ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Eros Now plays on Ola Play now

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, one of the fastest growing over-the-top (OTT) Indian entertainment platforms owned by Eros International Plc, has announced a strategic integration deal with India’s leading mobile app for transportation, Ola’s connected car platform for ridesharing, Ola Play. This strategic revenue-sharing partnership through Eros Now subscriptions will enable an immersive and personalized experience which customers can seamlessly control through their smartphones as well as a device mounted at the back of the seat.

    Powered by proprietary in-car and cloud technologies from Ola, Ola Play brings advanced car controls, choice of personalized content and a fully-connected interactive experience for its customers. Eros Now offers the widest library of films, music, premium television, and regional content that has the potential to enhance the experience for many Ola customers.

    Ola commuters will now have easy access to a vast array of unlimited entertainment options through Eros Now on Ola Play. Content will be customized depending on customer preferences and ride information like time and destination to provide the perfect connected in-car experience. The association particularly adds value to the superior experience proposition of Ola Rental and Ola Outstations categories that are widely used by customers. Long, traffic-filled journeys are now going to be easier rides with Eros Now’s broad selection of entertainment choices on display. The offering is currently available in four cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

    Commenting on the integration, Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh said, “Connected cars are a reality now in India with Ola Play. We are excited to join hands with Ola as our vision remains to provide easy access to premium experience on-the-go. This strategic integration enables increased user engagement and will help us increase our reach to millions of Ola customers.”

    Speaking on the development, Ola Play sr. director Ankit Jain said, “At Ola, we are tirelessly working towards enhancing customer experience, Ola Play is a strong step in that direction. In line with such efforts, our association with Eros Now is sure to offer our discerning customers an unparalleled entertainment experience. A boon for our Outstation customers who spend hours at a stretch in the cab, they now have an even stronger reason to choose Play on our platform. With partnerships such as these, Ola is well on its way to transform the consumer’s ride experience, giving them the power to control their time spent inside the car, and building an experience that is intelligent, contextual, and unique.”

    With this association, Ola Play customers will have access to a vast and diverse range of popular movies on Eros Now. Currently, the offering is available in four cities in the country: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

  • Turner selects TiVo to provide enhanced electronic programme services

    MUMBAI: TiVo Corporation, a leader in entertainment technology and audience insights, has announced that global media company, Turner, has selected TiVo as its EMEA metadata distribution partner.

    Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Turner will utilise services from TiVo’s new Studio, Broadcast and Network Metadata Packages to manage the company’s electronic programme guide (EPG) metadata distribution and service, which covers 44 EMEA channels. Turner’s 200+ customers of its channel schedules and programming information will receive the data services, facilitating the delivery of a richer and more engaging content discovery experience for viewers.

    “Today’s consumers demand a fully connected entertainment experience to be able to discover and access content they want quickly and easily,” said Turner regional VP – technology and operations EMEA and APAC James Crossland.

    “When we were selecting a partner to enable our metadata distribution, TiVo’s global reach and long-standing experience working with the industry ecosystem made them the natural choice to power our services across Europe. We want to give our viewers a superior EPG experience when browsing our channels – we see it as an integral part of our programme offering to them.”

    “TiVo is providing metadata distribution services that distribute multiple formats where needed,” said TiVo senior VP & GM – metadata Roz Ho. “Joining forces with Turner is a testament to TiVo’s technological capabilities in delivering solutions to help make TV and video viewing more enjoyable for their customers.”

    The agreement with TiVo comes at a time of rapid evolution for Turner into a more consumer-centric, data-driven media company, with an accelerated focus on partnering with tech partners and vendors who can help deliver first-class consumer experiences at every step of their engagement with Turner’s diverse news, kids and general entertainment programming portfolio.

    TiVo will showcase Studio, Broadcaster and Network Metadata Packages along with the company’s entertainment technology and audience insights solutions at the TiVo booth #SU3725 during NAB, 24-27 April, in Las Vegas.

