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Tag: KPMG Report

  • Guest Column: How 2018 could become a landmark year for OTT entertainment in India

    Guest Column: How 2018 could become a landmark year for OTT entertainment in India

    Art imitates life–this oft-repeated saying is particularly suited for the global entertainment landscape at present. The growing penetration of technology in our lives has led to widespread transformation in the way that we consume entertainment and has led to the establishment of over-the-top or OTT entertainment as a distinctive segment in its own right. The last couple of years, in particular, have seen rapid development in both OTT technologies as well as their end-user adoption.

    India, as the fastest growing large economy in the world, has been at the forefront of this tech-led renaissance. A recent KPMG report highlighted how OTT video content consumption in India has exploded, accounting for nearly half of the overall data usage within the country. This dominance is expected to grow to 75 per cent by the year 2020, as data tariffs fall and smartphones become more affordable. With the OTT entertainment landscape registering massive growth in 2017, could 2018 become a landmark year for this high-potential space? The following trends indicate that this could indeed be the case:

    The rise of regional content

    With Indian viewers consuming more online content, OTT has moved beyond metropolitan and tier-1 cities. The increased internet penetration across the country means that more and more consumers from rural and semi-urban geographies are consuming online content. This is driving the demand for entertainment that these users can relate to, that speaks to them in a language that they are familiar with.

    Regional content, as a result, is on the rise; studies indicate that 45 per cent of OTT users in India access content in regional languages. Hindi-based content remains popular, but with leading OTT players actively looking to tap into nascent regional markets across the country, regional content is expected to assume an important role in the overall OTT landscape.

    Cross-platform OTT viewing will grow

    The linear and scheduled content delivery model that traditional TV follows does not suit the evolved entertainment sensibilities and preferences of the new-age, digital-first consumers. They want their choice of entertainment delivered to them at the touch of the button, to be consumed on a device of their choice, at the time that they want to. This is driving the growing adoption of OTT entertainment in India.

    But 5-inch smartphone screens can hardly deliver the immersive experience that television enables, which is why some leading OTT platforms are also focussing on enabling a seamless, holistic, and completely native viewing experience across multiple platforms. The increased penetration of smart TVs is marrying the flexibility of OTT content with the richness of wide-screen entertainment. This will allow viewers across the county to get the best of both worlds, and will further entrench OTT’s proposition as the dominant entertainment paradigm in India.

    More AR/VR-based content to drive immersive entertainment

    There is perhaps no other medium which can deliver the immersion and engagement that virtual reality and augmented reality do. But despite the proliferation of cutting-edge VR-based devices such as Oculus Rift, Microsoft HoloLens, Vive, and PlayStation VR in the market, there is a significant lack of content that can be delivered through it. Most VR/AR solutions are, as a result, restricted to gaming at present. This is set to change in the near future; as more and more content developers and OTT platforms develop the capabilities to deliver content that is tailored for enabling an immersive, engaging, and highly interactive video entertainment experience. This will lead to the evolution in the way the entertainment is delivered and consumed and could end up transforming the global OTT landscape.

    l High demand of OTT video advertising

    Cutting-edge tech such as precision segmentation, interactivity, data, and analytics enable OTT video platforms to deliver superior ad performances in an immersive and engaging environment. This technological differentiation will drive the popularity of OTT video ads amongst digital marketers in 2018. Recent industry reports corroborate this sentiment. It is expected that OTT video advertisements will continue to play a major role in driving the overall digital advertising landscape, helping it reach revenues to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore by 2020.

    Live events streaming

    Recent technological advancements have redefined the live entertainment landscape by making it possible to deliver immersive, seamless, and glitch-free online streaming experiences in real-time. Popular sports tournaments are now being streamed live across the world by leading OTT platforms, while other prominent live events such as music concerts are also finding enhanced viewership through the OTT medium. With more and more users looking to catch their preferred live entertainment on the move, we can expect collaborations between IP owners, OTT players, and traditional broadcasters to enable live streaming of major events in 2018.

    public://ABHESH_1.jpgThe author is the chief operating officer at nexGTV. The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them.
  • Reliance Jio selects Ballard Power Systems for backup power system

    Reliance Jio selects Ballard Power Systems for backup power system

    MUMBAI: Ballard Power Systems has received a purchase order from Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) for 100 ElectraGen-ME fuel cell backup power systems to be deployed in its wireless telecom network in India.

     

    Shipment of these initial 100 systems is expected to be completed in 2015.

     

    The purchase order follows successful completion of a 12-month trial by RJIL of fuel cell systems from various vendors, with Ballard’s ElectraGen-ME methanol-fueled system ultimately having been selected for use in backup power applications. This purchase order is the first of a series of planned deployments in RJIL’s India network.  

     

    “This is an important commercial milestone for our telecom backup power growth strategy in a major emerging market. Based on the performance and value demonstrated by our systems throughout the trial, we are now advancing to extensive commercial deployments with a major telecom service provider,” said Ballard chief commercial officer Steve Karaffa. 

     

    As the only company with a pan-Indian broadband wireless access license, RJIL is in the process of building out a new 4G telecom network, which requires the acquisition of hundreds of new base station towers.

     

    India is one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets, with more than 10 million new subscribers added each month, according to the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA). This growing demand for telecom services is also driving increased energy consumption in India, a challenge given the poor quality of the country’s electrical grid.

     

    According to a KPMG report, approximately 300,000 telecom towers in India face electrical grid outages in excess of 8-hours on a daily basis. As a result, telecom network operators have been relying on diesel generators and lead-acid batteries to provide backup power, resulting in the consumption of more than 475 million gallons (1.8 billion litres) of diesel fuel annually, with the attendant negative greenhouse gas impacts. Therefore, there is an acute need for reliable and cost-effective extended duration backup power solutions – such as the ElectraGen-ME fuel cell system – at telecom base station sites.  

     

    To limit the environmental impact, India’s Department of Telecommunications has mandated that tower companies reduce the dependence on diesel generators by powering at least 50 per cent of rural towers and 20 per cent of urban towers with clean energy systems by 2015. Increasingly, telecom network operators in India are considering zero-emission fuel cell technology as an extended-duration solution that effectively addresses this clean energy requirement.