ITV

Tag: OTT

  • Ad & marketing growth may decelerate due to ‘online’ slowdown & no major spending: KPI

    MUMBAI: PQ Media’s Annual KPI benchmark sees slower growth in 2017 owing to political & economic anxieties. Political leaders and parties were replaced in several leading global markets (US, UK, Brazil, South Korea), while other incumbents faced increased pressure from opposing parties (France, Japan, Germany, India). And, various economic and political issues weighed down other major media economies, including South Africa, China and Russia.

    Global advertising & marketing revenues grew an estimated 4.9% in 2016 to $1.2 trillion, accelerating from 3.7% growth in 2015, but growth is poised to decelerate in 2017 as online media growth slows down rapidly due to brand marketers shifting budgets to mobile and other digital & alternative media, as per a closely watched annual KPI benchmark report by PQ Media. Revenues had grown owing to strong growth in mobile media, over-the-top (OTT) video, branded entertainment, content marketing and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, as per the report.

    Global ad & marketing growth is poised to decelerate in 2017, due to the absence of major political and sports-related media spending, as well as the continued slowdown in online media growth. Seven of the 13 mobile media channels PQ Media tracks posted growth rates of faster than 40% in 2016, including mobile coupon marketing, mobile videogame advertising, mobile sampling & contests, mobile search and mobile video, as well as emerging smart technology marketing (or “acronym tech”) via the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), among others, according to PQ Media’s Global Advertising & Marketing Revenue Forecast 2016-20.

    Positive cyclical growth drivers in 2016, such as the Summer Olympics, increased political spending despite the Trump campaign’s unusual reliance on earned media coverage, and surging mobile media use worldwide, were offset in the second half of the year by increasingly volatile political climates and continued economic trepidation in the US and abroad.

    In addition, several key global markets in early 2017 were expecting to feel the impact of new Trump administration policies, some viewed as positive (Russia, China) and others perceived as negative (Mexico, Taiwan, China). PQ Media indicated US and global trends were buoyed by cyclical drivers last year, which may have masked a combination of potentially adverse secular developments that resurfaced in late 2016. Due to these turns in PEST variables, PQ Media said it recalibrated several ad & marketing growth rates for 4Q 2016 and 2017.

    “We have not seen such a strong combination of potential political and economic headwinds worldwide in many years,” said PQ Media president Patrick Quinn. “Despite this volatile mix, the advertising & marketing industry remains relatively stable due to several key growth drivers, including the need to engage more effectively with on-the-go consumers through experiential and influencer marketing; the shift to omnichannel media campaigns that employ the strengths of both traditional and digital media; and the quick adaptation of new technologies and strategies to engage target consumers for extended periods in the right venue, at the right time and in the ideal mindset.”

    The primary reason for decelerating growth in online media is that brand marketers are shifting budgets to media platforms and channels that demonstrate the consistent ability to execute on those critical objectives, Quinn added. For example, advertising on digital healthcare networks in captive doctors’ offices, engaging shoppers on smartphones with mobile beacons at retail, and using word-of-mouth ambassadors to develop social media conversations.

    While print media advertising has lost almost half its value over the past 20 years, due to the rise of digital media advertising & marketing, PQ Media believes a similar phenomenon has emerged in online media as brands rapidly move investments from internet to mobile media channels. Several internet channels have begun to post low single-digit, or even negative, growth rates after years of boasting double-digit gains annually, such as e-mail marketing and online search, according to the Global Advertising & Marketing Revenue Forecast 2016-20.

    Mobile was not the only digital & alternative media to post double-digit growth in 2016. Brands are seeking methods to interactive more efficiently with consumers, particularly as foot traffic at bricks-and-mortar retail outlets declines. OTT video, product placement, content marketing, DOOH media and word-of-mouth marketing have all consistently posted strong gains in recent years. Meanwhile, traditional direct marketing remained the largest of the 21 digital and traditional media platforms PQ Media tracks, surpassing $215 billion in 2016, with three other platforms exceeding $100 million, including live events, terrestrial broadcast television and traditional promotions.