  • ALTBalaji rolls out its windows universal app for XBox & Surface Hub etc

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms’s OTT platform ALTBalaji has announced the roll out of its Windows 10 universal application. The app is available in the Windows 10 app store and works seamlessly across PCs, Laptops, Smart Phones, and Surface Tablets running Windows10 OS.

    The app will soon be rolled out on other popular Microsoft devices and platforms like XBox, Surface Hub, and other devices through the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). Windows 10 has 400 million monthly active users globally who can now enjoy ALTBalaji’s original, exclusive and tailor-made shows on a variety of Windows devices.

    Speaking on the announcement, ALT Digital Media Entertainment COO Sunil Nair said, “By rolling out the Windows10 app, we have shown our commitment to our audience by making it easy for them to experience ALTBalaji on laptops as well as their regular smart phones. Features like multi­ device continuous play will make it easy for users to watch our shows on their mobile phone while on the move, and switch to their Windows 10 laptop or PC to continue enjoying the show seamlessly.”

    “We believe that with the ALTBalaji Windows 10 Universal App we have created a truly personalized platform which will benefit our digital consumers. All over the world people are more engaged when they consume content on larger screens with an immersive video and audio experience. Microsoft is committed to providing our users with a great viewing platform, and our collaboration with ALTBalaji will ensure that they get seamless access to content anywhere, at any time,” said Microsoft India windows and surface business director Vineet Durani.

    The video platform supports Microsoft Smooth Streaming and has Playready for Digital Rights Management (DRM). Using UWP allows multiple device specifications through a single app and makes it easy to upgrade seamlessly. Customers can use upto five devices simultaneously with one subscription, which makes it convenient for family viewing.

  • Time for OTT review? Delhi & K’taka top Net readiness, K’taka & Delhi lead in digital start-ups

    NEW DELHI: Will the OTT and VoD companies recast their strategies now that Delhi has emerged as the top-ranked state in terms of overall Internet readiness, overtaking last year’s winner Maharashtra?

    Delhi takes the first slot not only amongst small states and Union Territories but also when all states are taken together. The capital city-state is followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

    Delhi gets this rank primarily because of its fabulous e-infrastructure and e-participation according to a pioneering report titled ‘Index of Internet Readiness of Indian States, published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Nielsen.

    Releasing the report, Electronics & Information Technology Ministry (MeiTy) Aruna Sundararajan said: “We are hopeful that India will leapfrog from the present 155th position to world’s top 5th in connectivity, within the next 5 to 6 years. India today is one of the most rapidly digitising economies in the world with the telecom industry leading the change. Things have improved multifold with state governments of Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana among others taking proactive steps to improve connectivity and internet reach.”

    “The combination of various indigenous digital platforms along with innovative and disruptive startups holds the greatest scope for digital transformation in India. Post demonetisation, the country today has 3 million POS as compared to 1,50,000 POS earlier which is clearly a transformation and going forward too the infrastructure for digital payments will grow 3X within a span of one year.” she added.

    Among the smaller states, Delhi is at the top followed by Chandigarh and Puducherry. Chandigarh is ranked second in both e-infrastructure and e-participation. Puducherry ranks after Chandigarh when measured on the e-infrastructure index.

    Significantly, even within smaller states, the northeastern states ranked low in terms of overall Internet readiness. Therefore, much more needs to be done in the form of investment and infrastructure development in the region. Among the northeastern states, Nagaland tops the list, closely followed by Manipur and Tripura. Nagaland leads in IT environment and performs moderately well in other categories to get to the top.

    Internet readiness index is a composite benchmark of four components, i.e., e-Infrastructure index, e-Participation index, IT-Environment and government e-services index. All four components have equal weightage in this model. Separately, a fifth Index (named the Core Internet Index) has been created this year, consisting of select variables already used in constructing the above indices. The purpose of the index is to give a sharper perspective for digital industries looking to expand their business in Indian States.

