Delegates at Friday’s CTAM Europe OTT Symposium heard how the secondary market for pay-TV content was significantly changing with the arrival of new services, and the increased involvement of platforms in content production.
Jack Davison, Executive Vice President, 3Vision, said the involvement of Liberty in the $5 million per hour series The Rook meant the cable operator was having to get behind the series and “do things they’re not used to doing”.
Such actions he said were becoming a big part of the viewing economy with broadcasters offering more enhanced catch up such as boxed sets. “The broadcast are using the word ‘Binge’ and they know they’re comfortable using it,” he said. “People are questioning what they can put in their second window… and that’s is increasing the value of the first window”.
Guy Bisson, Research Director, Ampere Analysis said we were now at a stage in the steaming market where we needed to examine the whole concept of what makes a channel and how they intersect with one another.
Bisson explained how contrary to industry perceptions SVOD and so-called cordcutters had dampened the growth of traditional pay-TV. The sector he said was not at the point where it should be.
Streamers such as Netflix were now looking at the older 44-64 age group because they had exhausted growth in younger audiences. There was also a sign that stacking, where a household takes more than one SVOD service was beginning to bottom out.
At the same time SVOD services were losing audiences for the same reasons they always did, by not always keeping the customer happy.