    Brands are also moving to develop campaigns that utilize the fastest-growing of the 40 digital & alternative media channels PQ Media tracks, such as smart tech marketing, which is defined, sized and projected for the first time anywhere in the new PQ Media report. Smart tech marketing growth skyrocketed by over 1,000% in 2016, as select brands scrambled to embed messages in the AR game Pokemon Go!; to team up with IBM’s Watson to drive AI campaigns; and to develop IoT marketing messages. Other highlights from the report include:

    –Digital & alternative media expanded 12.5% to $399.4 billion, while traditional inched up 1.4% to $783.7 billion;

    –US remained the largest media market in 2016 at $461.7 billion, while no other market exceeded $100 billion;

    –Four of the top 20 media markets posted double-digit growth in 2016, led by India, as the US ranked 14th with overall growth of 4.7%;

    –Direct marketing was the largest of the 15 hybrid (traditional & digital media) silos tracked, with revenues of $230.4 billion worldwide;

    PQ Media estimates global advertising & marketing revenues will rise at a 5.1% CAGR in the 2016-20 period to $1.45 trillion, while the US market expands at a tamer 4.3% CAGR.

  • Limelight content delivery to simplify MultiTV’s ad insertion

    MUMBAI: Limelight Networks, a leader in digital content delivery, has announced that MultiTV is using Limelight’s Orchestrate Platform to bring high-quality online video to more than 40 million viewers across India.

    MultiTV, a leading provider of video streaming solutions for live TV and video on demand (VOD) in India, selected Limelight’s Orchestrate Platform to deliver exceptional video experiences to any device, anywhere. Leveraging Limelight’s global Content Delivery Network (CDN), the Orchestrate Platform now ensures that MultiTV customers get the reliability, consistency, quality, security and performance they demand.

    “Viewership in India is growing rapidly and there is complexity because of multiple devices, platforms and standards. At the same time, customers want world class reliability on a complex infrastructure at domestic price points,” said MultiTV founder Vikash Samota. “With Limelight, we have a global partner with excellent quality, capability and reach to help meet consumer expectations. This allows us to focus on our business – content acquisition and customer service.”

    MultiTV is also using Limelight Cloud Storage Services, making it easy for them to upload, replicate and manage large video libraries and quickly get content to viewers.

    “MultiTV is a pioneer in bringing next-generation OTT solutions to the fast-growing Indian market. To help develop this market, we’re determined to deploy our people, capabilities and capital at an accelerated pace,” said Limelight Networks CFO Sajid Malhotra. “After having doubled capacity in India last year, we expect to expand our capacity there this year by 5 to 10 times our 2016 capacity levels, and are prepared to assist and accelerate the adoption of CDN services in ways only we can.”

    MultiTV launched a Live Streaming solution using Limelight’s CDN with its proprietary technology that can detect commercials on live streams or VoD on any device. In addition, MultiTV provides technology solutions to solve the problems of video ad blockers. MultiTV helps broadcasters and content owners reduce infrastructure costs and provides solutions to assist with content monetization.

    Limelight empowers customers to better engage online audiences by enabling them to securely manage and globally deliver digital content, on any device.

  • Is VoD biz making money or it’s still investing?

    MUMBAI: Beyond the hype, what are the ground realities of earning revenue? Or, is it still all about investing in content and infrastructure? When’s the likely inflection point when businesses could start to look at break-even?

    Trying to answer these questions at the CASBAA OTT Summit 2017 were — AltDigital CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya, SonyLiv EVP and digital head Uday Sodhi and GroupM South Asia chief growth officer Lakshmi Narasimhan.

    Evaluating the OTT space and enumerating on the best business model, the moderator for the evening — Provocateur Advisory principal Paritosh Joshi — asked the head of the recently launched (soft) AltBalaji app about the mantra to grab maximum eyeballs in the OTT space.

    Answering the doubt, Pantvaidya said, “India is a large market and the idea with AltBalaji is to connect with the 50-70 million people which correspond to e-commerce or functional 3G. There is also a market outside India of approximately 70 million people who want content. I think it is a library game. For SVoD to take off, content and habit formation among the people is crucial — our platform has content ranging from sublime to ridiculous. As Sameer (Nair, Balaji Telefims CEO) said, we are here to capture the market space between Narcos and Naagin.”

    Taking cue from Pantvaidya’s point, Sodhi added, “The consumer is sorted in its head about what he wants. There is a clear habit formation. They are consuming on the go. There is a difference in the watch-time and they are coming back to watch linearly same shows. Habit formation is happening.”

