Comments
Adi
10/28/2016 6:07:04 AM
User Rank Author
Hello, advertising....?
One interesting topic completely missing from the discussion was advertising. No one seemed to be looking at an ad-sponsored or Freemium type model for OTT. Given low willingness to pay and high piracy, these models would seem to make the most sense. The audience did bring it up after the panel, but it was clear the panelists hadn't thought much about it. I can see the hurdles in getting advertisers on board initially, but without serious competition, they can work on it over time.
I suspect the main reason is that there isn't really a major driver to do so. They don't believe there is much of a threat from OTT. They are the incumbent operators, with pay-TV services generating revenue today.
If it ain't broke....
JohnBarnes
10/28/2016 9:59:49 AM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Hello, advertising....?
adi,
The English language might also be part of the problem (as well as the solution) here. Because a large number of the world's rich consumers are English-speaking our advertising and marketing people tend to assume that verbal messaging is relatively flexible and easy to do -- just put on an announcer between the songs, or stage little dramas between episodes of a story or during timeouts of a game, and put the content in the words that everyone understands, using audiovisuals grab attention and words to deliver message.
The European tradition in advertising and marketing is very different; much more content has to go into noises and pictures because you can't count on the whole audience understanding the verbal component. Standard exercise in teaching courses in that is showing English language and trans-language Euro commercials with the sound off; many of the English language ones are incomprehensible until the product image at the end, but trans-language commercials are often crystal clear from get-go to got-done. Similarly, listening to radio while driving around in Mexico 25 years ago, my total lack of Spanish (except for road signs and other traveler-stuff) meant not having the slightest idea what any song was about, but I seemed to get about 2/3 of the product commercials (the ones where I recognized product names).
So my guess is that as Central/Eastern Europe begins to hire ad agencies, they will probably get better results from the small-country ones, and those better results will probably eventually lead to more interest in ad-supported OTT.
clrmoney
10/28/2016 11:00:38 AM
User Rank Platinum
OTT in Europe
They said it could be a standalone service for OTT with the options they have available so they want have to rely on pay tv is good for them in a way.
Re: Hello, advertising....?
Of course, part of the lure of pay TV is that it is commercial free -- and pay TV content tends to be expressly designed for pay TV.
Imagine watching Game of Thrones with commercial breaks! Ugh!
"Winter is coming...after just a few words from our sponsors!"
Re: Hello, advertising....?
@John: Indeed, to this end, this is why we see European commercials and ad campaigns go "viral" more so than American ones -- because they HAVE to be well thought out and well executed and clever and engaging and relatable, for the very reasons that you mention.
afwriter
10/28/2016 1:53:54 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: OTT in Europe
I have been rather vocal in my opposition to Pay-TV provider offering their own OTT services since the market is already so crowded, but it sounds like that would be the perfect solution in some of these countries. It would be more of a targeted OTT with a smaller stable instead of, "Here's a million movies, but you will only really want to watch 3 of them."
I suffer from being a boorish American sometimes and don't think about how these services may operate in other countries so I enjoy having my eyes opened by articles like this one.
Re: OTT in Europe
@afwriter: Me too! I've covered video from the cable end for years, but it was pretty much always US centric with a bit of Rogers, Shaw or Videotron thrown in. So it's good to hear about these different services, especially as video is evolving. Adi does a great job.
The whole soccer thing has sociological overtones: "I'm going to stream the game to a small screen because my team sucks. Wait, my team is pretty good; I'm going to watch it with friends in a bar now."
freehe
10/29/2016 3:53:04 PM
User Rank Platinum
Advertising for OTT
@Adi, Good point about advertising, That is definitely another area to explore for revenue generation.
freehe
10/29/2016 3:55:17 PM
User Rank Platinum
OTT in Eastern Europe
It seems like the senior management need some expertise in OTT to help them develop sound, feasible and effective strategies that can generate revenue as well as create new products and serices for additional revenue streams.
It is unfortunate that they did not realize that the OTT services struggle given the diversity of languages and the limited population of each country in certain regions and that offering a pay OTT service is difficult to monetize.
It is great that some OTT companies encourage cord cutting.
mpouraryan
10/29/2016 7:48:03 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: OTT in Europe
As I join in noting how Ari yet again laid out a compelling update, I won't consider us Americans "Boorish"--we are insisting on choices and the ability to "think freely". That's not so bad--is it?
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