ITV

Tag: OTT

  • OTT’s first digital talent hunt for kids launched on Voot

    MUMBAI: HDFC Life, a private life insurance company, has announced the return of HDFC Life Young Stars Season 2 in partnership with Voot, a Video-on-Demand platform from Viacom18.

    Conceptualised by Maxus for HDFC Life, this unique digital talent show for kids includes performances by children, between the ages of 6 and 14, in the popular categories of Dancing, Singing, Acting and Musical Instruments. The engaging show HDFC Life YoungStars Season 2, showcasing kids and their inspiring talent, is now streaming exclusively on Voot .

    Along with mesmerizing audiences with their stellar performances, the young prodigies will also be mentored and judged by celebrity experts from the respective fields. The celebrity judges this season include:

    – Salman Yusuff Khan, a popular dancer turned actor of ABCD fame, will be making his judging debut and mentoring the young dancers

    – Jay Bhanushali, an award winning television actor and renowned host, will be mentoring the child actors

    – Harshdeep Kaur, the Bollywood singing sensation, will be mentoring young singers, while

    – Leslie Lewis of Colonial Cousins fame will be mentoring the budding musicians.

    YoungStars Season 2 aligns to HDFC Life’s digital first focus and Voot’s vision of curating innovative content experiences. Parents uploaded their child’s video clips on the Young Stars microsite, which were then shortlisted. The selected children will get mentored by the celebrity judges, who will nurture their talent in the field of their choice. The finale will include a faceoff between the finalists and the winners, who will be adjudged ‘HDFC Life Young Stars’ and will get the opportunity to perform with the celebrity mentors.

    Commenting on YoungStars Season 2, Pankaj Gupta, EVP-Strategic Alliances, Bancassurance & Marketing, HDFC Life said, “Every child has a special talent that blooms through recognition and constant encouragement. Keeping this in mind, we launched HDFC Life YoungStars, an innovative digital platform that gives parents the opportunity to nurture their child’s talent, through expert guidance. The platform allows us, as a brand, to give parents the ability to secure more than just their child’s financial future.”

    Pooja Verma, Head – Content, Sports and Entertainment Partnerships at Maxus, said, “Maxus is incredibly proud to have established HDFC Life YoungStars as a valuable asset for HDFC Life to bring alive the brand’s proposition of ‘Sar utha ke jiyo!’. The show extensively engaged with parents and kids, in line with the deeply rooted brand philosophy.”

    She further added, “We are excited to reprise the success of HDFC Life YoungStars at an even bigger scale this year, together with the perfect partner that we found in Voot. The encouraging response so far has once again, affirmed our expertise and belief in the power of using content for brands to tell their stories in newer and compelling ways.”

    Monika Shergill, Head of Content, Viacom 18 Digital Ventures said “We at Voot are always looking at bringing content innovation to our viewers. With HDFC Life YoungStars 2, we have brought alive an immersive platform for kids to showcase their talent. With this show, we are confident of providing entertainment & engagement for all our viewers – both parents and kids.”

    She further added “We are happy to partner with HDFC Life and Maxus to promote new and unique talent amongst kids. Both HDFC Life and Voot have a shared vision of empowering kids and with this initiative we intend to tap into their early potential and give them a platform to show case the same to the world.”

  • Ditto TV has the largest paid OTT subscriber base in India, says Zeel’s Z5 head Archana Anand

    MUMBAI: Even as Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd has got it right on the television front, questions have time and again been raised that it has not got its act together on digital. However, ever since the digital business was handed over to Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra’s younger son Amit Goenka, the company has been working on redoing its roadmap for VoD and streaming. 

    Hence, last year, it took a major punt by relaunching its platform Ditto TV as a live television platform. The sticker price was Rs 20 a month. And, the water cooler talk is that Goenka and team Z5 have got   a handle on the direction they would like to steer Ditto TV. More action and announcements are slated to follow.

    Goenka’s point professional is Archana Anand who serves as Z5 Business EVP and  head of digital. It is Anand who is executing strategy on the ground. And, she believes that the Rs 20 decision has proved to be a wise one, as it  has helped it reach newer audience who are not watching TV.

    Anand was one of the speakers at indiantelevision.com’s second edition of Vidnet2017. She had a one-on-one conversation with Indiantelevision.com consulting editor Anjan Mitra.  Excerpts from the conversation:

    What are your views on the OTT landscape in India?

