Win customers by targeted content and leveraging billing assets

Taken from Total Telecom's article "Time is right for telcos to profit from mobile TV"

By Mary Lennighan, in Barcelona
Tuesday 23 February 2016

Operators can win customers by offering more targeted content, leveraging their billing assets to encourage consumers to make small purchases.

Customers are willing to pay more – to a certain extent - for the right multi-screen TV service and that could mean an additional revenue stream for telecoms operators, provided they get their propositions right.

As networks evolve, telcos are able to provide multi-screen offerings and mobile apps in addition to their standard home broadband and TV offers. And while consumers, particularly the younger generations, expect this sort of capability as standard, there is still some incremental revenue to capture.

Telcos' billing assets give them a big opportunity in the market, by facilitating low-value transactions on the part of their customers.

A customer is more likely to pay for a movie rental or sign up for a Netflix package, for example, if they can add the cost to their regular bill, and as a result content providers are more likely to give a small revenue cut to the telcos.

Customers are very happy to pay a slight premium, on top of a standard home broadband and TV package for a TV bundle that comes with the right content, said Lewis Insight.

Customers will pay for their fixed and mobile connectivity, but operators can generate "thin-ish layers of revenue [on top]… as long as it's not extortionate".

This is especially true for telcos competing with high-end cable packages, where customers are paying a premium for a plethora of channels, many of which they don't actually want. Telecoms operators can be more relevant by offering more targeted content.

YouTube Red

Taken from Forbes article
YouTube Red's Streaming Could Be A Game-Changer, Unless ...

Michael Humphrey

It did not surprise longtime observers of YouTube to read the company is in talks with Hollywood to prepare a “robust” lineup of shows for its new subscription service, YouTube Red. From its earliest days, YouTube has been in a dance with traditional studios and broadcasters, sometimes leaving core creators wanting for attention. There was that time YouTube tangoed with CBS, back in what now feels like primordial days. Or the time they waltzed with all kinds of Hollywood creators to make “quality entertainment.” Other times YouTube followed big studios’ leads and tapped and then stomped around copyright infringement.

While you might think of YouTube’s “DNA” as cats and toddlers, it is much more complex than that. Yes, they have always wanted you to post your own videos. They have also wanted you to devotedly follow PewDiePie and Michelle Phan. But they have also wanted Hollywood to come play in the video sandbox. In the past, it did not go well. Hollywood content usually does not work well on YouTube and, it seems, the reverse might usually be true too.

But YouTube Red offers a new kind of opportunity, a merging of two forms. We’re already seeing it emerge, but YouTube Red could be the special place for it.

As the entertainment planets slowly align on any screen you want, “streaming” can mean anything from watching Elf to Empire to Epic Rap Battles of History. What constitutes “premium” viewing among those choices does not really matter as much as what makes you, the viewer, willing hit ”pay” instead of just “play.” We pay for Netflix, a font of binge-watching everything from movies, to TV series and its own original programming. We may pay for Hulu, cord-cutters’ entry into traditional TV, with its own original programming and now an easy way to get Showtime. We might pay for Amazon Prime for the same reasons, plus free shipping on some stuff.

YouTube Red, in comparison, is a set of features so far. No ads, download videos, play music in the background. Features are not enough (though early returns are positive) and YouTube knows it. Content was part of the plan from the outset and the company has a promising set of originals coming from its own platform’s biggest stars. But those originals come witht a risk. What quality or content enhancement must be met for YouTube followers not to feel bait-and-switched? At the same time, just how “robust” must a Hollywood line-up be to get Red competing with Netflix and Hulu?

A hybrid form of entertainment might answer these questions best and right now we are watching its potential play out on another platform. “Master of None” has been an unquestionable hit for Netflix.

Connection, what I think of “mass friendships,” is YouTube’s most important entertainment asset and the industry’s most radical new reality. Many YouTube stars have already proven they can significantly improve their production quality without losing that connection.

This could make YouTube Red true 21st Century entertainment. Unless … Google continues to mistake YouTube for a mere platform dancing with the stars. It must instead be a new kind of producer, that worries less about minutiae and more about the big picture.

Mobile TV Verizon try to attract audience whom have never paid for payTV

Taken from bloomberg.com 's article
Verizon Seeks Money in Mobile TV Where Rivals Faltered

By Scott Moritz and Olga Kharif
September 11, 2015

- Verizon Targets Youth With Ad-Supported Mobile TV
- Ad-supported TV and Web programs streamed to millennials
- Company says timing right to reverse mobile TV's failure

Verizon Communications Inc. is embarking on a plan to make money from delivering TV over mobile phones. Past efforts by rivals show the chances of success are slim.

