Editor’s note: Today we are happy to feature a post from Ericsson’s Time to Play blog by Colin Morrison, Vice President of Global Sales Operations for Ericsson’s TV and media business:
Consumers have always been drawn toward compelling content, but only since the advent of over-the-top (OTT) services have they been able to sit down and ‘binge’ at their leisure. As Jackson McHenry of Entertainment Weekly said in 2014: “Binge watching is an epidemic, one not limited to college campuses or even high schoolers experimenting for the first time. People everywhere with real careers, mortgages and grown up lives have been afflicted.”
Today, consumers are prepared to spend significant amounts of time binge watching because they can determine their own viewing schedules, allowing them to watch what they want, when they want. This behavioral shift puts more importance than ever before on delivering a quality user experience and discoverability. And as we’ve learned in the last several years, there is still much work to be done on both fronts.
The evolution of discoverability and the user experience
While OTT streaming apps were designed to simplify the consumer’s viewing experience, one could make the argument that in the process they’ve created severe market fragmentation. Content is often spread out across different services with limited search capabilities, making it nearly impossible at times for a viewer to discover programming in a seamless experience.
That needs to change – the user experience needs to be simple, easy-to-use and tailored to the consumer. In an era where there are more screens and services competing for a viewer’s attention than ever before, content needs to not only be available – it needs to be delivered to the right person at the right time through the preferred service and screen.
It’s also important to consider that no two users are ever the same. That’s why the OTT user experience has resonated with consumers – it’s much more personalized. But with that said, our 2014 ConsumerLab research found that over 40% of OTT users still regard linear TV as a very valuable service. These statistics illustrate the tightrope that operators are walking – they must provide live channels and programs that enable consumers to enjoy the live experience just as much as the OTT and VOD experience.
Further personalizing the experience, content recommendations play a crucial role in discovery. And though many platforms provide recommendations based on viewing habits, allowing the consumer to tailor those recommendations will be a key differentiator. While some households have similar viewing habits, there are subtle differences between viewers that must be taken into account. By augmenting automated recommendations with human input, service providers can better understand which type of content the viewer likes watching and what type of device they are watching it on. This critical feedback enables better, faster and more accurate recommendations.
To be clear – these are complicated challenges that face service providers and advertisers alike. Their success depends on knowing what consumers want to watch, when they want to watch it. But with these challenges comes the opportunity to target emerging markets, like Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, in the next few years.
Providing pay TV at web speed
The market’s fast-paced evolution is leading content owners to recognize the value of aggregating these different services. At the recent Ericsson Media Summit in New York, we conducted a poll where almost three quarters of our respondents agreed it is essential for service providers to bundle TV, broadband and telephone services. The vast majority also agreed that channel packages will have to become more open and a la carte in order to provide consumers what they want.
More consumers are streaming content on the go, making it easier to negotiate rights for mobile delivery, enabling a true multiscreen experience. It’s almost the perfect storm: technology is rapidly improving, the requisite quality is being delivered, and consumers are willing to pay for multiscreen services. By simplifying the experience, service providers can offer real value. But in order to create a successful business model, the entire ecosystem must work together seamlessly.
When considering the OTT network space, countless new technologies and the ability to virtualize and change things in an instant, it is critical for operators to deliver agile and market-ready services. The lengthy process of designing a user interface, testing it and tweaking it is no longer acceptable. In order to survive increasingly fierce competition, today’s pay TV services need to be flexible and quick enough to adapt new and modify existing features and evolve continuously. In other words, service providers must deliver TV at web speed.
Bringing together a compelling user experience
Although viewers are no longer congregating around one TV set, that communal experience lives on thanks to social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Since consumers are using social media simultaneously with TV, the video and social experience must be one in the same.
In other words, we have to enable a full, cloud-driven multiscreen experience that flows seamlessly across screens. Consumers now expect entertainment experiences that are as personal as their smartphones. There’s no room for error – if you can’t offer that experience, they’ll find another service that does.
You can read the original post here on the Time to Play blog.
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