    The overall top rankers amongst states as per their scores in the various indices are as follows:

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    One of the key highlights of this year’s report is measuring the digital start-up eco-system of states. The report finds that Karnataka, Delhi and Maharashtra are the top three states with the highest number of digital start-ups. The study says that of the total 242 start-up incubators in the country, 61 start-up incubators are in Tamil Nadu. About 83% of these incubators are in 10 states, i.e., Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Delhi and Rajasthan. In the North East, except for Manipur where a single start-up incubator is present, none of the other states have one.  

    The report highlights the performance of the states regarding different measures of Internet readiness index. Given the rapid advancement in e-services and e-commerce, it is essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the states. While this would help the business and governments to leverage the strength, policy measures can also be taken where improvements are required.

     

  • Airtel & Amazon partner for Fire TV Stick with voice remote

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel has announced a partnership with Amazon for Amazon’s Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote, which was launched in India today.

    Customers purchasing Amazon Fire TV will get free 100 GB high speed data via Airtel Broadband or Airtel 4G Home Wi-Fi to enable them to enjoy online content on their TV. In addition, Airtel Movies, the OTT app from Airtel, will offer Airtel mobile and broadband customers access to an exciting collection of thousands of popular Bollywood movies & premium TV shows across a host of genres.

    Bharti Airtel consumer business and chief marketing officer Raj Pudipeddi said, “We invite customers to experience the Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote Fire TV on Airtel and also enjoy thousands of movies with Airtel Movies.”

    While the data offer can be availed by existing as well as new Airtel home broadband and 4G home Wi-Ficustomers, free access to content on Airtel Movies will be available to all Airtel mobile customers as well. The data quota can be availed in buckets of 35GB per month for three months from the date of activation. To activate the Airtel offer, customers of Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote have to just launch Airtel Movies and follow a few simple steps.

    Airtel 4G is available to customers in all 22 circles across India and the Airtel 4G home Wi-Fi device enables a seamless high speed Wi-Fi experience in homes with the added benefit of portability. Airtel has been rated as fastest mobile network in India by Ookla. Airtel Broadband is available to customers in 87 cities and offers high speed broadband with speeds up to 100 Mbps with cutting edge offerings like V-Fiber that power digital homes of the future.

    Airtel 4G Home Wi-Fi is currently available only in Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana, Kolkata, Punjab and Maharashtra.

  • Quick, crisp facts sans opinion: GoNews launch live-streamed from Global Exhibition on Services

    NEW DELHI: GoNews, an app-based news channel, was officially launched on Tuesday at CII’s Global Exhibition on Services. True to its adage of providing news on the go, the occasion was live-streamed to over 20,000 smartphone users who had downloaded the app, besides scores of followers on social media.

    Speaking on the occasion, GoNews founder and editor-in-chief Pankaj Pachauri said that creation of the app-based news channel was done on purpose so as to disseminate basic information and hard facts to viewers having no or little access to satellite TV.

    Pachauri, a former TV news journalist who had also done a stint as the former PM Manmohan Singh’s media advisor, said research and data convinced him that satellite TV news was losing its viewership as well as sheen because it had become “highly opinionated” and was increasingly becoming “hostage to advertising.”

    “We must deploy emerging technologies in media and save avoidable costs by constantly focusing on innovation and R&D. Unfortunately, this is not being done enough and it is hurting the bottomlines of all the news organisations,” he said while speaking at GES 2017.

    According to him, “There are more smart phones in India than TV sets now and viewers, particularly the youth, are fed up of news in the long format. They want their news without opinion or bias and they want it quickly. They hate it when the videos buffer. That is why the GoNews app is light on data size as well as data consumption. This is so because we are not force-fitting satellite content into a website and website content into an app. We are creating the content primarily for the app.”

    The app also puts the choices in the hands of viewers by allowing them to select the amount of content they want to watch on different subjects. “That is why we say ‘whenever you have time, that’s `prime time’,” Pachauri quipped.

