“You can’t stop the OTT revolution,” said Johannes Larcher, SVP of International, Hulu, at this year’s CASBAA convention in Hong Kong. “There are many incremental revenues to be made from OTT.”
The onset of new and global internet-delivered TV services such as Hulu, Netflix and the BBC I-player as extensions of traditional cable, satellite and IPTV systems was declared as “inevitable” by many speakers and delegates drawn from Asia and the rest of the world.
Yet the question remains “Who will pay?” and how will content and multichannel TV platform operators monetise and retain revenues while engaging with “authorised” customers?
In the opening session of the first day on the changing world of TV, Blair Westlake, corporate VP, media and entertainment Group at Microsoft shared his anticipation that the evolution of the smart, digitally “connected TV” could soon match the speed of collaborative innovation witnessed in the past three years. He added that tablets and smart phones and “smart glass” have fast become the focus of the entertainment experience.
Even so, Jana Bennett, president, worldwide networks and global iPlayer at BBC Worldwide, noted that audiences still want a mass experience. Yet part of the future growth for content will come from mining niches and catering to passions.
Jayne Leung, director, North Asia at Facebook later highlighted the multiplier effect of new audience engagements. Fans recommending TV content to friends present an immense opportunity to content owners and marketers to establish life-long connectivity, she said. Michelle Guthrie, AP Director, Strategic Business Development at Google, reinforced that collaboration is key to the future innovation of the industry and ecosystems should underpin this collaboration.
“What we have seen at the Convention 2011 is that our industry’s first 20 years is a journey that has only just begun,” added Simon Twiston Davies, CEO, CASBAA. “Even with more than 420 million non-terrestrial TV connections across the Asia Pacific, there is phenomenal opportunity for even more expansion and growth in the region.”