    I think we are going through the best time possibly can have for the industry. Jio has played an immense part in easing out the the ecosystem and making it much more viable for people to consume OTT.

    More importantly we have had some international players coming in and setting up  shop here, Netflix and Amazon, I think that’s wonderful in the sense as the category has got evangelised so that people who will be coming later will don’t have go to explain what it is.

     With Jio and all the international players coming in it’s a fantastic time for somebody to do interesting things in this space. 

    Would you like to share some insights from your work with Ditto?

    People have been questioning whether going the SVoD way in a market like India where consumers are still hesitant to pay and that mindset is that content should come to us for free. If not, we are okay to get it from pirated sites. At  DittoTV, we were pioneers when we launched in 2012 for quite some reasons we couldn’t make the impact which we wanted to.

    Last year, we re-launched with a very gutsy call. We re-launched Ditto at a very radical price of Rs 20 and our catch phrase was ‘BeesKa TV’ and industry asked how we would make a profit out of it  – at so low a price.

    I am delighted to say this was the most successful thing we ever thought through.

    The concept was to democratize television. With this Rs 20 price point, our thought process was we will actually create penetration and get television to be used by all of those little markets and people who couldn’t afford.

    Our campaign was pretty thought thourgh that I didn’t believe I was reaching out to the urban audience. I was very clear that I am reaching out the audience for whom digital is fuzzy word.

    More importantly with the 20 bucks price point what I got to do we were able to get it from telco’s mobile wallet which is the most ubiquitous in this country and that helped to partner with telcos and get immediate distribution. So today i have tied up with all the four telcos of this country. Subscription base comes (read: is growing month to month) because of the promotions done by the telcos. The highest cost is cost for acquisition and I don’t have any acquisition cost  – the telcos are giving it free to the consumer and paying.

    It was our good fortune that Reliance launched their Jio Play with live television and suddenly the other telcos needed Ditto. My guess is we would be highest or the biggest paid subscriber OTT in this country.

    Despite that,  as an ordinary consumer I am confused about your brand. Why so many brands in a space which is already littered with other brands?

    For starters, I understand it’s a bit confusing. In a short time, people will see our thought process and strategy for OTT very differently. We are going to get these multiple brands under a single umbrella and we will do a exciting launch in the near future.

    What will be your go-to market strategy then? 

    One should not view this market (in India) purely as AVoD or SVoD or TVoD. All of those models will still be exist because we are seeing the potential.  

    BARC recently put out some numbers saying there are some 103 million home who still don’t have access to television. So, what happened to those homes do they leapfrog to digital for they have already done so?

    Going by our Ditto expereince, I do believe we have reached out to a far greater audience than currently being targeted by BARC. Once EKAM (BARC’digital video measurement service) comes in, I hope you will realize that the last mile has expanded a little more because of the option of being able to watch live television on digital.

    Will OTT and traditional linear television both survive or cannibalise?

    Look at the consumer eyeballs around you and you resist all you want but the fact is this little device becomes the single point for us for most of our  content. Huge brands across the globe are now revisiting the way they are spending advertising money saying they wanted a particular urban audience or millennial audience. For the youth, they are possible smarter to put it on OTT.

    Having said that, while one is not making big prophecies about the death of television but you are going to see a trend. We have over 30 OTT players today. It doesn’t make any sense, it’s a loss pool today, and more and more people are jumping in. But, everybody is making a punt for the future.

    Zee Group, the parent company, completely got out of owning sports content. Aren’t you losing on a huge chunk of young audience who are digitally literate and could be your subscribers.

    It might be true but there are choices you make. You can’t do everything and so, I think, the concept was very clear if you couldn’t be the leader or number two in that space we rather move on and use the investment in the other areas.

  • Cable TV, DTH and OTT distribution

    MUMBAI: Having an OTT service is not enough; you’ve got to get it out on every outlet possible, is something we all know. But are traditional TV distributors like DTH and cable TV open to giving them carriage? That was the topic of discussion on one of the panels at Indiantelevision.com’s second VIDNET – Content on the Go powered by Viu conference in Mumbai’s Hotel Westin.

    On stage were Shemaroo CEO Jai Maroo, DEN CEO SN. Sharma and outgoing Videocond2h COO Himanshu Patil.

