Pay-TV is embracing multiscreen because it is fundamentally a monetization opportunity.
Indeed, multiscreen is, according to Merrick Kingston, IHS senior analyst, consumer and media technology, IHS Electronics, a form of insurance and secures the future where consumers continue to purchase high-value pay-TV subscriptions.
Given that in 2012 the average digital pay-TV customer in the US was worth €55 in the US, €40 in the UK and €6 in the US if receiving Netflix, using multiscreen to safeguard this revenue is critical to supporting and spurring the bottom line.
Kingston said that pay-TV multiscreen is a recent occurrence, having been initially adopted by Sky (Sky Player) in the UK in 2006 and only more widely in the last two years, with the number of operators now deploying it being 70 across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Furthermore, across current deployments, the PC remains the single most addressed device.
Upfront multiscreen costs include CDN, DRM, CMS rights, platform development, transcode and customer service, while there are still question marks as to the revenues they will generate.
Significantly, operators have overwhelmingly chosen to bundle multiscreen into their existing subscription pay-TV tiers.
Besides being in a sensible strategy in what is a high competitive pay-TV market, it is a monetization strategy that protects the existing subscriber base, helps grow it in the future and insures very high value of subscription-generated income.
