Russia’s leading on demand service Play has called for the introduction of Smart TV 2.0 to even out the ‘imbalances’ that exist in the way smart TVs currently operate.
Speaking on the pre-conference day, OTT TV in CEE, of the Digital TV in CEE conference, Leonid Belyaev, CEO, Play, said that although Play is the TVOD/SVOD market leader in Russia, with a market share of 72%, its business is smart TV (90%) focused.
At present, it has 5 million registered users, with 300,000 being paid customers.
Its online SVOD library consists of 5,000 items and can be accessed for R500 (€10.7) a month.
In Belyeav’s view, TV is a content device and TV channels need to become more ‘smart’.
Smart TV manufacturers are paying too little attention to the fact that content is lagging behind the actual sets themselves.
Speaking in a Q&A, Belyaev said he was skeptical that Chomecast would become popular with the majority of viewers.
He also said that Play will soon start streaming in 4K and that it enjoyed good viewing figures with the 3D content it offers.
