Vindicia in the News

Opening the Casbaa OTT Conference last week, Radha Rahman, Marketing Director, Asia, for Brightcove set the tone for the day from the start as she told delegates “The end game is to win the viewer over and over again. Consumers now have more choice so services need to be different. Viewers are more savvy and viewing habits have changed to include binge watching and increased mobile consumption”.

Topics covering trends in viewership, OTT content strategies, OTT security issues, distribution channels, regulatory practices, business models (both old & new), OTT content measurement, consumer payment options, success factors, and “big data” were also discussed at the full-day OTT Conference; part of the annual two-day OTT Summit.

The conference was designed to take a look at OTT content, business models, regulation and the latest tech. Delegates heard industry experts deliver opinions on issues pertinent to the industry and on how broadcasters, OTT players and telcos are shaping the future of TV.

The theme that viewership and that overall subscription numbers (and retention of said subscribers) is all that counts was supported by Aravind Venugopal, Vice President of Media Partners Asia in his presentation where he stated that “Data consumption, subscriber retention and pricing power have emerged as key drivers in the OTT space with Michael Greco, Vice President, Vindicia later affirming this when he said “Retention should be a key part of your acquisition strategy”. YouGov Managing Director, Stephen Tracy noted that “Lapsed subscribers are more likely to resubscribe when new content becomes available. The most important factors for those considering to subscribe are cost and availability of international content” with Ben Loh, General Manager for tonton having earlier told delegates that “People want to be entertained on their own terms” and that, essentially, “the core business is content /price point and monetisation”. Even Carl Kirchhoff, SportsFix CEO said that “new tech will disrupt existing ecosystems and payment models” before positing whether block chain would be a game changer.

The problems of piracy also surfaced again with stark comments being made by Goh Seow Eng, Managing Director, Home for Singtel, about the need for more united action to combat piracy. Goh warned that content owners who didn’t join the efforts would face negative consequences in contract renewal conversations with the platforms.

The OTT Conference was supported by Presenting Sponsor, Brightcove and sponsors Accedo, APT Satellite, BBC Player, Eros International, Irdeto, Massive, MPP Global, TV5MONDE, Viaccess-Orca and Vindicia.