    The CII’s Exhibition on Services is a three-day event in which 73 countries and nearly 600 exhibitors are participating. The exposition will continue until Thursday.

    Later, Pachauri told indiantelevision.com that the reception to the app based news channel made him believe that he and his team, probably, have made the correct decision to go mobile. “There were several queries on whether we were looking for additional funding and I had to tell those people that the venture is comfortable at this point of time. But the feedback from the audience was really encouraging,” he added.

    GoNews delivers personalised news to viewers on their smart phones and smart TVs at a time of their choosing. As per information made available by GoNews, news stories are citizen-centric and not consumer-centric, credible, co-creative and concise. The channel is collaborating with content generators in rural India to offer news and stories that often go unreported or are not available at other news outlets.

    In addition, GoNews provides live streaming of important news events from its studio and from the field, depending on the importance of the event.

    GoNews was founded and led by the veteran journalist Pachauri who has a wide experience of working with some of the top international and Indian broadcasters for over three decades. The team comprises senior journalists, drawn from the field of broadcasting, management and academia. GoNews is the first digital offering of Cloudburst Mediaworks Private Limited.

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  • Amazon Prime subs may get Fire TV device for Rs 1999 this month

    MUMBAI: Giving competition to Roku, Google Chrome Cast and similar streaming devices, Amazon Fire TV streaming gadget may be about to be launched in India this month. Reports have come in that the device will be available for Prime members at a starting price of Rs 1999.00, and for Rs 3999.00 for other subscribers. 

    Officially, Amazon neither confirmed nor denied the development when indiantelevision.com called up.

    Airtel last week launched its first Internet TV set-top box at Rs 4999 with three months complimentary primary subscription. Reports of Reliance Jio planning to launch internet TV STB are also out. 

    Although Fire TV may not replace your DTH, Fire stick users will be able to access apps such as Youtube, Netflix, and of course Prime video. Prime subscribers will get unlimited access to the Amazon prime videos, shows and movies. 

    Besides Amazon, Reliance Digital and Croma will reportedly stock this product in chosen cities initially, and distribution is planned to expand to other cities step by step. Fire TV products are sold in stick or a TV box forms.

    Fire stick’s main OS is a tweaked version of Android with Amazon UI added in. This gadget is powered by 1GB RAM and a Quad-core processor and the primary feature is a Alex-backed voice command so that it could be operated by a remote. 

    The stick measures 85.9 x 30.0 x 12.6mm, and is shaped to plug directly into an HDMI port on the back of the TV. Amazon’s hardware is a bit wider than a standard HDMI cable. On the side of the stick is a micro USB port for powering the device. Amazon also adds in a power adaptor in the box, and its USB cable is generally longer, so as to reach the power strip. The device has seen some upgradation Wi-Fi has been upgraded to 802.11ac standard, which would help content to buffer faster. 

    Among the cons are — the device isn’t smart enough to know which streaming service a particular show is available on. Resolution is limited to around 1080p, although this could be understandable in a limited budget.

    Also Read:

    Netflix confirms seven million subs; picks up Amazon gauntlet

    Amazon Fire TV: Autism channel now available free

  • ALTBalaji launched, to create 250+ hrs of original content this year

    MUMBAI: Undisputed leaders in the world of television and cinema Balaji Telefilms announced their arrival in the digital world through the launch of mobile platform ALTBalaji today. ALTBalaji has been launched with the vision to create original shows for India & Indians abroad, for consumption on their personal devices at location/time/show of their choice! 

    The platform will offer 250+ hours of original, exclusive content to its subscribers. This ad free, subscription-based platform will be commercially available with few of these original shows from 16 April. 

    After conquering the world of television, Balaji Telefilms and Ekta Kapoor are all set to claim her throne on digital entertainment space with the OTT platform ALTBalaji.