    India’s online video space will predominantly be an advertising led video-on-demand (AVOD) market even though subscription led VoD shows higher growth on a low base. If the digital eco-system becomes a SVoD dominated market, will that mean no business or loss for the advertising agencies? “There has been a pricing mistake in the last three years. The platforms come with a point of view that it will surpass television. The consumers think of these platforms as channels providing content. The players have to price it that way. In the US, OTT outstrips payTV in terms of subscribers but its annual revenues are lower,” added Narasimhan.

    Pantvaidya added, “There is lack of development in the appreciable distribution system. It can survive when there is subscription. You can share profits with them if you are a SVoD. With free content comes carriage fees.

    Further, Sodhi believes that its early days for everyone and there is no model which has been cast and stoned yet. He segregated the entire process into three phases. The phase one is when you throw content. In the second phase, people start coming to your platform and your focus is o retain them. Money making only comes in the third level. Citing examples of the three existing models in the world, YouTube, which is 100 per cent advertising, Netflix, SVoD based platform and Apple which is transnational pay-per-view platform. “All these platforms are fairly growing, and have reached this point after 15 years. They have come out of their strengths to build a model,” said Sodhi.

    Narasimhan opined that the AVoD services in the OTT space have not been explored yet. He also said that data from servers indicate that kids,youth and top-end consumers are moving to digital from TV which clearly shows that the eco-system is evolving in India.

    Joshi posted a question at the panelists asking whether they are underestimating the willingness of the consumers to pay for content. Pantvaidya agreed to his point, and said, “Scale and volume is necessary for spending. One should have faith in their content for it to sell.”

    Sodhi added, “There is room for so many things. Everything is falling into its right place. The run-away is getting shorter before the take-off.”

    OTT services are exploding in India and the business is more likely to be advertising-led in the short term. The OTT sector has clearly become a space to watch out for as the infrastructure continues to improve, devices get smarter and data prices fall. Let’s see what the future holds for these players.

  • Hotstar plans to enter other markets

    MUMBAI: Much is in store for Over-the-top (OTT) content aggregator platform Hotstar. A game-changer in the industry which managed to generate 175 million downloads in two years now plans to expand to other parts of the globe.

    Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan has announced new territory launches. Speaking to Mumbrella Asia at the CASBAA OTT Summit in Singapore, he said, “The model can be global with mobile viewing and tech at the heart of things.”

    Though, he did now reveal how much investments had gone into the company or which countries were being looked at as the next markets in the global expansion plan. “We will look at other models too,” he said. “It may be that some of our customers want to pay to receive no ads whatsoever. And where we do run ads, we try to ensure they are personalised and not disruptive. So, for example, with the cricket the ads run during the break between overs.”

    Despite the high cost, he revealed that the app received 60 million active users last month due to its mix of national and international content. “It was a big bet for us to bring all the content together in one place, but that is what the consumer wants. India was ready for it but nobody had invested to connect up the dots before,” he added.

    He also said that the cricket test match between India and England has received as many as three million people using Hotstar at one time.

    Mohan also asserted that the company is seeing rapid growth on a dramatic scale. “Something big is happening in India. That’s clear in the numbers. It’s an exciting story for curated high-quality content and we now have massive brand equity. So we do see an opportunity to take Hotstar to other markets.”

    It will be interesting to see what card the company pulls out next.

  • CASBAA India OTT Forum: Asian players in search of a winning formula

    MUMBAI: Catering to regional choices, reasonable pricing coupled with fabulous viewing experience, good user interface (UI) and worthwhile user engagement through membership and social media connect seemed to the gist of “the Asian experience” conversation CASBAA chief executive Christopher Slaughter had with Hooq managing director Salil Kapoor, Spuul chief executive Subin Subaiah and NBA India managing director Yannick Colaco.

    Spuul and Hooq are Asian in nature and are willing to adapt according to every market they enter, including India. NBA (National Basketball Association) too is learning to be a player to contend with in a complex market like India.

    Kapoor admitted that, though Hooq has done well in Philippines and Indonesia and, in a small way, in Singapore, the India story is yet to happen after 18 months of presence in the country. “In the Philippines, for example,” Kapoor said, “We garnered good traction with the strategy of best of Hollywood and local content.”

    However, he added, in India, the audience is wide — different regional languages, dialects, content preferences, classes and masses — and a definite strategy is yet to evolve. Kapoor and others were speaking at the CASBAA India OTT Forum in Mumbai on 3 March 2017.

