OTT & the Net New Effect

The à la carte streaming video market is on a tear, but is the trend a result of fear over cord cutting or are there new revenue opportunities in the direct-to-consumer market?

For premium programmers, over-the-top video is very much a double-edged sword. On the one hand, OTT video services are creating new competitors and threatening the dearly held dual-stream revenue model that includes income both from advertising and from licensing deals with pay-TV operators. On the other hand, OTT also gives programmers a new distribution channel and a way to create new content packages that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

Speaking at Light Reading’s BTE Video Summit in Chicago earlier this month, Linsey Miller, director of marketing for server acceleration products at Artesyn Embedded Technologies Inc. , acknowledged the concern that standalone video streaming services are “a knee-jerk reaction to cord cutting.” But she also asserted that in her experience, that assumption doesn’t bear out. Instead, customers tell her that new OTT services represent net new business.

Joseph Hopkins, VP of global media and entertainment sales for Verizon Communications Inc., agreed. He said there’s “definitely a net new aspect” that comes not only from monetizing new content, but also from generating revenue from content that’s been sitting around in inventory without realizing its full potential value.

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