    The shows on video on demand platform are created by the best talent of Indian entertainment industry including critically acclaimed directors and actors. The long illustrious list of artists comprises of Nagesh Kukunoor, Juhi Chawla, Nimrat Kaur, Rajkumar Rao, Hansal Mehta, Sakshi Tanwar, Ram Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Sameer Soni, Yudhishtar Urs, Dipannita Sharma Atwal, and many more. 

    Commenting on the launch, Balaji Telefilms joint managing director Ekta Kapoor said, “Indian entertainment audience is evolving and so are we at Balaji, with ALTBalaji we are officially identifying our audience as individuals and not groups/family. We are entering into their most personal space- mobile phones and this empowers them to really watch what they want, at the time & location of their choice and not what single TV family is habituated to. ALTBalaji’s shows will open new world of home grown differentiated entertainment to the viewers with the best stories and artists.”

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair said, “We are proud to bring ALTBalaji to the Indian viewers, this is an alternate to their regular entertainment options- TV, Bollywood Films and foreign English content. We fit right between these options and with the plummeting digital divide across Indian cities we found a perfect space to showcase our content, digital platform. We tied up with multiple partners to ensure smooth navigation and subscription payment option, creating an unparalleled user experience on the app.”

    ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “The most endearing feature of ALTBalaji is its content, we are launching with the promise to bring fresh and never heard of stories to our viewers. While we are starting with 5 shows, it will be followed by a new show every 15 days for the binge watch lovers. On one hand we offer story of India’s first female in combative role- THE TEST CASE on the other we have most loved TV stars in KARRLE TU BHI MOHABBAT. It is intriguing and fresh story-telling.”

    Features of ALTBalaji app
    ALTBalaji is fully cloud based, to deliver incomparable performance and durability, ensuring high performance video delivery to all subscribers. ALTBalaji’s highlights include:
    ● A subscription based Video-on-Demand service with original and exclusive premium content at competitive prices to customers
    ● 5 episodes of every show free for viewing & less than Rs.1/day thereon
    ● Service across multiple connected devices with seamless cross device user experience
    ● Parental control allowing kids to watch kids content and giving them no access to other content

    Details of shows 

    · The Test Case- directed by national award winning director Nagesh Kukunoor, the show stars Nimrat Kaur as THE TEST CASE prepping to be the Indian Army’s first woman test case in a combat role. It is an inspirational story about her passion and struggle to prove her worth as a combative soldier. The impressive cast includes Juhi Chawla, Atul Kulkarni and Rahul Dev.

    · Boygiri- it is fun, pure, unadulterated, slaphappy comic story of boys next door. Boygiri is an authentic take on “men will be boys” and the overarching awkwardness of being boys.

    · Romil and Jugal- this is ALTBalaji’s fresh take on Shakespeare’s famous tale of Romeo and Juliet but with a twist. An emotional love story of two boys- Romil and Jugal who hails from different family and cultural backgrounds. 

    · Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat- Starring the famous duo Sakshi Tanwar and Ram Kapoor, this is a story of two opposite people who cross each other’s paths suddenly and how it has an everlasting impact on their lives.

    · Bewaffa Sii Wafaa- a matured, complicated love story of two married people, married to other people. This emotionally charged story opens multiple layers off a relations between married couples and explores what happens when one of them finds loves outside marriage. 

    · Dev DD- Imagine Devdas with a bottle of vodka, now replace Devdas with Devika Dharmendra Dwivedi! This is a twisted tale of Devika (Dev DD) who is not a ‘so called good girl’ and loves everything that is complicated in life.

    ALTBalaji’s 250+ hours of original and exclusive content offers a wide range of genres, the package has something for every viewer. Shows in regional language are also in pipeline for the platform, Maya Thirrai- a Tamil thriller drama will soon be available to viewers. ALTBalaji will offer extensive range of shows in various languages and genres to all age group and regions, both in India and abroad.

  • ‘Common standard’ good to measure ‘unbundled’ viewership & ads cost-effectiveness: EKAM

    MUMBAI: BARC India has announced the phased roll-out of its much-awaited digital measurement service. 