    NBA entered India with its own content. “Small players who seek a bigger premium have less fan growth,” Colaco observed. “If we want to control the destiny of our brand NBA, we need to be more nimble,” he added. “Our growth will depend on how we engage with the users,” the NBA executive said. Colaco elaborated how NBA, as part of user engagement, had put a reasonably-priced league pass behind a pay wall. “Content users, who bought the passes, have access to 1400 live games, archives, four different angles of game viewing and three types of commentaries,” he said.

    With various tie-ups OTT players are reaching out to maximum audience. Broadcasters, sometimes, Colaco felt, may limit content-providers’ engagement with the users. “But, through our association with Sony 6,” Colaco said, “we bring 14 live games to our audience every week.” Reiterating NBA’s aim to control the “destiny of their users”, the NBA man said they have managed to garner around seven million fans on Facebook and were exploring more efficient ways of engagement.

    Subaiah, who sees Spuul as the company’s livelihood in the sense it being a pure play OTT company with no other agenda, said that they were gathering metrics. “We have experimented and ruled out several content formats such as short form,” he added, pointing out that at times the consumer is challenged to find good content.

    Prodded by Slaughter on revenue in the broadcast versus pure play game, Kapoor said that different players may have experimented with SVoD and AVoDs, but the industry in India seems to be dominated by a couple of large players. He finds TVoDs to be an exciting challenge. He opined weekly passes or sachet pricing may work, but not AVoD.

    Colaco recommended that one needs to grow its fan base for the sake of content. Since the audience is the young generation, content makers/aggregators too need to evolve constantly. Many a broadcaster, he felt, was not always equipped to evolve constantly. Also, he observed, several content formats were inefficient for mobile platform: “We (NBA) shoot at least seven games a week only for the mobile (landscape) audience.”

    When pointed out that audio too was important for sports content, Colaco agreed, and said that they were actively looking at going regional. “We are already having the audio for 600 games in Chinese,” he stressed, adding in three months, NBA planned to have its games commentary in Hindi as well. Supporting the idea, Subaiah said that Tamil content dubbed in Hindi on Spuul was doing well.

    So who’s going to be ahead in the arms race? The Hooq executive felt that, although Bollywood was important, regional content seemed to be critical too. If one (player) is something in everything, there is an apprehension of being rendered irrelevant, Kapoor said, since the raw material (content) is becoming expensive by the day. And then, there is the new girl in town — originals. “How can we leave her alone?” he asked.

    So, there is original versus ‘freemium’ versus regional content. But, Subaiah believes that content, if not backed with worthwhile distribution and sufficient marketing, is of no use no matter how good it might be. The jury seemed to be out on a blend of original and regional coupled with high-decibel marketing.

    Who cuts the ice for this kind of cocktail? All OTT players in India seem to be testing the market and learning and evolving for the last 24 months. But, for how long? And, is it affordable too?

    Kapoor, having also done a successful stint at Dish TV selling satellite connections, however, did make an apt point on freebies being thrown at consumers. “An e-commerce giant is giving away good content almost free (Amazon), a telco (Reliance Jio) is giving data almost complimentary and a broadcaster (Star) is giving most of the content for free,” Kapoor said throwing up his hands, adding that there was a need to stop with such freebies that don’t make much business sense and “consolidate” as India has seen 17 telcom players playing the game initially, but now reduced to just four or five major and serious players.

    But, the NBA India chief was confident that the India code could be cracked. Pointing out that most MNCs believed in the power of India where 500 million people were under the age of 25, Colaco said as his parting shot, “There is an opportunity to reach out to the millenials. Let’s build on the opportunity — it’s tremendous.”

  • Tug of war between AVoD & SVoD, who will win?

    MUMBAI: Content is the king and distribution is the queen. The year 2016 saw this phrase being used several times by the Over-the-top (OTT) players. But, does the struggle end there? Not really.

    While content remains to be crucial, changing consumption patterns is inevitable. Having the right content mix is still a challenge for the players in the digital eco-system.

    Discussing the importance of content and what can work well at the CASBAA OTT Roundtable Summit 2017 were Zee Entertainment Z5 India Business head of digital Archana Anand and Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi, moderated by TriLegal partner Nikhil Narendran, the session kick-started with the two leading players discussing their evolution.

    While Anand spoke about the ‘BeesKaTV’ app in detail, Gandhi mentioned how the year 2016 saw OTT players burning cash to acquire consumers while it was a fabulous year for them.

