“ Rather than presenting an EPG-style grid of viewing choices or a collection of streaming apps the user must navigate through , this approach leverages visual merchandising and smart promotion to surface compelling content choices ,” he advises . “ The contentfirst approach delivers better search and discovery capabilities by connecting viewers to the programme choices they are most likely to enjoy . The end goal is to become the first-choice destination for viewers . Those that achieve this stand to reap the benefits of increased engagement on their platforms and loyalty to their brands . One area that is particularly challenging today is sports programming . With rights for the most popular leagues to the most niche sports spread across multiple owners and streaming platforms , fans face difficulty finding and watching their favourite teams play live across streaming services . Sports search and discovery capabilities which connect viewers to the live games and competitions they want help providers to deliver better user experiences and maximise satisfaction .”
“ In recent years , we ’ ve seen the fragmentation of the content landscape driven by the growth of D2C services by content owners ,” observes Tim Pearson , vice president , solution marketing at NAGRA . “ While consumers initially saw this as a way of deriving their value propositions and only paying for what they wanted , the downside was that there was no overall way of searching all services , meaning frustration and serial searches were needed . New ways that deliver aggregation on devices such as Android TV , as deployed by NAGRA customers Claro Colombia and StarHub , provide consumers with aggregated services that benefit from deep-linked searches across different services . With the increasing adoption of single sign-on , consumers are again in the driving seat .” FRAGMENTATION . “ The fragmentation of streaming platforms has accelerated , with lots of positives for consumers , such as the sheer amount of content available , and the quality of IP coming from new players , but also negatives on the content discovery side as it becomes a bit of a maze ,” says Mathieu Ghariani , director of commercial operations , Netgem UK . “ Due to the number of services , there is consumer fatigue - we observed the effects of this in 2022 when pure SVoD players like Netflix lost out to new players and more hybrid models like Amazon Prime ,” he adds .
“ The comeback of linear channels ( FAST ) indicates that consumers are now asking for a lean-back experience . I think that it also depends on the context : when on your phone , you ’ re happy to browse , search , watch a bit , answer a text , switch to another app , and come back to resume your show . When watching on the big screen , you want a certain comfort and to enjoy an immersive experience . So we ( industry experts ) need to cater to all these needs . Aggregators such as Netgem TV have a key role to play , bringing everything together in a smart way , adapting to new users and uses , taking cognitive context into account , and simplifying the user experience ,” he suggests .
“ Indeed , that is one of the biggest problems currently ,” says Till Sudworth , CMO at NPAW . “ In today ’ s overcrowded online video content landscape , consumers are struggling to find the content they want to watch . A lot of time is spent browsing the content libraries of each service , exploring custom recommendations , and trying new titles . Consolidated guides , the traditional mouth-to-ear effect , and marketing all play a part . In many countries , online platforms or Apps exist that explain on what platform you will find what kind of show . But , of course , this is not the best user experience ,” he acknowledges . ALGORITHMS . “ Recommendations by friends and family on what to watch are still the most common way to discover content as those personal word-of-mouth suggestions carry more clout than just algorithms ,” notes Romain Eude , director of product development at Synamedia . “ Google is leading the way as the search engine starting point for 70 per cent of online journeys allowing consumers to search for a particular TV series or list of top films for example , but personalised recommendations still have a long way to go .”
“ Competition for my eyeballs is a premium ,” states Nilay Naik , SVP global professional services , ThinkAnalytics . “ I am not an early adopter and I rely on peer pressure and human suggestions . Other than recommendations on the UI , the most common ways of finding content are word of mouth and marketing messages . The last two are not ideal as you have to make a note to remember the suggestions . Don ’ t underestimate the scale of the content discovery challenge . Take an aggregator such as Tata Play with over 20 media providers and millions of assets – in this case , the viewer has to move from the traditional lean-back consumption to an almost infinite choice . Content discovery , personalisation , serendipity and to some extent nostalgia play a part in creating sticky viewing habits , leading to increased content consumption and ultimately loyalty . Many of us have experienced this with YouTube , spending hours watching content we didn ’ t know existed ,” he admits .
“ There is no doubt content discovery is still a challenge for consumers as they have access to more and more content from more and
“ Viewers are faced with an abundance of choice today .” - Kamran Lotfi ,
Gracenote
more sources ,” suggests Gabriel Cosgrave , GM EMEA and SVP global sales at Xperi . “ TiVo ’ s latest research shows the average is now upwards of 11 different sources . The only real way that consumers can find content is to turn to a neutral source that integrates all the content , understands the consumers behaviour to surface the most appropriate choices and then deep links straight to the content for them to enjoy it . A great example of this are the latest Smart TVs that are Powered by TiVo which will be coming to market across Europe this year ,” he advises . APPS . There are apps for consolidated guides – how useful are they ? “ They are a great source to find specific content , a new movie for example , but these apps simply rely on deep-linking ,” says 3SS ’ s Donath . “ You can ’ t actually watch anything while in the app . Also , they only solve part of the viewer ’ s problem . The help with my search problem , as long as I already know what I ’ m looking for . But they don ’ t fully solve the problem of discovery . The extra uncertainly these apps face is that CE hardware manufacturers can decide that it ’ s in their best interest to prohibit deep-linking to third-party apps . So the usefulness to consumers of these consolidated guide apps is not complete , and can be further impacted by
commercial decisions of other parties .”
“ Apps for consolidated programme guides can be useful provided they can effectively surface compelling content across platforms in ways that are interesting to viewers ,” advises Gracenote ’ s Lotfi . “ These apps compete with aggregator platforms in trying to establish themselves as the first destination for users at the start of their viewing sessions .”
“ As with any consolidated guide / app , it ’ s only as good as the information it contains — both in terms of depth and accuracy ,” notes NAGRA ’ s Pearson . “ However , the consolidation apps fail in one key area — not knowing what the consumer has watched . This means the app can only be an information service , not dynamic to viewing needs or behaviour ,” he adds . SIMPLIFY . “ Consolidated guides offer some good features to simplify discovery within this complex environment ,” says Netgem ’ s Ghariani . “ They use features such as bookmarks or playlists , as well as
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