    Maroo said Shemaroo was interested in getting its content on every service – DTH, cable TV, OTT, traditional linear channels, or even YouTube.

    “We have done content supply deals with all the four major DTH operators and are about to do some with cable TV as well,” said Maroo. “Our content has to be on every screen.”

    He added that the company is constantly mulling over the idea of setting up its own OTT but has not gone ahead on it. “Every six months we visit the thought of doing our own app,” he shared. “But I see what’s going on with our other VOD partners and we drop it. We may do it when we think the time is right. Currently, we are curating and packaging our large content catalogue to them”

    Patil stated that the DTH provider had partnered with Shemaroo for several VAS services that Videocon d2H was offering to its subscribers. “And mind you they are willing to pay as much as Rs 30-40 for the service like Darshan, And its not only high end HD or 4K customers who are at the premium pack end who are willing to subscriber to our BAS service. Even the basic pack customers are” disclosed Patil. “So OTT players should take heart from our experiences – the willingness to pay is there as long as you provide her with the content she wants.”

    He added that Videocon2h is ready to embed any OTT app into an user interface on the DTH service. “We are currently integrating Netflix with our connected box, and are talking to almost every OTT player in India to do the same,” he said.” I’d rather have my customer stay with me for my DTH service and offer him the entire bouquet so he can move out into VOD when he wants and come back into linear television when he wants. We will be working on voice activated search and discovery which will enable to him find every piece of content related to that search.”

    He revealed that the operator had dropped the idea of serving an on-the-go app to its subscribers. “All the broadcasters are coming up with their own apps. It did not make sense for us to have our own,” he explained.

    DEN’s Sharma disclosed that the MSO had, on the other hand, unveiled its own OTT on which it was offering traditional linear channels as subscribers had expressed the need to watch these on their hand held devices or on the go. “But it’s early days for us and we are learning along the way,” he said. “We know we have to aggregate content, apart from our normal linear fare. We have 2,500 movie titles, and other video on demand fare. ”

    He highlighted that he was open to integrating any app or OTT service into the DEN network. “Yes, we are willing to partner, possibly, initially to provide customer service and get the apps or OTT players traction, but we would like to see revenue coming our way at some stage,” he elaborated.

    The fact that this would benefit his Boomband broadband services was not lost on him. “It will be a win-win for all of us,” he expressed.

    He said DEN was working on getting boxes into homes which would enable regular TVs to become smart. “Very soon,” he said.

    He was not worried about the impending launch of Jio Fibre or Jio DTH wherein rumours are that it will disrupt the wired broadband market just as it did in the wireless space.

    “If it goes the free way like it went for its 4G mobile service, I am sure no one will be able to stand up against it,” he stated. “But the fact is that it is going to take time to be available nationally. So lets’s wait and watch.”

  • Indian online video to grow to US 1.6 bn at 35 percent CAGR by 2022

    MUMBAI: Media Partners Asia (MPA) estimates that the Indian online video industry generated approximately US$ 230 million in total sales in 2016, and is on course to reach approximately US$340 million in 2017. MPA projects a 35 percent CAGR to 2022 as total industry sales top US$1.6 billion.

    Further, the MPA report entitled Asia Pacific Online Video & Broadband Distribution, says that the Asia Pacific online video market will scale to US$ 46 billion by 2022, with China contributing more than 75 percent. MPA indicates that online video revenues, including net advertising and subscription fees, will grow at a 21 percent CAGR across the region between 2017 and 2022, climbing from US$17.6 billion in 2017 to US$46 billion by 2022.

    Said Mumbai-based MPA Vice President Mihir Shah: “In 2016, Jio’s 4G launch intensified competition slashing mobile data prices. The currency demonetization initiative by the government, implemented towards the end of 2016, also helped spur a significant improvement in the digital payments infrastructure in the country. Both these events have served as catalysts for online video consumption and monetization. By 2022, SVOD will account for 17 percent of the online video market in terms of revenues. Online video consumption will remain dominated by YouTube with domestic challengers Hotstar and Voot performing robustly but in a distant second and third place, respectively.”

