available via their connected devices. 3.SOCIAL MEDIA STARS ARE “CELEBRITIES” Among Millennials, social media stars are becoming synonymous with the word “celebrity.” In a write-in section of the Nielsen report, numerous respondents named several social media stars multiple times when asked: “Please list your current top five favorite celebrities.” When tested against mainstream stars, social media stars hold their own in terms of celebrity status. For example, according to Nielsen’s N-Score, a measure of a celebrity’s marketability, male Millennials have a higher opinion of trending social media stars than they do for sports stars, pop stars, actors and actresses Source: Nielsen, http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2017/millennials-on-millennials-a-look-at-viewing-behavior-distraction-social-media-stars.html