    “There is a a lot of demand for content consumption on mobile devices. As an advertising-led video-on-demand (VOD) service, we want to play on our strengths. Acquiring users comes with a heavy cost. There is a streaming cost, technology cost, content cost, etc. A platform has to bare the cost of a stream per user. Voot rides on four pillars – fandom around our reality and drama content available on our TV channel, Kids, Original play, and various languages content. We have built ourselves around content, and are still learning. The market can have 5-6 players with different strategies and we are enjoying a nice slice of the market,” said Gandhi.

    Today, OTT is not just limited to mobile, and the fact that linear TV is not going away yet cannot be denied. How do the consumers consume content is important for which discovery is essential. “Content is crucial and discovery continues to be important. It is beneficial to throw recommendations around one type of content. Curation of original content requires humongous marketing strategy. In the recent Oscars, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video grabbed several awards. What better way to applaud the OTT industry than this,” added Anand.

    It is given that, more than discovery or being a device-agnostic platform, there is a mindset shift required. Making people pay for content remains to be one of the many challenges for the SVOD players. With the data prices coming down, more and more people are going to consume digital video. Though, there is a segment of people who are not part of the data bandwagon, but they have consumed content. So, does it lead to the exit of linear TV in India? Perhaps, not.

    “The next 24 months are going to be crucial for the digital space. TV is here to stay for a long time. There are some segments that will grow faster than the rest. Ad-supported OTT platform complements TV perfectly. We create fandom around our popular TV shows on Voot which gets us more eyeballs and, at the same time, boosts our TV business. There is a lot of headroom for television,” said Gandhi.

    Anand resonated with Gandhi’s point of view on whether digital can replace TV framework.

    But, who will determine the right pricing for each of these platforms? Are the advertisers ready to buy slots? For advertisers to hop on board, the platform first needs to monetise its content, grab maximum number of eyeballs, and then measure it. “The choice is with the players whether they want to play by volume or margin. Indians are ready to pay for transactions than subscriptions. The transactional business will get its value, but the subscription business will take its time. Newer and better models will emerge in the market. The volumes are growing large, but the challenge is — pricing. The advertisers require volume for which more watch-time is a given,” added Gandhi.

    Contradicting that, Anand said, “The real challenge is: value for money. Even the advertisers are invisible in videos. Selling inventories to other broadcasters or platforms becomes difficult.”

    It remains to be seen who’s content will work in the long run, and which model proves to be successful for the players in the digital space.

  • ALT Balaji working with OTT specialists Diagnal and Xstream

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji, the digital platform from Balalji Telefilms, marks its entry into the world of global OTT entertainment space. Launched with the aim to reach out to individual audiences directly, ALTBalaji provides differentiated content with original shows spanning some 300 hours in the first year itself. This subscription based platform will be commercially available from mid-April 2017.

    ALTBalaji is developed, designed, and integrated by OTT specialists – Diagnal; the platform is powered by Xstream’s cloud based video management system, Xstream MediaMaker™. The multiscreen platform is available on iOS, Android, Windows, Roku, AppleTV, and many more operating systems.

    Created to provide an alternative to mainstream Indian entertainment & TV content, ALTBalaji brings fresh & interesting stories to audience. Offering unparalleled high quality shows featuring popular artists, acclaimed writers, and award winning directors, the platform fills in the existing void in the entertainment space and provide a real, exciting alternative to regular television based options.

    Unlike similar premium Subscription Video on Demand OTT service providers in the market, ALTBalaji allows users to watch select content and previews without requiring an active subscription. Content accessibility provides users with the opportunity to explore service features before choosing a subscription package that suits their content needs and budget. Premium subscribers to the service will have full-access to content and features like parental control and download to watch offline.

    Commenting on this association ALT Digital Media Entertainment CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “Consumers across the world are evolving aided by growing mobile reach; their requirements are becoming niche, rather than one formula fits all and this is where ALTBalaji belongs. We are excited to be associated with Diagnal and Xstream to bring in the best of technology and scalability together. ALTBalaji will offer extensive range of languages and genres to all age group and regions, both in India and abroad.”

