Cover Story subscriptions . As an outcome , consumers end up paying more than they did in the days of classic pay-TV bundles . It ’ s just too complex . This can only be solved by somebody who is able to aggregate , make everything available in one place , bundle , and make switching easy based on needs . This I would say is the core role of an operator today .”
“ The viewer ’ s problem of finding and accessing content is getting harder . The question is , where will the touchpoint with the customer be . The service provider really wants this to be at the beginning of the journey . The global streamers and big operators inevitably have a huge advantage here due to their brand power .”
He says that a universal UI is possible when you have a significant market share , if you are able to engage productively with all key global and local partners , demonstrating to those partners the value of the collaboration and its ability to help grow those partners ’ audiences . “ If you ’ re a market leader it ’ s easier for this to happen because people talk to you , you can get the certifications and commercial agreements that you need . This is not to say that it ’ s impossible for the smaller player , but it ’ s harder for them to get the content and to negotiate favourable agreements ,” he adds . FRAGMENTED . “ In the content-first approach taking hold in the industry today , aggregators are vying to provide the universal UI and become the start screen for their users ’ content discovery journeys ,” notes Lotfi . “ Because consumers today tend to use a combination of services and platforms to get the content they want , their viewing experiences have become highly fragmented . An effective solution to the fragmentation problem is universal search functionality which surfaces content and delivers recommendations to viewers across different walled-gardens . Another effective solution is beyond catalogue search which enables
14 EUROMEDIA viewers to discover titles outside the content library they are in . Aggregators and direct to consumer streaming platforms are delivering both universal search and discovery as well
as beyond catalogue search capabilities today resulting in more integrated user interfaces and more intuitive user experiences .”
“ The destination is operators offering a bundle of content that includes linear and on-demand content — both from their own sources and apps ,” suggests Pearson . “ This is essentially the same business model pay- TV has had for decades , but apps are now substituted for channels . However , with this new destination comes new competitors , such as Apple , Google and Amazon , that are already offering this aggregated experience on their devices .”
As to the inevitability or impossibility , he says this depends on the definition of universal . “ A lot of the UX that is now presented , be it on
“ In today ’ s overcrowded landscape , consumers are struggling to find the content they want .” - Till Sudworth , NPAW
Prime , Netflix or an operator app , increasingly all use the same overall design paradigm — albeit the underlying technology in terms of recommendation , and editorial are different . I don ’ t think a universal UX is impossible , but it depends on the individual streaming providers ’ overall ambition and growth plans . For some launcher apps , such as that presented by the NAGRA Ion interface , a common interface presents an aggregated set of recommended content . But after that , the consumer links to the relevant page in the streaming provider ’ s app .” AI . “ Not only is it inevitable , but it has already started and that ’ s what we are trying to achieve with Netgem TV ,” advises Ghariani . “ We feel that we have a duty to the consumer to remove the burden of going to 100 + platforms to choose from , providing the best / simplest universal UI . Another interesting area to look at is AI . Our Netgem TV recommendation engine brings more to the table and allows us to do smart things , similar to what Netflix does , at a multi-platform super-aggregator level . We start with an editorial choice , giving UK PSB prominence , and add a layer of AI recommendation engine ; this seems to be a good cocktail , as we see this in our data with great customer engagement with these rows e . g ., Top 10 picks across streaming platforms . We ’ ve also started to look into using large language models ( think chatGPT ) combined with voice controls to make user interactions more natural and fun . It ’ s a very exciting time for the end users ,” he declares .
“ The industry ’ s traditional walled garden approach makes a universal UI scenario unlikely ,” counters Sudworth . “ Partnerships between multiple service providers unify multiple platforms here and there , but they operate on a case-by-case basis . But it is not a matter of a universal UI . It is a matter of aggregating the different content from different content owners . The challenge is , that every content owner wants to have direct