Making the most of exclusive premium content

Already in 2013 we are seeing premium online services providers exploring new ways to differentiate their services. If 2012 was all about VoD providers such as LoveFilm and Netflix striving to get viewers connected across an increasing number of devices, then 2013 is about the battle for exclusive content and how best to exploit it.

Netflix has exclusively made an entire new series available to its subscribers featuring Kevin Spacey whilst LoveFilm has agreed a deal to stream 11 original children's and comedy TV test pilots produced by the studios of its parent company, Amazon.

Netflix has come a long way in its first year in the UK, and by making a new series exclusively available all at once, it is changing the way that consumers consume content. Are the days of waiting a week for the next episode of our favourite drama coming to an end?

Global Pay-TV will reach 907m in 2013

The global pay TV market saw strong growth in 2012, with nearly 47 million new subscribers taking the total size of the market to an estimated 864 million households. Over the same period, growth in digital terrestrial markets was relatively flat, indicating that even in tough economic conditions people are willing to pay to be entertained.

As always, content is king, and it’s likely that high-quality content and access to the most recent movie releases are what’s driving the growth of pay TV services.  However, as over-the-top service providers such as Netflix start to bid for this content as well, pay TV operators may need to revisit their strategy to look at how they can improve their offerings in order to remain competitive. While there’s no danger of pay TV services losing their dominant place in the industry just yet, the rapid growth of ITPV and over-the-top services is not something that pay TV operators can ignore.

Consumers are getting more demanding, and with increasing innovation from public service broadcasters and smart TV manufacturers, the pay TV operators will need to keep up with these trends.  Many pay TV operators are in a good place to do this, as we see in the UK with both Sky and Virgin launching major new features this year. Predictions that cable TV operators face growing pressure from IPTV mean that some operators may need to innovate more than others, though. Whether they are able to do that well enough remains to be seen.

Would Twitter be 'poorer' without TV?

Twitter’s sales director, Bruce Daisely, recently said that Twitter would be “poorer” without TV.  Up to sixty per cent of Twitter users in the UK use it while watching TV, with 40% of peak-time twitter use being related to TV. These figures reinforce the view that social media can coexist with TV and add value to it.  Mr. Daisley is right to say that Twitter complements TV, rather than competes with it, but his claim that Twitter has become an EPG is a little far-fetched.  While Twitter may be good at spreading word-of-mouth recommendations about certain shows, this is very different to the social media network actually acting as an EPG.

Despite that, there is a point to be made here, and it’s one I’ve made on this blog before: while content is still king, finding the right content is becoming more difficult as the number of channels and sources of media grow. Traditional recommendation engines can only help this to a limited degree, because they are typically designed to cope with the viewing habits of one individual and not a household of people with different tastes and demographics.

Social media services like Twitter offer the potential to give real-time recommendations from a group of people that you trust, although there are still limitations to this: of the people in your Twitter feed, how many do you really care about in terms of their TV-watching habits? There are ways of addressing this by having circles of friends, in the way that Google+ does, but the current social media services don’t really handle this well.  There is potential here, but that potential hasn’t been realised yet.

TV Apps - keeping the user’s attention

It was announced last week that android users would be able to start developing their own apps for Google TV, TV Apps are really starting to come into their own and are proving to be a useful way to get viewers to engage more with TV content.

A recent poll by Harris Interactive earlier this year indicates that as many as one third of all Americans multi-task while watching TV. While this may seem like bad news for advertisers, another recent survey by Nielsen has some good news for them.

The Nielsen survey indicates that interactive TV content actually encourages viewers to pay more attention to TV programmes and ads. Given the number of distractions faced by consumers, applications can play an important part in keeping the attention of viewers and in retaining their interest. There is a downside to this, however: viewers tend to stick to well-known brands in their choice of applications and are reluctant to try out new content, according to a recent report from Strategy Analytics. Even brands like Facebook are struggling to capture the attention of TV viewers with their TV apps.

So while there is a real struggle for brand owners to increase the use of their TV applications, there is real value if they manage to succeed. This may be an area where TV content providers with strong brands have a real advantage – successful TV applications will not only increase the reach of those brands in new media, but can also help retain the value of their content to advertisers by keeping their viewers engaged and interested.

3D TV proves that content is still king

Although I’m not a tennis fan, I did spend some time following the Wimbledon Championships this year – mostly to see how well the live 3D broadcasts worked. The conclusion seems to be that it was not as successful as it could have been. Technically the BBC did a great job of broadcasting 3D at Wimbledon but as is often the case, the issue is not the technology so much as the content.

Content is still king, and 3D doesn’t change that. 3D hasn’t been successful in the past because it was often used as a gimmick rather than as a tool to drive compelling stories, and there is still a risk that this will continue to be the case. While we can now convert movies filmed in 2D to provide a 3D experience, that doesn’t mean the results (or the movies) are any good. John Cassy, channel director for Sky 3D pointed this out at the recent Intellect Consumer Electronics 2011 event:

"It's very easy to make bad 3D … At Sky we only make native 3D programmes, and our first stage of production is always to forget about the 3D altogether. Because first and foremost, it's a TV programme - and if the story isn't right or it doesn't make any sense or it's not compelling, it's not good enough and we won't buy it."

Andrew Denham from Panasonic agrees: "Hollywood damaged 3D by rushing so many badly converted films out in the Avatar's wake."

It’s easy to get caught up in the technology and forget what the end user wants. 3D is still “appointment viewing” for most people – you’ll watch a special event in 3D, but not your regular evening’s TV. A glut of poor (or poorly-converted) content, coupled with the continuing expense and inconvenience of 3D glasses, could stop this being special enough for people to justify it. It still remains to be seen if the industry has learned the lessons of previous 3D fads.