    China will continue to contribute the lion’s share of customers and revenues to the online video industry in Asia Pacific, garnering 85 percent of SVOD customers and 78 percent of online video sector revenues by 2022. Such growth and scale reflects: (1) Wide-scale investment in original and acquired OTT content, including early and exclusive windows; (2) A weak market for traditional pay-TV, creating an opportunity for premium content distribution and monetization through online video; (3) Steady improvements in broadband reach and infrastructure, as well as increased adoption of smart TVs and set-top boxes; (4) Consumer adoption of seamless payment systems, developed by the owners of some of the most popular online video services, who are also leveraging data analytics and bundling to create new cohesive new ecosystems for content, commerce and communication. China’s online video market is largely ad-supported but with subscription’s share of revenue hitting 33 percent in 2017 (compared to 18 percent in 2015 and 26 percent in 2016), prospects for a demand-driven subscription model remain bright.

    Japan, Australia, India, Korea and Taiwan will emerge as the markets ex-China with the most scale in online video revenues and distribution. This reflects robust payment infrastructure, including in India, along with the growth of advertising-funded platforms and the steady rise of premium, subscription-based platforms. Piracy and under-developed payment infrastructure will continue to limit growth across much of Southeast Asia although increased broadband penetration (led by mobile connectivity) positions telcos as key partners to drive online video revenues. Online video advertising, in particular, remains a scalable and vital opportunity in Southeast Asia while SVOD revenues will grow rapidly from a very low base.

    Said MPA executive director Vivek Couto: “Advances in telecoms and payment infrastructure continue to point the way forward for the online video sector in Asia Pacific, although business models and regulations continue to evolve in a sector that’s still nascent in most territories. Key trends are emerging: (1) Services anchored to nimble, robust and sustainable business models – built around strong execution and scalable content consumption – are rising to the top; (2) Access to local and Asian content is increasingly essential in almost all markets, while demand for recent windows for franchise-based Hollywood product is also robust. Demand for original content along with movies, kids content and sports is also becoming more important; (3) Content curation, packaging and pricing remain critical, along with brand equity. Telecom operators, which have been focused on either paid conversion or mass reach to drive value, are increasingly moving to tighter payment per consumption models in pursuit of ROI across key video partnerships; (4) The value of branded destinations will increase rapidly within the online video ecosystem as platforms and operators forge partnerships with broadcasters and content players; (5) Leading local and regional players ex-China will start to capitalize on a massive online video advertising opportunity, hitherto dominated in the main by YouTube.”

    According to MPA, the online video advertising pie in Asia Pacific will grow from under US$12 billion in 2017 to more than US$25 billion by 2022. Ex-China, this opportunity equates to US$7 billion by 2022 versus US$3 billion in 2017. YouTube and to some extent Facebook will remain dominant, with an average 75 percent market share of online video advertising between them ex-China by 2022, versus 85 percent in 2017. Japan, India and Australia, followed by Korea, will be the biggest online video ad markets after China over this period. In SVOD, consumer spend ex-China will accelerate from a low base as revenues reach ~US$3.1 billion in 2022 versus US$1.5 billion in 2017. Japan and Australia will account for a combined 55 percent of value by 2022 versus 68 percent in 2017. Southeast Asia’s contribution will climb rapidly from a mere 9 percent in 2017 to 15 percent by 2022. Indirect SVOD revenues, which reflect wholesale fees paid by telcos to online video platforms as part of bundling and integration agreements, will remain important in the medium term but become less significant longer-term. Even in the short-to-medium term, telecom operators are recalibrating their approach to ROI with a greater focus on payment per consumption models. Ex-China, SVOD indirect fees will grow from only US$110 million in 2017 to US$213 million by 2022. Average SVOD subscriber penetration of the population will only reach 9.8 percent in 2017. This should increase to ~19 percent by 2022 as total SVOD subs, including direct and indirect connections, scale from 341 million in 2017 to 676 million by 2022 (from 58 million to 102 million ex-China).

    Exponential growth of mobile internet connectivity, combined with a slow but steady transition to next-generation fixed broadband, will provide a significant boost to online video consumption, reach and monetization. According to MPA, data revenues across fixed and mobile networks in Asia Pacific are sizable at US$236 billion in 2017. These will reach US$318 billion by 2022, with the ex-China market size at ~US$175 billion by 2022 versus US$126 billion in 2017. Average mobile broadband penetration will reach 73 percent per capita by 2022 versus 59 percent in 2017, with some of the biggest growth coming from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Average fixed broadband penetration will grow steadily from 44 percent to 52 percent of households over 2017-22, with the focus increasingly on upgrading high-speed networks using fibre and next-generation cable technologies.

