TV is TV

Smart Selection – With today’s Smart TVs and connection services, people can review their viewing/listening options, pick the channel that’s serving the movie/show they want to watch and immediately begin watching at their convenience rather than planning their day/evening around a program schedule.

We can thank (or blame) the introduction of the Internet for giving rise to the dizzying array of content services.

“With all of the devices people now have at their disposal to access the content, the real race begins,” Allan McLennan, CEO and chief analyst at PADEM Media Group, noted at the Pay TV Show. “Everyone in the industry is now focusing on getting the largest number of eyeballs tuned in to their streaming service.”

Right now, there are two technologies rushing to be the one most used to access that content:

• 5G wired and wireless is just beginning to build-out high-speed, low-latency (lots of data, little delay) service
• Cable people are taking a two-pronged approach to keep their service relevant
  • ATSC 3.0 – doesn’t exactly roll off your lips – or Next Gen TV
  • Addition of wireless service to their home internet/TV service

Not Everyone is a Target – We realize it’s difficult to believe that not everyone on the planet doesn’t have a TV, smartphone or viewing device, but some people have other priorities than M&E and content.

If you just look at the numbers, there are plenty of growth opportunities for anyone/everyone in the TV/content development/distribution industry. After all, there are about 7.7B people in the world, about 1.7G TV households and 2.7B smartphone users worldwide.

It’s little wonder everyone feels they are going to get their share because people just can’t seem to get enough video content.

Viewing Growing – With the abundance of quality and interesting video content, people in the U.S. and most industrialized countries are spending more time watching more stuff and they’re doing it on more screens.

While it’s true that today there is no prime-time TV, the proliferation of options — day/time viewing and OTT streaming — are creating a challenge for service providers and viewers.

We have a hodgepodge of services – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, YouTube – and may have to add Disney+ and Apple TV+ at the end of the year to satisfy the kids. It’s not because we like all of their shows; in fact, we often sign up for one or two and each time rationalize to ourselves, “yeah, we’ll watch more of so-n-so’s and drop one of the other guys.”

That’s why DEG (Digital Entertainment Group) recently reported there are pay TV subscriptions for 517 operators with 747 platforms – digital/analog gable, satellite, IPTV, DTT across 135 countries with about 1.5M subscribers. In addition, there seems to be a new streaming service with some great new content that is going to capture folks’ excitement (and subscription) every week.

“The content and distribution world is changing dramatically,” says McLennan. “Traditional TV, cord-cutters, cord-trimmers, cord-nevers are being bombarded with the next great entertainment solution and they’re quickly becoming overwhelmed.

Nothing on TV – While content producers, shooters and distributors are offering an increasing volume of news, documentaries, reality, horror, humor and a range of video content to people to view on the screen of her/his choice; people continue to surf channels only to determine there’s nothing on TV. It’s there, just hard to find.

“They’re finding it increasingly difficult to get an overview of all the content they have at their disposal so they can decide what they want to watch,” he continued. “Content producers and distributors will have to begin talking with each other and develop strategies and solutions that will meet the consumers’ ever-changing entertainment appetite in the digital age.

“In addition,” McLennan added, “individually and together they have to focus on developing and enforcing robust cloud security, data protection, DRM (digital rights management) and high-bandwidth content protection as well as rights education at the consumer level. Defending content and revenues from bad actors is not something anyone in the industry can take lightly.”

We did our part by telling the kids:

• If they “shared” our passwords they’d lose access to the streaming service for a month
• Most “free” film/show sites gave them something extra – malvertising – and if their activities infected the home network and Wi-Fi service for a helluva’ long time, tough

In other words … it just isn’t worth it!

We firmly agree with McLennan that the M&E industry is changing – rapidly; and don’t see how SVOD services like Netflix, Disney and others can sustain their hefty investment in new, unique, ad-free content as sustainable.

Services like HBO and Hulu have been, and perhaps will continue to be, ad-free subscriptions but they also have deep pocket “parents” that cover the red ink for Emmy and Oscar bragging rights.

The statuettes are nice, but they don’t put food on the table or money in investors’ pockets.

Subscriptions Grow – It would seem that everyone has Netflix global subscription numbers in their sights and sees fantastic opportunities for their unique, special service. They are sorta’ right because there’s plenty of room for growth in the subscription content industry. But as YouTube has increasingly shown, ad-supported (free) streaming is equally attractive to viewers–especially if they aren’t overwhelmed by run-of-the-mill, boring ads.

We’re comfortable with the rumors that Netflix is considering including some ads, as long as they’re in exchange for a lower monthly subscription and believe that most of the 158M plus subscribers will agree.

YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki aggressively promoted their advertising opportunities during this year’s Digital Content Newfronts in NYC, noting that the service attracts over 1.8B users/viewers every month and it’s all about the content not the name attached.

Walmart announced that its Vudu service will be ad friendly and you can bet that Amazon Prime will begin offering their “friends” see-it, buy-it opportunities.

It’s not a pie-in-the-sky projection, it’s only logical because the IP-based services already compile extensive user data; and when put to intelligent use, viewers will find it beneficial as long as that data is kept secure and private.

Sharing Concern – Consumers don’t mind sharing their personal information with services if it will result in getting better and more personalized content. And if they’re using ad–supported channels, it would be a significant improvement if they only had to watch ads that were interesting to them.

Okay, we admit that the security, privacy bit has been a huge hurdle for content providers/streamers; and we can only hope that bosses pay attention to McLennan’s warning earlier because in the long run, their success/failure will depend on it.

Especially since Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has given the EU a ready source of income when folks mess up.

In the U.S., the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) will lead to an equally broad view of personal data privacy, collection, sharing.

In addition, we’re optimistic that the increased use of metadata collection, analytics and AI will ultimately lead to better quality, more meaningful personalized advertising.

All marketing has to do is understand the new challenges and opportunities that are available for them to really connect with the viewer/customer.

It will certainly help when they come to understand it isn’t that people don’t like ads, it’s that they don’t like 10 of the same ad in a two-hour time period.

All that’s required is an understanding what Alton Meyer meant when he said, “There’s… There’s a world, built on top of ours. People live there.”

After all, TV is just TV, no matter how/where/when you watch it. And they will all be major topics at the SMPTE Tech Conference and IBC later this year.

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