Tag: PayTV

PayTV Thriving – The Threat of OTT is OVERSTATED

Posted on by tvangelist

I have spent the last few days listening to several Analysts and many TV professionals give their opinions on the state  of the TV market both worldwide and in their regions – We as delegates sit and usually suffer death by Powerpoint at these conferences.   Sometimes the speakers are good but in the main they are sales pitches and that is tiring…However TVConnect CEE was not that sort of event.

The quality of the material, intensity of the speakers and the reality delivered by all the speakers was very good.  What was highlighted is that there is too much ‘noise’ concerning the death of traditional PayTV due to the rise of OTT.  This merely shrouds the reality as the following statistics divulge.

  • There is a SATURATION of OTT services; that we know
  • However PayTV is in GROWTH mode everywhere
  • The press needs its daily does of Netflix but Netflix success reality is also somewhat different
  • Netflix will build a BIG subscriber base but many of them will be PayTV Subscribers
  • In the USA OTT revenue is only circa 9% of PayTV revenues
  • The traditional Disc market (DVD & BluRay) annual revenues are higher than OTT
  • The THREAT from OTT is OVERSTATED

For the last 5 years OTT has dominated the conversation however OTT has hardly made any impact on traditional services…PayTV was shaken by the entrance of these pretenders to the throne, however it has adapted and continues to react positively in order to change the business to both retain and grow the PayTV customer base.

 

 

All Hail Netflix and World Dominance!

Posted on by tvangelist

Sinking_ShipIn response to the announcement by Ted Sarandos – Netflix’s CCO  or as I think it should be titled – CHM – Chief Hype Master who believes his Company is “CHANGING TELEVISION FOREVER”!   I would merely say,  Whoaaaa there Cowboy;  of course you have to get excited about your Content deals – Just like Everyone else does LOL!

However what I see overall is just another pretender to the business throne of the TV world!  Someone else who is once again going to radically change an entire business model overnight.  Someone looking to reign supreme and change the 80-20 mix (80% who watch linear TV and the 20% who watch all the other stuff)  … Mr Sarandos you have a privileged position and you are more than likely not part of the real world…a world of people who, quite honestly, have to get up in the morning and go to work in a horrible tough job, or clean the house, or go shopping, or do the laundry, or go to school, or LIVE.  People who work hard all day!  People who come home, open the front door, kiss the wife/husband/partner, kiss the kids, hug the dog and fit back into the evening’s ritual – Perhaps even cook a meal…or people who are both working; where the family is scrabbling around to find time for the kids pick-up, homework, chores, sports, hobbies, family BBQs, kids birthdays, sickness, LIFE, and all the things that the world delivers.   The world of spare time between 9pm to midnight!

Does anyone in this industry REALLY believe that we are glued to our TV screens 24/7 as if that is the only thing in the world?  Come on what are we believing!!!   Why are TV shows scheduled, why are their ratings, why has the business delivered the same format for the last umpteen years, in the way it has?  Because TV has created a system that has adjusted to and suits the masses not the few.  We ordinary folk adjust and organise ourselves to schedules, we like schedules because we can do other things in the meantime!  We don’t need TV, we have TV which is part of an entertainment package that we use to entertain ourselves within scheduled periods in our lives and Mr Sarandos it is not the ONLY thing we have!

What is the best way for a busy family in the modern hustle and bustle of daily life – It is Linear TV, PVR and Catch-Up TV (aka VOD) perhaps even Apple TV which is an on-demand (not subscription) service…Pay as You Watch (makes sense).   Unless Netflix can be the only supplier of ALL the Content with ALL the options in the world including a humble price tag we will see that they are merely just another choice in a HUGE selection of TV offerings that we have today.  Linear TV still reigns supreme according to the Analysts but who cares in the heady world of OTT Services – All hail Netflix!