The increasing consumption of OTT video services is causing total TV viewing time to take a dip making the total viewing time for the MSO provider’s video packages fall. But the dip in viewing hours is still not enough to create a major dent.
Going ahead, as the content and features offered by OTT providers become more compelling and as overall consumer awareness of OTT increases, a much larger impact will happen on the video revenues of MSOs whose premium video content offers will increasingly have to compete with much lower-priced alternatives.
Here are a few tips to get them started on their defensive strategies :-
1. Focus On Broadband: No matter which way TV viewing go, broadband will always be at the core. MSOs operators that are bale to exploit this opportunity will be safe at the end of the day.
2. Licensing Content: MSOs producing their own content can license that content to OTT services. Not a thing for now but when the total market footprint of OTT reaches a tipping point then commercial reality will force MSOs to monetise their content by distributing it more widely than is possible by restricting it to their own networks or existing syndication deals.
3. Distribute Original Content From OTT Services: One of the most important and interesting trends in OTT internet television is that the leading players – Netflix, Amazon for example – are beginning to produce their own content, which is receiving critical acclaim. Given that such material is already well-regarded by many existing MSO subscribers – and that more and more of this content being produced, then it seems inevitable that a point will be reached where content acquisition executives working for MSOs will start thinking about licensing such content.
4. Deliver OTT Services Yourself: The logical conclusion of the previous ‘item-by-item’ content licensing strategy would be for MSOs to approach Netflix, for example, and try to license the entire Netflix ‘channel’ so that it could be embedded in the MSOs video offering.
5. Launch Own OTT services: MSOs have the opportunity to launch OTT versions of the video elements of their existing MSO offerings, although this requires a very careful approach so as not to self-cannibalise existing subscription revenues.
Source : MMG