  • VIDNET 2017: MINING THE BURGEONING OTT/VOD SECTOR

    MUMBAI: Leaders of India’s OTT, live streaming and video on demand ecosystem will be congregating at the Hotel Westin in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb to participate in the second edition of indiantelevision.com’s industry confab VIDNET 2017- Content on the Go.

    Heads of Hotstar, DittoTV, Voot, SonyLiv, YuppTV and Viu, BARC’s planned digital measurement offering and the entertainment and media partnership heads of YouTube India and Facebook India will be highlighting the progress that their platforms have made and the way forward for video on demand and streaming services which are in their relative infancy but have seen tremendous traction over the past year or so..

    “2016-17 has been a year of an explosion in video consumption for the plethora of VOD and streaming service providers who have popped up in India,” says Indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO & editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. “This is thanks to dropping bandwidth prices, the Reliance Jio effect of free data. Humungous investments are being poured into original content by Netflix, and Amazon, even as others are either investing in movies, sports, or kids content. This at a time when they are grappling with the business model: go pay or free or a mix of both. Our estimate is that around Rs 1,500-1,700 crore has already been invested by the various players. Thus, VIDNET 2017 is happening at an apt time. It will help foster discussions, relationships, deals between the various players and possibly allow for new ideas to flow in. A stellar lineup of speakers makes VIDNET, the industry’s leading VOD thought gathering.”

    VIDNET 2017 is slated to feature panel discussions on whether OTT/VOD/digital video is a sound investment proposition, its attractiveness to advertisers, the need for deeper distribution for the platforms, and who should be commissioned to produce the content, Bollywood biggies or smaller independents.

    Among the speakers who will be sharing their views at VIDNET include:

    Arre co-founder & CEO Ajay Chacko,

    Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan,

    Still and Still Media collective founder

    Amritpal Singh Bindra,

    Indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO & editor in chief Anil Wanvari,

    Pocket Aces founder Anirudh Pandita,

    Z5 Business EVP & head of digital India Archana Anand,

    Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami,

    VideoTap founder & CEO Dilip Venkatraman,

    Viacom18 digital ventures Voot COO Gaurav Gandhi,

    VideoconD2h COO Himanshu Patil,

    Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd director Jai Maroo,

    BARC India digital business head Jamie Kenney,

    Aisa TV Forum and Market Reed Exhibitions executive producer & editorial director Lunita S V Mendoza,

    Asia TV Forum & Market – Reed Exhibitions business development manager Meen Yi Phua,

    Media Partners Asia vice president Mihir Shah,

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures content head Monika Shergill,

    Cheetah Mobile India director of brand solutions Neel Sapre,

    Principal Provocateur Advisory Paritosh Joshi,

    Monozygotic co-founder & chief creative officer Raghu Ram,

    WATConsult founder & CEO Rajiv Dingra,

    Prime Focus technologies founder & CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan,

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair,

    Akamai Technologies country sales manager, media Sandeep Reddy,

    Youtube entertainment partnership head Satya Raghavan,

    Facebook India media partnership head Saurabh Doshi,

    Swastik Productions, One Life studios founder & creative director Siddharth Kumar Tewary,

    Viu India marketing head Shantanu Gangane,

    Producer Siddharth Jain,

    Den Networks Ltd CEO S N Sharma,

    Amagi Media labs co – founder Srinivasan KA,

    Sourabh Pant,

    Perform group director content sales India Subhayu Roy,

    RBNL CEO TaruN Katial,

    Yupp TV founder & CEO Uday Reddy,

    SonyLIV EVP & digital head Uday Sodhi,

    Viu country head India Vishal Kumar Maheshwari,

    Emerald Media executive director & investment head Vivek Raicha

    Castle Media Pvt Ltd executive director Vynsley Fernandes.

    An initiative by Indiantelevision.com, Vident 2017 is powered by Viu. The summit partners for the event are Hotstar and Voot. Prime Focus Technologies, Sony Liv and Perform group is associate partners. Akamai is OTT partner. Animationxpress.com, Tellychakkar.com and Radioandmusic.com are online partners. The event is executed by ITV 2.0 productions.

    VIDNET 2017 will also be honoring key pioneers and movers and shakers of the industry with a plaque for their contribution to rapidly emerging digital video ecosystem.

