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Unlock the Best in Operator UX

Unlock the Best in Operator UX Image Credit: Vewd

On-demand players have disrupted the traditional broadcast industry globally and are now crowding the market, vying for the attention of consumers in Southeast Asia. The business impacts are very real.

The Southeast Asia pay-TV market is famously diverse, with household penetration levels ranging from 11% in Indonesia to 168% in South Korea as of year-end 2018, but growth rates will vary. According to an upcoming report by Media Partners Asia, pay TV subscription growth in many Southeast Asia countries will slow, but not decline.

Unlike other regions of the world where cord-cutting has resulted in declining subscribers, pay TV in Southeast Asia benefits from the symbiotic relationship between OTT and pay-TV which telco operators, in particular, are anticipated to exploit.

In the developed APAC region, the expansion of the fiber network and planned 5G network roll-outs will play an important role in increasing the overall telecom revenues.

While many pay TV providers in the region have launched or will soon launch their own OTT platforms, standalone OTT players are also increasingly seeking pay-TV provider partnerships. The platforms are becoming increasingly integrated as customers seek a device-agnostic viewing experience.

For the pay TV operator, this translates into a strategy with three integrated angles.

Aggregate the content mix: In Southeast Asia, local content and pricing are still key factors for consumers when selecting an SVOD service. At the same time, consumers are also hungry for simplicity when it comes to choosing and managing their entertainment choices. That leaves the field open for a pay TV operator to aggregate multiple accounts and to deliver an array of targeted international and local content in a single user experience that users can access without leaving their main TV screen.

Focus on the user experience: The winning strategy will be one that combines the content users want with an experience that makes life easiest for them by removing as many friction points as possible.  As one example, an operator adopting the principle of Unified (or Universal) search and discovery can integrate multiple video sources into a single personalized experience. The concept brings added value to pay TV operators wanting to brand themselves as the user’s go-to content aggregator and in theory, delivers an engaged consumer who doesn’t need to go ‘off platform’ for their content.

Deliver on quality of service: The overall quality of the service and in particular of live-streamed programming is a key differentiator in reducing cord-cutting and churn. OTT providers are under pressure to deliver while pay TV operators have the edge. In particular, reducing latency and removing rebuffering issues, while maintaining high bitrates, regardless of where the user is and what device they are watching on, are critical issues to solve in order to maintain user satisfaction. 

To deliver on these strategies OTT technology needs to be embraced by the pay TV operator. Managing peaks in demand require an operator platform to have the necessary network and peak-load capacity in key areas, such as authentication, authorization, license delivery, and CDN playout.

The exodus of cord-cutters can further be stemmed economically by onboarding OTT apps and services via legacy equipment in the field. This is possible by bringing OTT capabilities to entry-level or previously deployed set-top boxes. It is also possible to deliver and combine pay TV and OTT services directly on the Smart TV.

An integrated approach to content, user experience, QoS and technology is paramount for achieving differentiation and winning over consumers in the heated OTT landscape. Ultimately, the future of streaming will be about deploying new integrated experiences that are truly personalized on whatever device and wherever they are watching. Those operators looking for an edge will need to unlock the absolute best in user experience.

To learn more about effective OTT aggregation strategies for operators to expand subscriber offerings, register for Vewd's latest webinar 'Content Aggregation for Operators: How to Win from OTT Disruption'.

Author

Marco Frattolin is head of Operator Products for Vewd. In this role, he leads the development of all pay TV operator products, including Vewd OpX, as well as defining new product areas to meet the evolving needs of the pay TV industry.

Previously, Mr. Frattolin led Zenterio’s product management and was a key member of Zenterio’s management team. Mr. Frattolin defined Zenterio's product strategy, expanded the product portfolio and worked with leading operators worldwide. Before joining Zenterio, Mr. Frattolin was a technical manager and a distinguished set-top box software architect for Telsey, Pirelli Broadband and ADB. 

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