ott story_ott cover story 21/04/2015 20:35 Page 1
thumb through the archives of
TV Everywhere sister
publication Euromedia and
predecessor title IPTV International
reveal that less than a decade ago major
public broadcasters were testing the
water of making their content available
online, both in terms of archived
material available on demand and
linear TV.
Fast forward to 2015, and it seems
unthinkable that such broadcasters and their
pay-TV counterparts would not make their
A
upwards. “We’re also seeing evidence that long
form video is increasing on OTT devices, so it
definitely is an exciting time for the industry.
This upwards trend is also reflected in the
actions of Service Providers, they are
increasingly proactive, either partnering with
OTT services or looking to directly compete
with them – ignoring it is no longer an
option.”
According to Sheppard, in many cases,
Service Providers are able to provide distinct
advantages over pure OTT, from companion
device capabilities to quality of service and
these will be increasingly used in the future.
He says Cisco’s own Videoscape solutions
enable pay-TV operators to innovate new
services in a rapid and agile manner; “We
believe that the speed of innovation is often
From being a disruptive market entry for content
aggregators over newly-enhanced telco networks, OTT
TV has become a significant player in the pay-TV
market. Colin Mann looks at how it has developed
into the force it is, and looks forward to the challenges
ahead.
OTT TV on
and on
content available online,
especially as part of a ‘TV
Everywhere’ offering.
Meanwhile, players such as
Netflix have become global
concerns with major powers
in content production and
acquisition.
Are OTT aggregators set
to rule the pay-TV roost, or
will there be mutuallyproductive co-existence
between established pay-TV
platforms, free-to-air
broadcasters and their OTT
counterparts?
UPWARDS. Tim
Sheppard, manager, sales
business development, SP
sales, Cisco, notes that OTT
currently has a solid base
and, looking to the future,
from viewing hours to
number of subscribers,
everything is pointing
“Ignoring OTT is
no longer an
option.”
Tim Sheppard,
Cisco
14 TV Everywhere
the most important success
factor for our Service Provider
customers.”
Simon Trudelle, senior
director product marketing for
NAGRA, says that several
factors have driven OTT video
delivery usage over the past 15
years. “From more bandwidth
everywhere to more personal
and portable video-enabled
devices used to playback
content, the one-to-many
broadcast model has
accelerated its shift to a oneto-one unicast model. This
trend will continue, relying on
a smart mix of hybrid
technologies to optimise video
delivery. Capitalising on data
will also be key, to the point
where it could lead to new
business models where data
intelligence becomes core to
the content business.”
COMMUNITIES. “Social media is also
showing that communities matter in the
content industry. The many-to-many model
will likely develop to fill the missing side of the
interaction triangle. We can expect viewers to
become content contributors, on a scale
potentially bigger than up to this day for callin radio programmes or TV reality shows.
Looking ahead, one could argue that OTT will
simply continue to be the enabler to a fuller,
richer and more interactive content experience
that will gain an increasing share of video
viewing over the upcoming decade. And yes,
higher resolution multi-K screens, superior
surround sound, smarter discovery tools or
more interactive features will drive these
trends as well,” he adds.
In terms of compatibility between global
players with national or franchised pay-TV
providers, Cisco’s Sheppard suggests that
dominating global players can provide
supplementary value to the pay-TV provider
and hence be perceived as an asset. “However
if the pay-TV provider is strong in VoD, then it
could be seen as a direct threat. Both models