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.
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.
faryl
10/30/2016 3:47:57 AM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Hello, advertising....?
I'd never considered that before.
Guess I always assumed Europeans were just wittier than we are over here :)
JohnBarnes
10/30/2016 11:10:26 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Hello, advertising....?
Joe, Faryl,
Not unlike a stage director's trick I learned from the great Richard Palmer: when actors are not being expressive enough, have them rehearse in neutral-face masks. That forces them to use their whole body to communicate. (Or for that matter, when I use the Whelan Instant Acting system (actors make an audio tape of the scene, and then perform it while it plays on a tape), I have to ferociously enforce the rule against lip-synching). Humans have so evolved to use words that they're always easiest -- but not necessarily best.
And for transnational advertising, gesture and visuals can and should carry the day.
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!"
faryl
10/30/2016 3:51:20 AM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Hello, advertising....?
Great sponsorship opportunity for Northface (or other cozy athletic wear) though!
Re: Hello, advertising....?
@Joe:
Very true and good point about commercial free pay TV.
This could be one of the possible reasons for shift of stats that were presented in another article this morning 'Pay-TV On-Demand Is In Demand'. This explains completely.
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.
Re: Advertising for OTT
@freehe:
Absultely....
At times that may turn out to be the total key factor depending on local market conditions. Advertising surely does play BIG role in specific circumstances in addition to revenue generatiion.
dlr5288
10/31/2016 7:33:03 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Advertising for OTT
Very true! Advertising does play a big role in businesses and gives them a certain revenue.
batye
11/2/2016 2:31:44 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Advertising for OTT
@dlr5288 I would say it relevant to the size of the Co. and strategy at play....
dcawrey
10/31/2016 8:21:56 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Advertising for OTT
Ads should not be that big of a deal. Most service start without, and then attract the attention they need to get that revenue later on.
Ariella
11/1/2016 9:28:53 AM
User Rank Author
Re: Advertising for OTT
@dcawrey true, when you're just starting out, it's hard to businesses to pay for ads. If you can build an audience, you can build a better case for their buying in.
batye
11/2/2016 2:27:57 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Advertising for OTT
@dcawrey interesting observation, I did see this at work at some startups :)
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.
JohnBarnes
10/30/2016 11:13:34 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: OTT in Eastern Europe
freehe,
I think, just as much, that existing OTT systems need to be reinveted for the "many small population languages" situation. The people, after all, don't exist to buy OTT; OTT exists to be bought by the people. So if something's got to change, people have existential priority.
elizabethv
10/31/2016 7:08:43 AM
User Rank Platinum
Re: OTT in Eastern Europe
@freehe - I have to wonder if there isn't a way to create a more universal OTT service in Eastern Europe that would still be able to cater to smaller, more diverse populations that speak different languages. I'm not saying I personally have the answer, I just have to wonder if there isn't one out there.
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.
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."
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?
JohnBarnes
10/30/2016 11:21:11 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: OTT in Europe
afwriter,
That's a really smart observation and one I hope somebody besides us is listening to. The same basic techniques that go into freestanding OTT here could go into pay TV service there, allowing for packages that much better fit people's real needs. I would almost bet we will see that within a couple of years.
elizabethv
10/31/2016 7:12:37 AM
User Rank Platinum
Re: OTT in Europe
@afwriter - I really like the idea of OTT attached to Pay-TV services in Eastern Europe. I don't think you're alone as an American in forgetting that life circumstances are different in other places in the world. We become consummed in the fact that we can travel a few hundred miles without worrying about communicating with someone that doesn't speak your language. Or whose culture is completely different than your own. It's a completely different situation than our own, and we all need that reminder sometimes, that people live differently than we do.
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