  • High-speed data services & on-demand bandwidth expectation prompt new telecom policy

    NEW DELHI: A new telecom policy, which will be application driven as compared to connectivity-driven National Telecom Policy 2012, will be ready soon. This was indicated by communications minister Manoj Sinha while speaking at a seminar here on ICT: Engendering New Governance Structure.

    The new policy has to be focussed on the end-users and should look at the newer opportunities for expanding the availability of telecom services. He said the advent of high speed data services and enhanced expectations of the users to get real time on-demand bandwidth to run near real time live applications (such as OTT & VoD) had prompted the ministry to prepare new policies.

    The Minister said there had been a six-fold increase in Data traffic in India rom 561 million GB in the first quarter to 2988 million GB in the third quarter of 2016-17, which was a whopping 400 per cent jump.

    He said that for the first time, the Ministry had decided to involve a large pool of experts from outside the department to get more inputs from the citizens and stakeholders for the new policy.

    He said the communications Sector had assumed the position of an essential infrastructure for socio-economic development in an increasingly knowledge-intensive world. He said as of April 2017, the country had close to 1.2 billion telephone connections, including 1.17 billion wireless telephone connections and similarly witnessed the rapid growth of the broadband connections now stands at 276.52 million.

    Sinha said that while service providers are rapidly deploying the 4 G technology, his focus is on the need to expand the connectivity to all parts including the north-eastern and Left Wing Extremism affected areas; and to keep an eye on future generation that is 5 G technology and ensure that India plays a key role in standards development and get a healthy share of the innovations and patents in the 5G technology pool.

    He said the FDI equity inflow in telecom sector from April 2016 to March 2017 was US$ 5564 million, which is more than four times the average inflow of about 1.3 billion dollars every year since 2013-14.

    The Minister said the information superhighways are a must for growth in the 21st century. He said the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules 2016 had been notified to ease the cable laying approval process and helps in Ease of Doing Business for Telecom Service Providers.

    The Department of Telecom has announced the ‘Central Equipment Identity Register’ to pave the way for setting up of International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) based device registration and authentication that will settle the cases of Mobile Phone Theft to a great extent.

    The department is also actively considering the TRAI recommendations on addressing Telecom Consumer Grievances and urged the officers to propose a state-of-the-art technology driven solution that records, monitors and provides end-to-end monitoring of every grievance.

    Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said the world was looking at India as the next growth engine to grow from 7.6 percent to above 10 percent and this required huge effort by both the government and the private sector. She urged the Department of Telecom to become an Engine of Transformation and to act as infrastructure builder rather than a regulator.

  • Nexstar Media & Fox Broadcasting extend network pacts, add OTT dist. through ’19

    MUMBAI: Nexstar Media Group announced today that it entered into a long-term affiliation agreement Fox Broadcasting Company (“Fox”) covering its 17 full power and 2 low power owned or operated stations through 31 December, 2019. In addition, the Company has reached an over-the-top (“OTT”) master agreement with Fox, as well as specific agreements to launch on all the new internet-delivered programming services already distributing Fox programming.

    Separately Fox Broadcasting Company extended the affiliation agreements for six stations owned by Mission Broadcasting, Inc., three stations owned by Marshall Broadcasting, Inc., one station owned by Shield Media, LLC, one station owned by White Knight Broadcasting, Inc. and one station owned by Super Towers, Inc., which are operated by Nexstar Media and these 12 stations have also entered into an over-the-top (“OTT”) master agreement with Fox, as well as individual opt-in agreements with the aforementioned new internet-delivered programming services.

    Nexstar Media Group chairman, president and CEO Perry A. Sook stated, “Our new agreement reflects the complementary value that Fox’s programming brings to our viewers and stations when combined with Nexstar’s unique, locally-produced news programming and other content. Fox’s programming, including highly-rated sports content such as the NFL, MLB and NASCAR and scripted primetime shows including Empire and The X-Files, are popular with our viewers and our affiliation with FOX supports our goals for delivering great entertainment and information to viewers and advertisers anywhere, anytime and on any device, while creating a new revenue stream for Nexstar related to the OTT master agreement.”

