ITV

Tag: VOD services

  • HBO Max and Discovery+ to merge into single streaming platform by 2023

    HBO Max and Discovery+ to merge into single streaming platform by 2023

    Mumbai: On a second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced the merger of HBO Max and Discovery+. The media conglomerate set a timeline for integrating the two services.

    According to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and president of global streaming and interactive JB Perrette, who spoke on the company’s Q2 earnings call, HBO Max and Discovery+ will launch in the United States as a single service in the summer of 2023. “At the end of the day, putting all the content together was the only way we saw to make this a viable business,” he said.

    Bringing HBO Max and Discovery+ together is aimed at cutting churn, so “there’s something for everyone in the household,” he added. WBD did not reveal the new brand name for the combined service, nor did executives discuss pricing for the unified stream.

    According to Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery is initially focused on the ad-supported and ad-free versions of the combined HBO Max-Discovery+ but is also “exploring how to reach customers in the free, ad-supported space” with content that is distinct from what is available on premium VOD services.

    He added that HBO may or may not be included in the name of the unified direct-to-consumer WBD platform; Perrette stated that the company is conducting consumer research on the HBO Max name. “HBO will always be the beacon and the ultimate brand that stands for television quality.”

    The combined HBO Max-Discovery+ service, according to Perrette, will combine the best features of both services. According to him, HBO Max has performance and customer issues but offers a rich set of features, whereas Discovery+ has fewer features but a more robust underlying delivery capability.

    Following the launch of the unified HBO Max-Discovery+ platform in the United States in summer 2023, WBD plans to bring the platform to Latin America in the fall of 2023, Europe in early 2024, Asia-Pacific in mid-2024, and other markets in the fall of 2024.

    WBD’s HBO Max, HBO, and Discovery+ subscribers reached 92.1 million in the second quarter, up 1.7 million from the previous quarter’s 90.4 million. On a pro-forma basis, this is a 22 per cent increase of $75.8 million over the previous year.

    WBD expects to have 130 million global streaming subscribers by 2025 and to generate one billion dollars in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation from its direct-to-consumer businesses (Ebitda). He shared that the company’s Ebidta losses in the streaming division are expected to peak in 2022, with a long-term margin potential of 20 per cent or higher.

    Currently, HBO Max costs $14.99 per month without ads and $9.99 per month with ads in the United States. Discovery+ costs $6.99 per month without ads and $4.99 per month with ads.

    The company, on 17 May 2021, announced its plans to merge its two flagship streaming platforms, HBO Max from the legacy WarnerMedia (spun off from AT&T) and Discovery+. CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels broadly sketched out a strategy to combine the streamers in March 2022, ahead of the close of the deal forming Warner Bros. Discovery, saying that it would initially sell the pair as a bundle before fully integrating them.

    The merged HBO Max-Discovery+ streaming platform will combine thousands of hours of programming spanning scripted, reality, and documentary content and will resemble a mini-cable TV bundle.

  • How Sultan and Naagin are being pirated in Russia

    MUMBAI: Here’s some food for thought for Indian TV channel broadcasting executives zapping their channels via satellite, cable TV or VOD services into Russia and syndicating content to Vladmir Putin’s land. And this includes movies such as Sultan, and super popular shows such as Naagin.

    A survey by content and data security specialist IRDETO in partnership with YouGov amongst 1,055 Russian adults online, revealed that 87 per cent of Russian consumers believed that producing or sharing pirated video content is not against the law while 66 per cent think that streaming or downloading pirated content is legal.

    Russia, like India and many other nations, has strict regulations against unauthorized copying, broadcasting, distribution or reproduction of copyrighted material – including audiovisual content.

    More than half of those (57 per cent) who participated in the survey said that they actively watch pirated content while 22 per cent said that they watch stolen shows and films at least once a week or more.

    38 per cent of respondents said that they pirate current movies being shown in theatres, 21 per cent said theat they were interested in pirating a TV series. Pirated live sports, OTT content from Netflix and Hulu was preferred by just six per cent of those who answered the survey.