So far, no one has been able to convince large numbers of consumers to pay for a mobile-centric video service. Software maker MobiTV Inc. pulled its IPO in 2012, citing “unfavorable market conditions.” Qualcomm Inc.’s Flo TV failed to attract subscribers and was shuttered in 2011. Dish Network Corp.’s Sling TV, which debuted in February to a surge in demand, saw growth drop by half last quarter. And both AT&T Inc. and Apple Inc. have postponed their streaming-TV services until next year.

Unlike those efforts, Verizon is giving away its service, starting this week, to teens and millennials, and will try to recoup some of the cost by selling ads. The company faces long odds: It must compete against the more-established, mobile-friendly streaming services of Netflix Inc., Hulu, HBO, Amazon.com Inc. and Comcast Corp., without those companies’ robust libraries of video content. It also won’t offer many live streams of sports and network programming, like the Oscars, and can’t provide users the ability to watch shows on their big-screen TVs at home.

Yet for Verizon, the goal is to attract an audience of teenagers to 30-year-olds, some of whom have never paid for cable or satellite TV. The company has amassed a roster of “best of” programs from broadcast networks, the Web, sports and live events to stream and will encourage users to share videos on Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. The company will make the go90 service -- named for the act of rotating a mobile device’s screen 90-degrees sideways for video viewing -- available to the public Sept. 28.

Youth Appeal

“Timing is everything,” said Brian Angiolet, senior vice president of product development for Verizon. “If you look at TV metrics, pay TV is in decline and that’s because the younger audience is finding different programming elsewhere. Now, with go90, users have curated shows that they can make into a common experience.”

The service is a pared-down version of what the No. 1 wireless carrier envisioned earlier this year. Back in March, Verizon was considering a subscription-based mobile-TV service with programming from the four major broadcast TV networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- including live feeds and on-demand offerings.
Go90 will now offer TV shows from networks including ESPN, Comedy Central and MTV, in addition to short Web videos from AwesomenessTV, Vice and others.

Subscriber ‘Gateway’

The company is trying to build an audience through a free service that can be “a gateway to a subscription business,” said Angiolet.

“If the audience is highly engaged with your product, then we feel the ad model will support the service,” he said.

As for data usage, the company still plans to charge for go90 viewing, but will offer 2 free gigabytes of data for three months to anyone who signs up, according to Alberto Canal, a Verizon spokesman.

Go90 isn’t exactly free, said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless analyst. “Will consumers 11 free content for higher access fees? Depends on the exclusivity of the content,” Sharma said.

‘Right Time’

Mobile video is also still unproven as a means of acquiring and retaining customers, said Peter Csathy, CEO of Manatt Digital Media. But Verizon is introducing go90 at the “right time,” he said.

“Video is fundamentally important; it’s what draws people, especially young kids, to mobile devices,” Csathy said.

Mobile ad spending will increase by an average of 38 percent each year from 2014 to 2017, according to ZenithOptimedia, a London-based media research group.

This is one reason why Verizon bought AOL Inc. The company wants to use AOL’s programmatic advertising technology to insert ads in its go90 streaming service. Mobile phones offer a window into users’ interests: information about their age, location, favorite sports teams, foods and travel patterns can be collected and marketed. That info can give Verizon the ability to target more relevant ads to users where they happen to be.

Mobile Future

With mobile video, Verizon is trying to look beyond the maturing U.S. wireless business. The company is facing tough price competition from rivals like Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. as well as shrinking revenues in its landline business.

Rival AT&T, facing the same market conditions, acquired DirecTV last month to become the largest U.S. pay-TV provider. AT&T also bought wireless carriers in Mexico and forged partnerships with automakers to connect cars to the Internet. Seventy percent of Verizon’s revenue last year came from its wireless unit, versus 56 percent for AT&T. Thus, Verizon’s concentration on mobile means it has much more to lose than AT&T if go90 sputters.

“It fits with Verizon’s overall strategy of hedging against a future in which pay TV becomes less important, but that still doesn’t mean it’s going to work,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Jackdaw Research LLC in Provo, Utah.

Other than being a broadband provider, Verizon doesn’t have an edge that helps it succeed in mobile video, Dawson said.

“The carriers have always wanted to be content providers, but they are passing through other people’s content one way and most of the money the other way,” Dawson said. “They’ve never been successful and aren’t likely to be.”

YouTube Red

Taken from totaltele 's article
YouTube unveils ad-free subscription service
By Nick Wood, Total Telecom
23 October 2015

YouTube Red customers able to save videos for offline viewing across multiple devices; firm launches music app.

YouTube this week launched an ad-free subscription service that lets viewers download videos to watch offline.

Called YouTube Red, it will cost $9.99 per month and extends to any device that will run YouTube, or any app that a customer signs into using their YouTube credentials, which includes YouTube's recently-launched Gaming app, and YouTube Music, a new music streaming service also announced this week.

In addition, customers who subscriber to YouTube Red automatically get access to Google Play Music as well.