    Fox Networks Group president of distribution Michael Biard stated, “We are pleased to launch on emerging distribution services in all 31 Fox-affiliated markets. Our new agreements with Nexstar are an important part of our mutual efforts to extend audience reach while reflecting the value of our programming within the overall Fox network-affiliate relationship. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Perry and his exceptional team.”

  • Guest Column: M&E industry in India: 5 not-to-be-missed trends

    The Indian M&E industry is growing at 15 per cent CAGR and is expected to double in size over the next five years. Almost all the sub-segments are growing in double digits. The existing ones are those in the middle of a consumption trend like on-demand content or beneficiaries of a regulatory push like digitisation.

    Here are the five biggest trends to watch out for:

    1.OTT

    Personalisation of content and delivery and real time access on multiple devices and platforms to make OTT mainstream. Big data through instant consumer analytics to become indispensable

    2.Digital Content as growth driver

    Growth to be driven by digital content in the internet industry in India as it doubles to $250bn in 5 years. Unprecedented proliferation of digital-first media brands like AIB, TVF, etc. Existing traditional media brands may reorient themselves to being digital-only brands. Repurposing widely popular content of the past on digital for consumption across multiple content formats may be a unique sound strategy.

    3.Immersive content as lead format

    Immersive content (VR/AR) to play an unexpected big role in the future. May become larger than any other format in the years to come.

    4.Technology to disrupt more than just content

    Technology to continue to disrupt the traditional ways of buying and selling advertising as programmatic, geo-targeting, etc becomes the new normal. TV and digital measurement to converge too as marketers look for platform-agnostic strategies.

    5.Convergence of M & E & Technology to undergird everything

    With cheap economics dictating the rationale, cloud-based services to drive content faster from creation to consumption thereby re-defining movement, distribution and management of content. Rapid convergence of media, entertainment and technology is interlinking content creation, distribution and consumption experiences.

    New media – signifying interplay between technology and media – is where the real excitement is. It offers a range of opportunities in content and platforms across gaming, video and music. Other than that, there are consolidation plays in traditional media like C&S distribution, film exhibition etc.

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    (Piyush Sharma, a global tech, media and entrepreneurial leader, created the successful foray of Zee Entertainment in India and globally under the ‘Living’ brand. The views expressed here are of the writer’s and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

     

     

  • Cheaper content demand, piracy & OTT popularity dog A-Pac pay-TV, avers innovation forum

    MUMBAI: NAGRA, a Kudelski Group company, in partnership with MTM, has revealed the latest findings from the Pay-TV Innovation Forum 2017 that looks into the Asia-Pacific pay-TV market.

    The global research programme examines the state of pay-TV innovations and strategies that will drive the next phase of growth for the industry.

    Service providers and content-owners from the region participating in the forum in May 2017, agreed that the Asia-Pacific pay-TV industry is entering a transitional period during which operators will need to adapt their business models and technology platforms in order to thrive in the changing environment. New offerings will have to reflect changing consumer demand for cheaper and more personalised content packages, including OTT services, to effectively expand the range of services at different price points. Delivery infrastructure and technology platforms across APAC will also become much more IP-based, with content being increasingly delivered via both fixed-line and mobile broadband networks. This need for change is being driven both by the persistent threat of content piracy and the increasing popularity of OTT services that are using aggressive pricing strategies to acquire customers.

    Despite these challenges, pay-TV providers in Asia Pacific are investing in the future – continuing the steady roll-out of IP-connected set-top boxes (provided by 72 per cent of providers in 2017, up from 66 per cent in 2016), PVRs (63 per cent, up from 56 per cent), standalone OTT services (28 per cent, up from 23 per cent), and new adjacent services such as advanced advertising and Smart Home solutions (offered by 27 per cent, up from 16 per cent).

    Industry experts highlight two urgent investment priorities that will help service providers to navigate the transforming video and TV services market:

    Concerted approach to tackling content piracy: to limit illegal access to content, operators are calling for content owners to take their own independent actions to monitor, track and stop the distribution of illegal content, and for industry strategies that would bring together pay-TV operators, ISPs, content owners and industry associations to work with regulators and governments to take further legal action.

    Development of more consumer-focused and diversified product portfolios by embracing new business models, operators can develop new packages and offerings that appeal to changing consumer tastes at a wider range of price points, including skinny bundles, personalised offerings, seamless multi-screen TV everywhere services and smart home solutions. Operators also cited potential opportunities for growth through new business-to-business services, including harnessing data with new analytics tools to offer enriched data services and support targeted advertising.