    ALTBalaji is fully cloud based, using Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure 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
    ● Pre-subscription access to selective content and previews
    ● Service across multiply connected devices with a seamless cross device user experience
    ● Parental control allowing kids to watch kids content while preventing them full access to all content
    ● Full scale analytics backbone with an inference engine and knowledge data store

  • How is OTT redefining media: CASBAA announces summit in Singapore

    MUMBAI: CASBAA, the Association for digital multichannel TV, content, platforms, advertising and video delivery in Asia, has announced its 4th OTT Summit, Asia’s OTT industry marquee annual event. A series of panels comprising the region’s leading experts will explore in detail how traditional media is responding to the digital challenges of OTT.

    “We are delighted to be returning to Singapore for the fourth edition of CASBAA’s OTT Summit,” said CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter. “While traditional media incumbents remain dominant, there’s no denying the growing impact of over-the-top (OTT) video services, and how they are transforming viewing habits throughout the region. We have been saying it for years, but it’s now increasingly apparent that OTT is truly a big part of pay TV’s future.”

    The spectacular success, both critical and commercial, of such diverse video platforms as Netflix, Hooq and Spuul have established OTT services as real competitors to mainstream broadcasters. According to a survey by BCG, OTT services are growing by more than 20 per cent annually and winning share over traditional TV.1 Traditional media must respond fast to this existential crisis.

    The real challenge for incumbents is how to rethink their business strategies in light of such drastic industry transformation. Are legacy business models holding traditional media back as they contemplate the OTT challenge?

    CASBAA has convened a select field of industry thought leaders, senior executives and market practitioners, including:

    Ajit Mohan, CEO Hotstar
    AravindVenugopal, VP – Media Partners Asia
    Winradit Kolasastraseni, SVP Innovation – Discovery Networks Asia Pacific
    Simon Vella, Head of Asia, MPP Global
    Oliver Wilkinson, MD, PwC
    Alan Soon, Founder & CEO, Splice Newsroom
    Shad Hashmi, VP – Digital Development, Global Markets &Operations Asia,BBC Worldwide
    Lam Swee Kim, CMO, Dimsum& Star Online Malaysia
    PremKamath, Deputy MD, A+E Networks Asia
    Alexandre Muller, MD APAC, TV5MONDE
    Jonas Engwall, CEO, RTL CBS Asia
    Virat Patel, MD, Pioneer Consulting
    Monica Bhatia, Regional Digital Director, APAC, Maxus
    Genny Yang, Group Account Director, Kantar Milward Brown
    David Schonfeld, Director Technical Operations, A+E Networks Asia
    Alex Merwin, VP International, SpotX
    Luke Gaydon, VP of OTT Solutions, Brightcove
    Yu-Chuang Kuek, Managing Director APAC, Netflix
    Ravi Vora, CMO, Hooq
    S Mohan, Co-Founder & COO, Spuul
    Lindsay Servian, Head of ONTAPtv.com, PCCW Global
    Maya Hari, MD –SEA & India, Twitter
    Tim Martin, CEO RugbyPass
    Michael Greco, VP APAC,Vindicia
    CK Lee, VP, Sports Business – Content Group, ASTRO
    Unmish Parthasarathi, Head of Digital Sales, International Cricket Council & Founder, Picture Board
    Craig Johnson, MD Media, SEA & India, Nielsen
    Priya Khatri, GM Sales & Business Development, SEA Eyeota
    Jay Shah, CEO, OpenDNA
    James Miner, CEO, Miner Labs
    Roger Harvey, Regional Director, Irdeto
    Mike Kerr, MD Asia, BEIN
    Joe Welch, SVP Government Relations APAC, 21st Century Fox
    HianGoh, Partner, NSI Ventures
    Yinglan Tan, Venture Partner, Sequoia
    Marcel Fenez, President, Fenez Media

    The industry’s essential platform to explore how OTT is transforming the broadcasting landscape, the CASBAA OTT Summit 2017 will take a deep dive on a range of topics, includingtrends in Asian viewership, whether OTT is a game changer in sports, how traditional media is adapting, the synergy between OTT and multiscreen, and how to use data as metrics for success.

    The CASBAA OTT Summit 2017 has been recommended for all those involved at the senior level in media and broadcasting, from content providers and broadcasters to investors and regulators.

    CASBAA OTT Summit 2017 is supported by the presenting sponsor Brightcove, and sponsors including Adobe, Diagnal, Irdeto, Mediamorph, MPP Global, PCCW Global and Vindicia.