"Starting early next year, YouTube Red will get even better with member-only access to new, original shows and movies from some of YouTube's biggest creators," said Matt Leske, YouTube's senior product manager, in a blog post on Wednesday.

The service will launch in the U.S. with the offer of a free one-month trial; other countries will follow at a later date.

"The free, ad-supported version of YouTube we all know and love isn't going anywhere," Leske insisted. "But with YouTube Red, you'll be able to support the people who make your favourite videos while watching what you want, when you want, on any device you want, uninterrupted."

Netflix will expanding into ME in 2016

Taken from nextvame 's article
Netflix to be launched in the UAE in 2016
by Priscilla Tirvengadum
October 26th, 2015

Netflix, one of the most popular VOD services across the world, hosting thousands of TV shows and movies along with its own original series will be expanding into the Middle East by the end of 2016.

‎Joris Evers, vice president and head of communications for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Netflix revealed that Middle East formed part of Netflix’s global expansion project.

“We plan to complete our global expansion by the end of 2016. Of course the Middle East is part of that, hence our hiring,” he declared.

Iciflix and Starz Play VOD services are already available in the UAE and the arrival of Netflix will further boost the sector. Netflix is the world’s largest provider of streamed video-on-demand content with customers in 41 countries throughout North America, Latin America and Western Europe. As of October 2015, Netflix reported about 69.17 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 43 million in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California and started its subscription-based service in 1999.

Mobile "currently" is taking over "almost" everything

Taken from eMarketers artcle's Digital Video Viewers Keep Eyes on PCs

Mobile hasn't taken over digital video

The US audience for digital video will pass 200 million in 2015, making up not quite two-thirds of the entire population. eMarketers estimate that growth will run in the low single digits over the next few years.

The most common screen for digital video consumption is the traditional desktop or laptop. Many digital video viewers use multiple screens over time (and even simultaneously), but computers remain the most popular access point. 

A survey of US internet users by HUB Research found that use of mobile devices (and smart TVs) for video viewing grew in 2014, but significantly more respondents still used computers to do so. Similar patterns can be seen in data from TNS, which found that laptop computers were the most common device used to stream videos. TNS’s survey showed a much smaller—but still significant—gap between computers and other devices for video viewing.

Another view, this from server data gathered by Adobe, in Q1 2014, almost three-quarters of US digital video starts occurred on computers, while just over one-quarter occurred on mobile devices. eMarketer estimates that there will be 89.7 million smartphone video viewers in the US in 2014. That total is about half the size of the overall digital video audience.

Although there are fewer tablet users than smartphone users, the size of the US tablet video-viewing audience is nearly as large as that of the smartphone video-viewing audience, reflecting the fact that the tablet is associated with leisure-time activities such as content consumption.

This year, about 46% of US households will have some form of connected TV (defined as a TV set connected to the internet through built-in internet capability or through another device such as a Blu-ray player, game console or set-top box—e.g., Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku). And by next year, nearly 56% of households will have at least one connected TV.

While the size of the mobile audience is considerable, the numbers also point to how nonmobile video—computers and connected TV—is still going strong. That’s essential to keep in mind when planning and executing ad campaigns to balance against the hype that “mobile is taking over everything.”

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Related with that, another article from the same source, tell us a China market

China Beats US for Mobile TV Episode Viewing

Over 70% of China's smartphone owners watch full TV shows on their phones at least weekly

Mobile users in China are far more likely than those in the US to turn to their devices for TV viewing, according to August 2014 polling by GfK for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The study found that 71% of smartphone owners in China watched full-length TV episodes at least weekly on their advanced handsets, and 27% did this once a day or more, compared with respective response rates of 28% and 9% for the US. Less than 10% of respondents from China never watched on a smartphone, compared with half in the US.

Full-length show consumption on tablets was also much more popular in China, where more than three-quarters of users watched at least weekly, compared with 36% who did so in the US. In terms of daily usage, 23% of tablet owners in China viewed full television episodes on their devices once a day or more, compared with just 5% in the US. Tablet owners in China were even less likely than smartphone users to never watch full shows on their tablets, at 6%. Meanwhile, 37% of US tablet owners never viewed complete episodes on their devices—lower than the response for smartphones, but still far behind China. Full-episode watching isn’t the only television activity that’s more mobile in China than the US. IAB reported that China’s mobile owners were more likely than those in the US to conduct TV-related activities in general on their devices, at least at home. Nearly half (47%) of smartphone users in China had performed a TV-related activity or watched TV on their phones while at home in the month leading up to polling, and the majority (54%) of tablet owners in the country had done the same. Meanwhile, rates for the US came in at 30% and 43%, respectively.

(Red : Maybe it has a correlation with device Operating System, that maybe most of people in China using Android based tablet or smartphone that have many free app to watching TV activities compared with people in US that use IOS based smartphone or tablet.)