    EKAM Pulse will measure video ad campaigns and will be the first digital offering to be rolled out by BARC India. EKAM Beam, the next product lined up for release, will measure linear broadcast that is viewed on a Digital device. EKAM Stream, will measure both non-linear and pure play digital video content. BARCIndia will also provide industry with EKAM Ad-Scan – which will be a global first-of-its-kind product. 

    EKAM Integra – will help industry with common, robust and independent audience numbers that will give more accurate incremental reach figures. To do this,BARC India’s TV data will be tied with Digital Video data with the help of Single-Source and Digital Booster panels on top of the census measurement and big data.

    www.indiantelevision.com spoke to a cross-section of the industry on the new scale. Sony Pictures Networks India EVP and Head – Digital Business Uday Sodhi, and Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai both find the proposed new system interesting. 

    Speaking on the announcement, Sodhi said, “While digital advertising spends in India have witnessed exponential growth over the past couple of years, measuring the cost-effectiveness of video advertisements across TV and digital properties has been one of the biggest pain points for brands in India. The launch of EKAM by BARC India comes as a very welcome development in such a scenario. Not only will it allow advertisers to analyze quantifiable differences in video ad impressions, but will also allow them to see unique and de-duplicated reach and frequency across multiple platforms to accurately ascertain the ROI. It will enable fairer pricing for both advertisers and publishers, and will allow for incremental ad revenues for platforms which provide the maximum consumer reach and impressions. Looking forward to the market launch of the EKAM suite of products and the disruption it will bring in the digital ad industry.”

    On the launch of the BARC digital measurement tool, Zee Entertainment Z5 Business head of digital – India Archana Anand said:

    “This is a very positive development, not just for the OTT segment but for the media industry at large. Given the pace at which the digital entertainment industry is growing, it is becoming more and more critical to have a standardized tool for measurement. A common currency for digital measurement  will allow OTT players to benchmark their performance better across standardized metrics and catalyse overall growth of the industry. This will also help broadcasters get a holistic and more integrated analysis of their viewership across broadcast and digital media, enabling them to feel a greater sense of ownership rather than feeling that they are losing out to digital.“

    Viacom18 digital venture’s COO Gaurav Gandhi: said While digital video services are all fully measurable, there is no common industry measurement nor is there common standard for things like viewability.

    Having a common industry measurement will help all industry stakeholders. It will be a big boost to the fast growing digital video business to realize fair values for audience delivered and help the agencies to plan across TV and digital video better (as well as across various digital video services) – as they will now be able to implement true cross media plans. It will also give more confidence to the advertisers that their audience deliveries are backed by a common industry validated source.”

    Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai replied to indiantelevision.com queries:

    Was it eagerly awaited? How do you see it?

    Tanay Desai: BARC ‘s Ekam measurement system was eagerly awaited given the lack of transparency in Indian digital media. Today, advertisers on mainstream platforms are often unaware about their exact spends, resulting into 60% inaccuracy in reporting at times. The common denominator for measurement will be challenging to implement — in terms of defining what makes a view, along with specialised metrics for mobile and web for demographic measurement.

    Which are the other methods you have been using?

    Tanay Desai: In-house analytics along with trusted and verified third party vendors to track activity on video, channel and page level. Metrics include engagement, source of session, demographic and geographic data. Dekkho allows advertisers to associate with individual videos, channels and pages of content unlike a fully automated/programmatic allocation system. This ensures brand safety and correct targeting while optimising use of media spends for brands aiming for specific audiences.

    How would it give a fillip to the ecosystem?

    Tanay Desai: OTTs that belong to production houses often sell inventory on a bundled basis. i.e. – TV + digital. This results into little transparency regarding actual views on digital. With the new system in place, digital viewership measurement will be isolated from TV be it a production house backed OTT or an independent aggregator. On the other hand, OTT players themselves will command higher CPMs through superior audience targeting. Media agencies and buyers will have relative knowledge i.e. – compare one OTT’s offering with its peers while spending on behalf of clients.