    “The pay-TV industry in Asia Pacific is going through a challenging, transitional period. Traditional pay-TV revenues in many advanced Asian markets are under pressure, while emerging markets are growing, but delivering low ARPUs. The industry is being increasingly disrupted by content piracy, especially around live sports, and impacted by low-cost OTT offerings, making it harder for pay-TV companies to invest with confidence,” said MTM managing partner Jon Watts . “Pay-TV service providers in Asia-Pacific need to take stronger action against piracy to secure their future, while maintaining investment in new services and innovation.”

    “There is a strong call to action across the pay-TV industry in Asia-Pacific to respond to these growing challenges. Operators and content owners need to be innovative in how they transform their technology and business models to respond to these pressures,” said NAGRA senior director product marketing Simon Trudelle. “The Forum’s research highlights that service providers not only recognise the problems they face from content pirates, but want to see actions taken limiting illegal access to premium content to maintain revenue and ensure quality content continues to be created. By working in partnership with vendors, operators can be more agile and better adapt to the fast changing landscape.”

  • Taiwan digital video still underperforming

    MUMBAI: A key meeting of government officials, political leaders, industry regulators, business heads and international and local experts in Taipei has called for removal of investment constraints in the multichannel video industry, and increased attention to online piracy, as the Taiwan market reshapes itself as an all-digital (and often mobile) regional communications hub.

    Participants in the meeting, convened by regional industry body CASBAA on June 22nd, heard that a major hurdle blocking further development of the Taiwan digital video industry is the rigid application of the “No state/No party ownership” rule prohibiting any “government official, political party, or elected official to invest, directly or indirectly”, in cable system operators. ** The meeting heard that the rule is interpreted to prohibit acquisition of cable equities by companies where their corporate parents, several levels up, have even a single share owned by a government entity.

    “Because of these rigid restrictions, only introduced in 2005, urgently needed mergers between telecom carriers (fixed-line and mobile) and cable TV operators have proved almost impossible,” said CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter at the end of the meeting.

    Slaughter added that the “No state/No party” investment rule flies in the face of global industry experience over the past 20 years. “This is preventing Taiwan from enjoying the most compelling aspects of the twenty-first century media revolution,” he said.

    Proliferation of online piracy networks were cited as another major problem.

    Representatives of start-up OTT operators trying to market bouquets of programming to Taiwan consumers observed they faced huge obstacles, as long as pirate networks based offshore were free to steal the programs and distribute them for free. They warned that the development of innovative, indigenous Taiwan programming was at risk.

    Earlier points made during the packed agenda for the 130 Taiwanese government and media-industry decision makers included lively discussion of pay-TV pricing issues (the basic tier programming package is tightly controlled) and the desire of the government to promote broadcast of more Taiwan programming.

    By Y/E 2017, online video in Taiwan should attract 15 per cent of US$120 billion in revenues accrued by TV/telecoms industry from traditional free-to-air TV, pay-TV and OTT services, according to research house MPA.

    In the meantime, the rising level of mobile broadband penetration in Taiwan is benefitting cable TV and IPTV operators such as the dominant state-owned telco Chunghwa Telecom as they develop their own local-language, multiscreen services.

    No longer limited to traditional TV viewing, Taiwan’s mobile broadband subscribers are downloading apps and logging-in to pay-TV programming of all kinds. The largest group of OTT followers in Taiwan are young women aged 18-34, some 42 per cent of the total. Together with 18-34 year-old males, almost 70 per cent of OTT subscribers are “binge” viewers.

    While the CASBAA meeting was generally upbeat, warnings of the cost of revenue leakage i.e. piracy) were a recurring theme. “The hugely damaging level of content piracy is not only holding back growth of both traditional pay-TV and innovative OTT offerings, but also the overall economic development of Taiwan as a whole,” said CASBAA chief policy officer John Medeiros.

    “Living with massive revenue leakage from piracy while blocking sufficient investment in the digital economy, Taiwan is falling behind its natural potential as a regional communications hub,” added Slaughter.

    (** 
The island of Taiwan and its 23 million people are served by 61 cable operators, 36 of which are controlled by five Multi-System Operators, plus 25 smaller independent providers. As of Y/E 2016, the five MSOs controlled 73% of Taiwanese cable subscriptions.)