    Almost 75 per cent use their laptops or desktop computers to watch the pirated content whereas tablets and smart phones accounted for just five percent each respectively.

  • More than 3,000 on-demand services in Europe

    More than 3,000 on-demand services in Europe

    MUMBAI: In May 2013, more than 3,000 on-demand audiovisual services were identified as being established in European countries or received in at least one country.

    The European Audiovisual Observatory in a report said that 447 VoD services established in the European Union offer only or mainly cinema films. More than 130 film VoD services targeting one or more EU countries were established outside the EU, mainly in the US and Switzerland.

    The database also lists 45 services offering compilations of trailers and 10 European archive services.

    The European Audiovisual Observatory has just taken stock of on-demand audiovisual services on the occasion of the Cannes Film Market. The general use of cross-border strategies for VoD services

    This month, the European Audiovisual Observatory identified 3,087 on-demand audiovisual services: catch-up TV services, newspapers‘ video services and various kinds of VoD services (general-interest, films, TV fiction, music, animation and children‘s or adult programmes) and various economic models (financed by advertising, pay per view, direct subscription, services included in a subscription to digital packages, services from public broadcasters). 2,733 services established in the European Union were identified, 447 of them film VoD services (or 18 per cent of the total available), 44 were trailer services (not including distributors‘ promotional websites) and 10 were film archive services.

    It appears only natural that the big countries should have a large number of film VoD services: 48 are established in the UK, 34 in France and 33 in Germany. Four countries have a relatively large number of services compared to their size. Three of these, Luxembourg (86), Sweden (36) and the Czech Republic (31) are very clearly countries of establishment of services targeting other countries. Luxembourg hosts the iTunes Stores that are operated by iTunes S.?.r.l. and target not only other European countries (apart from Romania) but also many countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia (with the exception of Japan). Netflix, which provides services for the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries and has announced the continuation of its European rollout, is also established in the Grand Duchy.

    In addition, the following are established in Luxembourg: the Xbox Video platforms operated by Microsoft Luxembourg S.?.r.l., which are available in 15 countries and are not considered VoD services but as catalogue distribution platforms, most being American and each regarded as a separate service. Sweden hosts various services that target the Nordic countries (SF Anytime, Canal+ Digital, CDON, Headweb, Filmnet) and even a service targeting Spain.

    The Czech Republic hosts various language versions of HBO OD, which targets Central Europe. The Netherlands is characterised by a multiplicity of small online VoD services and a few cable or IPTV platform services.

    417 or 45.3 per cent of the 920 VoD services in the database (all countries and types combined) are operated by American groups, either from the United States or via subsidiaries in Europe.

    The Observatory estimates that in the European Union over 52 per cent of the VoD services available in one country are established in another. This development in the cross-border provision of on-demand audiovisual services, which is especially pronounced in the case of film VoD services, might make it difficult to implement measures laid down by the most stringent national regulations for the promotion of European works or for contributing to production funding.

    There are an increasing number of multi-platform services (fixed or mobile internet, cable, IPTV, sometimes digital terrestrial). More and more film VoD services are also available in the form of applications for tablets or smart TVs.

    Subscription VoD (SvoD) services have proliferated in the last few months, and 76 have been identified. This model, which was initially employed for some types of special-interest services (especially children‘s services), has been developed with the launch of film subscription services. Many pay film channels also offer catch-up services, which are included in the subscription price and are increasingly accessible on tablets or smartphones.

    European Audiovisual Observatory head of the department for information on markets and financing André Lange said, “The establishment of a database on on-demand audiovisual services in Europe is in some way Utopian. The complexity of this field is growing and the lack of transparency is rather worrying, especially as far as the precise identification of the company providing the services and its country of establishment are concerned. At least a third of the identifications that we provide in the database are plausible but are in fact based on assumptions. This lack of transparency with regard to producing companies definitely does not conform to European or national transparency standards relating to publishing or media ownership. There is some risk involved in making these data available to the public, but we hope that service providers and distributors will be keen to help us correct any mistakes.”