  • Willow TV acquires exclusive US media rights for IPL ’17

    MUMBAI: Willow TV, the primary broadcaster for cricket in North America, has acquired the exclusive media rights in the United States for the VIVO IPL 2017 Twenty20 tournament.

    The IPL (Indian Premier League) is the world’s leading professional cricket tournament, with record-breaking fan attendance and multimedia consumption. Willow previously broadcast the IPL in 2014, at the time setting cricket viewership records in the United States.

    “Willow is delighted to bring exclusive live coverage of the VIVO IPL 2017 to our viewers across television and digital platforms,” said Willow CEO Vijay Srinivasan. “Viewer interest for cricket in the US stands at unparalleled levels, as over 1.4 million households watched the ICC World Twenty20 on Willow in 2016. We look to continue to set new all-time high ratings this year. The IPL is the crown jewel of professional Twenty20 tournaments, and cricket fans in the US are in for a treat when the tournament kicks off on 5 April.”

    The 10th season of the VIVO IPL 2017 starts on 5 April with the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad against last year’s runner up Royal Challengers Bangalore. The tournament features 60 matches, played over 47 days in multiple venues across India. Willow will provide live coverage of all 60 matches, culminating with the final on 21 May.

    Willow, which is part of Times Internet (India’s largest diversified digital group), is one of the fastest growing sports networks in the U.S, and the only channel that is dedicated solely to cricket. The channel, along with its “TV Everywhere” service, is distributed by the largest satellite, cable, IPTV and OTT platforms in a variety of subscription packages.

  • Telcos may offer multi-play OTT for security, energy & appliance control: Report

    MUMBAI: The Smart Home is a growing fifth-play opportunity for operators. The global smart home market is growing exponentially, attracting an array of service providers, including technology giants and startups to major media players, device makers, big-box retailers, home improvement companies, utilities and telecom network operator.

    Government mandates and initiatives in addition to the ongoing technology innovations coupled with increased attention paid to conservation- are the major factors contributing in making smart home a place with a bright future. Focus on sustainability, increasing awareness amongst the consumers with regards to energy consumption and regulatory mandates on energy conservation continue to drive smart home adoption trend globally. While adoption is increasing in countries where governments actively support faster broadband services, especially fiber to the home, the costs associated with new equipment, installation and ongoing maintenance are significant deterrents to home automation.

    Government mandates and initiatives, ongoing technology innovation and the intense attention paid to conservation all contribute to giving the smart home a bright future. The smart home is an attractive opportunity for network operators, thanks to their unique billing relationships and network connections into the home.

    Telcos can improve the value proposition of home automation by implementing a multi-play OTT strategy that offers a range of capabilities, such as security, energy and appliance control.

    Partnerships with companies from different industries are key to ensuring the role of operators in smart home functionality. The market is at a fork in the road, going either toward an open ecosystem with heterogeneous devices or toward proprietary platforms that control all device access.

    The Smart Home, a research report by Pyramid Research, analyses the smart home strategies of leading network operators in a number of markets across the globe, focusing on their roles in the value chain. It discusses the elements of smart home services, the participants in the ecosystem and a number of smart home strategies available to operators. Attention is paid throughout to the key challenges operators face, including the need for device standardization and interoperability.

    Introduction in the report: Providing a thorough overview of the smart home market, this section looks at the long-term evolution of the market, the types of services available as well as the main adoption drivers and barriers.

    The smart home ecosystem (in the report): This section examines the value chain and the roles of the various types of participants, from broadband providers to device manufacturers, utilities and home security platform providers.

    Telco positioning strategies and marketing opportunities: This section analyzes a number of approaches operators can take to gain competitive advantage in the connected home, including white-labeling, support services, bundling and OTT services.

    Key takeaways in the report whittles down into a number of actionable bullet points.

    Case studies: This section analyzes four smart home programs by operators: AT&Ts Digital Life platform in the US, Oranges Homelive in France, HKTs Smart Living in Hong Kong and Rogers Communications Smart Home Monitoring in Canada.

    One could identify the broad barriers to adoption as well as challenges specific to telecom operators in the smart home market. Assess the role and opportunity of operators in the smart home market and how they can gain competitive advantage over the markets many powerful players.

    One could gain information on some of the most valuable experiences by operators in the home automation market, placing them in the context of ongoing market developments and the main technological and competitive challenges.

    The Case studies could be leveraged upon by the operators and cable companies to make informed decisions pertaining to partnering, go-to-market strategies and investments in technologies.

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