Check Out Digital TV Europe’s Annual Industry Survey 2018
Digital TV Europe released their 2018 annual survey this past week, which reveals what top industry executives think about the most pressing issues facing the digital video distribution business.
We officially sponsored part of the survey this year to uncover the perceived challenges and future opportunities for OTT distribution. The report covers the suitability of OTT as a distribution choice over traditional broadcast or IPTV and highlights the current competition for content and subscribers. It also addresses what are perceived to be the best business models for OTT and challenges views on the level of outsourcing (an OTT build) to a platform provider.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the findings in the report:
- 62.9% believe original content that is not available elsewhere is the most compelling reason to sign up to an OTT service.
- 53.2% believe subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) is the most promising business model for OTT, followed by subscription offerings that combine both SVOD and linear channels.
- 43.5% believe in outsourcing the technical aspects of building an OTT TV service to a provider but keeping operational and marketing aspects in-house. Followed by 34.5% who believe in outsourcing the technical and operational aspects of an OTT TV service, including customer services and billing, but keep control of content acquisition, marketing, and branding in-house.
Want to find out more? If you haven’t already done so, download the full report here and read the all the results. Don’t forget to check back here in the coming weeks as we continue to share our thoughts and opinions on the findings. Read our latest – Competing in OTT Video: How I learned to stop worrying and love niche content.
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Introducing Passionflix by Magine Pro
A successful OTT service will actively engage customers with high-quality content, strong user experiences, and attractive pricing models. However, to scale and grow sustainably, services need to find new ways to stand out from the crowd. Competing for consumer time and wallet share isn’t easy, but you can boost your chances of success by ensuring you have a well-defined product, target audience, and marketing strategy in place before launch. That being said content is critical and the key to real long-term success for any OTT service.
Niche video services that appeal to particular interests and audiences are on the rise and provided they can offer original high-quality content, that’s not available everywhere, they are likely to see better user engagement levels and much lower churn.
We recently partnered with TV and movie producers to launch a new online video-on-demand service, Passionflix. Passionflix is home to a library of classic romantic content, as well as original movies and series that are based on best-selling romance novels and is designed to appeal to those actively interested in romance-themed content. Since launch, PassionFlix has seen considerable subscriber growth month-on-month, and with new titles released each week, viewers remain engaged and return regularly for more.
To find out more about Passionflix and what went into creating this unique service, check out our case study.
Here’s a sneak peek at the service itself:
The key to building a successful OTT business
Disney’s recent acquisition of BamTech, the OTT video platform arm of MLBam, should come as no surprise, and likewise, Disney’s announced the creation of a stand-alone streaming service and removal of their content from Netflix. It is only another example of more networks and content owners embracing the direct-to-consumer strategy, bypassing traditional distributors, and bringing the number of OTT streaming services and competition to an all-time high.
With deals like Disney’s, the blurring of boundaries between content owners and distributors is ever increasing, as is investments in programming and original content by traditional distributor-only’s and tech players, with Netflix taking the lead with their $8bn content investment for this year alone, followed by Amazon’s $4.5bn, HBO’s $2.5bn, Alibaba’s $2.4bn and Apple’s $1bn.
For a new entrant streaming service, wishing to win the consumer’s eyeball time and monthly streaming budget, both of which are finite, the consequence of this highly competitive development is the requirement of potentially vast investments in content and marketing. But by using an end-to-end managed service OTT platform such as Magine’s, new OTT streaming entrants can minimize the CAPEX and OPEX required for the setup and operation of an OTT service, enabling capital to instead be funneled into content and marketing, ensuring they stay ahead of the competition, as well as eliminating the risks associated with technology investments.
It’s undeniable that competition in video streaming services is fiercer than ever but based on Magine’s experience of working with and launching a wide array of services, we’ve put together a white paper on what we consider key to building a successful OTT business.
Within the paper we cover how to attract and keep your audience engaged, reduce churn and expand into new markets, alongside the importance of choosing the right tech solutions, analytics and monetization models for your content and business. Download the white paper today and read more on what we regard as critical to launching an OTT service and how our global solutions can help get you off the ground.
Download the white paper here or contact us directly to talk more about Magine’s solutions business@magine.com.
The adoption of cloud technology to deliver mainstream TV services
Digital TV Europe recently launched their 2017 Multiscreen & OTT series, which looks at four distinct developments: the emergence of new mobile-centric services for millennials and Generation Z; the prospects for cloud-based targeted advertising; the launch of Amazon Channels in Europe and its likely impact on the pay TV business; and the adoption of cloud technology to deliver mainstream TV services.
Rahul Puri, general manager of Magine Digital Media and CTO at Magine shares his views in part 4 of the series, Cloud TV, about the key requirements of getting an OTT TV service up and running. Rahul says “A fully functioning OTT TV service should actively engage customers with high-quality content, strong user experiences and attractive pricing models – i.e. subscription, PPV etc. Services also need to meet the expectations and demands of today’s user and provide high-quality video streams that can be watched anytime, anywhere.” He adds, “Magine’s media platform is built to accommodate all of these requirements in an integrated way, in addition to offering deep analytics that can inform decisions relating to the content acquisition, user engagement and monetisation.” Within the interview, Rahul also talks in more detail about the advantages of outsourcing platform requirements to a third-party online video platform provider like Magine and shares some of the key lessons we have learnt through owning and operating our direct-to-consumer businesses.
Download the series for free today from DTVE’s website to read Rahul’s interview in full. You can also contact us directly if you would like to discuss Magine’s global end-to-end solutions, or, arrange a meeting at IBC this September and meet the team at our stand.