  • Android future of TV, but many unwilling to pay

    NEW DELHI: Around 72% of respondents in a recent survey are considering Android implementations as a part of their set-top box (STB) strategies. In addition, 50% of respondents in a global survey see Android as being important for their goals within the next five years.

    These are among the findings of a research done by digital security platform Irdeto and OvumConsulting indicating that a majority of video service providers have either Android TV or Android Open Source Project (AOSP) on their technology roadmaps.

    Conducted in February 2017, the study “Is Android the future of the set-top box?” covered 300 TV industry professionals.

    Around 106 respondents were from APAC, segregated by Ovum into two categories: Developed which had 58 respondents and developing which had 48 respondents. India figures in the latter category.

    It also identified a variety of benefits they perceive Android TV to offer, including the availability of new features and services, faster time-to-market, an attractive user interface and cost efficiencies.

    However, while a majority of respondents indicated a commitment to Android, only 54% of video service providers are willing to pay more for Android chipsets than traditional chipsets with embedded middleware.

    Features, specifically the ability for users to download additional apps, are the driving force leading Android implementations. Video service providers with more than one million subscribers (43%) and those with less than one million subscribers (34%) both said that this was the number one driver for adoption.

    However, despite service providers’ confidence in the benefits of Android TV, there are significant concerns around piracy and cyberthreats. By allowing easy installations of other applications onto the STB, 43% of respondents believe there will be an increased attack surface, while 41% are concerned that their subscribers could install apps for illegal streaming.

    “Video service providers are feeling pressure to continue to innovate their offerings to satisfy consumer demand for an optimal user experience,” said Irdeto director of Product Management Frank Poppelsdorf. “These results indicate that Android TV is not only on pace to play a critical role in the future of TV distribution, but are essential for the industry to meet growing consumer demand for new and innovative services. However, the open nature of the technology brings up several security concerns, especially in regard to piracy. As the industry continues to shift toward more open platforms for the set-top box, it will be critical for video service providers to implement a robust 360-degree security approach to ensure their premium content is protected while optimizing flexibility and time to market.”

    While many expect Android to dominate the TV landscape in the near future, the survey revealed that more education on the differences between Android platforms may be needed. Only 52% of those surveyed understand the differences between Android TV and AOSP.

    “Education on Android platforms is critical for video service providers to understand the capabilities, benefits and drawbacks of each technology in order to make the best strategic decision concerning their technology roadmap,” saidOvum Practioce Leader TV Ed Barton. “These types of insights identified in our survey with Irdeto are key to help pay TV operators, broadcasters and OTT streaming providers better anticipate the opportunities and challenges ahead. We were pleased to work with Irdeto on this survey of C-Level executives as well as professionals across multiple disciplines to identify Android strategies that will shape the pay TV market in the years ahead.”

    As platforms like Android TV become the new norm in the TV landscape, it will be important for operators to employ a holistic, 360-degree security approach to secure these next-generation devices. Stofa, Denmark’s most innovative supplier of cable TV and broadband internet services, recently selected Irdeto Cloaked CA to securely deliver content through its upcoming new Android set-top box (STB). Not only will subscribers have the full range of Stofa services on the STB, they will also have direct access to the Google Play app store and to streaming services such as YouTube. Stofa intends to revolutionize the user experience with its new Android STB and with Irdeto’s latest renewable and cardless software security, any form of content delivered to customers will be robustly protected.

    The survey was commissioned by Irdeto and conducted in February 2017 by Ovum. 301 TV industry professionals spread across six regional groupings, including APAC, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa and North America participated in the survey. All respondent companies provide video services as part of their business and the service provider types were Internet service providers, OTT video providers, pay TV operators (cable, DTT and satellite) and telecoms providers. The survey targeted an informed audience with a representative proportion of C-level respondents alongside technology, content, marketing and network security.