CTAM EuroSummit 12 – VIENNA. IHS Screen Digest analyst Guy Bisson has issued a rebuke to futurologist Ben Hammersley. Leading a session on digital delivery, Dr Bisson said he disagreed with the bulk of Hammersley’s keynote session.
Where there was agreement was in the potential effects of disruptive technologies such as OTT. “Ignore it and it will kill you,” said Dr Bisson. Linear will still be a significant chunk even 5 years in the future and by 2015 we expect only 15% of viewing to be to on demand.”
Dr Bisson said that where there was a major opportunity was in the rise of connected TVs, which by 2015 he anticipated to be in the majority.
Reflecting the increasing hardening of attitudes by incumbents towards providers such as Netflix and Lovefilm, Dr Bisson said because of OTT free-to-air and pay-TV broadcasters are facing the same problem, chasing eyeballs and revenue, and their adoption of multiscreen delivery is how they are going after that.
Netflix he said should be thought of more as a premium channel than a platform in its own right. “They and others are beginning to see the value of infrastructure. What we’ll see very rapidly is that the price differential between these two will come down.”