Cord cutting? Not yet…

A recent CEA survey has shown that despite the hype surrounding “cord cutting”, most consumers in the US are not looking to give up their pay-TV services any time soon. While terrestrial TV services are becoming much less popular (only 8% of US households relying on them), the pay-TV companies are still in a dominant position when it comes to delivering people’s entertainment.

It’s the younger consumers who are more likely to move to completely online viewing, but this research shows that pay TV is still strong. Good news if you’re a pay-TV company, but it also reinforces the fact that content is still king. Pay TV providers invest a huge amount of money in content, and while some of this is available online, if you want to watch a major series like the recently launched ‘Game Of Thrones’ then a pay-TV subscription is the only way to do it (legally).

Most people won’t pay just for technology, no matter how much it’s hyped. But they are prepared to pay for the ‘must have’ content, and at the moment the companies best placed to deliver this are the traditional TV providers. TV is also a social experience, with people discussing last night’s shows over a coffee or around the water cooler, and traditional linear TV, helps maintain this experience. We are increasingly seeing this social aspect online as well, the #apprentice is a popular hashtag on Twitter each week.

On-demand is great for catching up on shows you missed (or forgot to record), and for watching extras about your favourite shows, but linear TV makes it easy to watch good programmes without much effort. At the end of the day, this is what most consumers – me included – are really looking for.

Changing times for TV – Europe leads the way

New research has found that broadcasters are increasingly taking the reins when it comes to developing over-the-top (OTT) video services in Europe. The study by SNL Kagen shows that the popularity of catch up services, like BBC iPlayer, is at the heart of how content is being distributed and viewed online.

It’s further evidence that the way we absorb TV content has made a fundamental shift. The ability to tune in anytime to our favourite programmes shapes our TV behaviour today. Open standards, like HbbTV, are creating a competitive landscape for broadcasters – and by default, an increasingly rich content library for TV viewers, as technology opens the doors to brand new features and personalised functions.

Broadcasters in the UK, France and Germany have established standards that open new doors for consumers. Spain is also beginning to address this demand with Mediaset España and Telefonica recently announcing a strategic agreement to launch a pilot for HbbTV services in Spain.

So, it seems that open standards are proving their metal in Europe. And, ‘TV Everywhere’ is becoming the name of the game. But as this adoption grows, the content bank for consumers gets richer, and instant access to content becomes the status quo, the pressing question now is how users will access all of this content? A multiscreen TV experience, it seems, is just around the corner.

What does iPad 2 mean for the future of multiscreen TV?

The iPad 2 is now available to buy, providing consumers with new features such as front and rear facing cameras, faster internet browsing and access to Apple’s famous appstore. But what impact will it have on the way we watch TV?

The rise of tablet devices is changing the way we consume content and could potentially have a huge impact on the future of TV. By providing broadcasters and advertisers with a new platform for exciting new TV services, content will no longer be confined to the TV screen. As the latest piece in the connected home puzzle, tablets are part of a chain of connectivity leading to the convergence of media content and interactive services. So content we would once associate with the web, is now appearing on our TV screens and vice versa.

Content providers need to look to deliver these interactive services across multiple devices. If consumers can download interactive TV content to a device such as an iPad, they can engage with exciting interactive TV services as they are broadcast in real time, without interrupting their viewing experience. The challenge is to deliver a consistent user experience across these platforms, whether the viewer is watching broadcast content on the TV or on the move with an iPad.

Press the ‘Yellow button’ for personalised Local TV news services

UK On-demand TV services could soon be personalised to deliver consumers content targeted at local communities. Under new government plans, local TV news services could be tailored to towns and cities as well as larger regions currently covered by programmes such as ‘South East Today’ and ‘East Midlands Today’.

The services could be rolled out as early as 2012. Initially they will be start on ordinary channels such as 6 or 106, however they could soon be available through the ‘yellow button’. Delivery through an application or widget will provide users with much more flexibility to browse content, and if successful, the ‘yellow button’ could become synonymous with news as the ‘red button’ has with on-demand.

These types of new services represent a new era in how we consume TV content. At the same time it’s essential that broadcasters keep the viewer in mind when developing these new applications. With 118 million TV’s predicted to ship in 2014, broadcasters and services manufactures now have the opportunity to deliver targeted on demand services that haven’t previously been possible. It’s an exciting time for consumers as long as we strike the right balance.

3D TV no longer just for movies

Canal+ has confirmed plans to launch a 3D channel in France by the end of 2010. This follows the recent announcement from BSkyB for its 3D channel, Sky 3D, to launch in April.

There’s been a lot of hype surrounding 3D TV particularly at the last IBC and CES shows which both touted new 3D technology solutions. It’s great to see these technologies make the move from the exhibition floor to the sitting room and start to become a reality.

3D TV is becoming increasingly popular for consumers as well as industry enthusiasts, it’s high profile usage in hugely successful films such as Avatar and the upcoming Alice in Wonderland is helping to maintain the momentum as did the first live sports broadcast in 3D seen in the UK last month.

This announcement from Canal+ shows that 3D TV is not just a fad or for early adopters and will soon hit the mainstream. People are curious to see what it looks like on both the big and small screen. The only question is, will there be enough content available to meet this increasing demand.

Netflix build on VoD Strategy

Netflix and Sony’s announcement that US owners of PS3’s will soon be able to access the Netflix “Watch Instantly” service via their games consoles, builds on an existing strategy by games console providers to move TV content onto the console.

While the initial implementation isn’t necessarily the smoothest - the consumer must put a special disk into the console whenever they wish to access the service. It is another example of a Video on Demand service targeted at the TV.

Netflix already run the “Watch Instantly” service through Blue-ray players, TiVo and the Roku box.

The question is, how much of the VoD market can the game console providers grab?