“After years when Netflix,
Hulu & Amazon reigned virtually unchallenged as subscription
streaming’s Big Three, the landscape is getting more crowded than
the last act of Avengers Endgame” [1]
As
we rapidly approach 2020, the Big Three media heavyweights
WarnerMedia, Disney and Apple are tirelessly working behind the
scenes to pull out all the stops to attract the maximum number of
consumers via their new stellar pay-to-stream offerings. Moreover,
Viacom, NBCUniversal, and other big players, are all in agreement
that online is the future, [yet just like smaller up and coming OTT platforms such as OONA Free Global
TV], they “believe advertising, still a $75 billion annual revenue
source on linear TV, remains the center piece of their free services”
[1].
Upping Their Game
With all the competition starting to
get in the way, the Big Three are taking action. - Together, they
spent approximately $20 billion on content last year. Add to that,
the new kids on the block, and the total annual investment exceeds
$30 billion. This entertainment battle, which is being fought very
shrewdly on multiple fronts, could be classed as the Disruption of
the First Quarter of the 21st Century. For those in the field of
entertainment, the knock-on effect is very strong indeed. - There a
number of implications, for example: the market is being swamped with
high-end content, talent deals are rife, and distribution economics
are changing [1].
Image credit: The Daily Blog
High Stakes
When it
comes to its digital future, Disney has bet the princely sum of
$71.3 billion to take on 2/3rds of 21st Century Fox. So now, the
former's Lucasfilm, Pixar and Marvel, will join the latter's X-Men,
Avatar and Simpsons. In the same vein, AT&T, has wagered $81
billion for Time Warner, overcome an unpleasant legal challenge by
the US government's regulatory department, and taken on $40 billion
in debts - pretty much all in the name of streaming [1].
Inevitable Changes
“The status quo is
blowing up around them” [1]
The norm of legacy companies banking
handsome checks for the sale of programming to SVOD services, is
going to the dogs, and this has hit these companies hard. They have
had to address the fact that as tech is advancing at the speed of
light, and the conventional pay-TV bundle is falling by the wayside,
they must develop a more direct relationship with consumers. “With
the 85 million U.S. TV homes at its lowest level since 2007, the tide
of cash is going out, and the paranoia is that the turf traditional
media has occupied for decades could be ceded to the tech business”
[1]. - Indeed, few would argue against the future being tech...
Image credit: Miramax
"Give 'em the Old Razzle Dazzle"
In regard to the disruption sweepstakes, during its Investor Day earlier this year, Disney took an early lead in dazzling both the media and analysts. It disclosed comprehensive details, financial predictions and original series footage which will be available on Disney+. This exciting new service which is extremely well priced at $7 a month, is bumper packed with everyone's favourites, and is expected to magnetize 60 to 90 million subscribers across the globe by 2024 [1]. This would be an ideal add-on for the millions of OONA TV users who can enjoy hundreds of free top national and international channels via its next generation cutting-edge AVOD interactive platform, which even rewards users with a virtual currency for watching what they love. And would also be the perfect for the flexible OONA+ SVOD service.
In regard to the disruption sweepstakes, during its Investor Day earlier this year, Disney took an early lead in dazzling both the media and analysts. It disclosed comprehensive details, financial predictions and original series footage which will be available on Disney+. This exciting new service which is extremely well priced at $7 a month, is bumper packed with everyone's favourites, and is expected to magnetize 60 to 90 million subscribers across the globe by 2024 [1]. This would be an ideal add-on for the millions of OONA TV users who can enjoy hundreds of free top national and international channels via its next generation cutting-edge AVOD interactive platform, which even rewards users with a virtual currency for watching what they love. And would also be the perfect for the flexible OONA+ SVOD service.
WarnerMedia
WarnerMedia is keeping its plans under
its hat, keeping everyone on the edge of their seats until its
investors day in autumn, later this year. Its quest is to exploit
the power of HBO, “(HBO Now is a well-established but slower-growth
SVOD entity), and combine it with the other disparate assets at
WarnerMedia” [1].
CBS
CBS Interactive president and CEO, Marc DeBevoise, informed Deadline
that: “it is increasingly crucial to tailor strategy to the nature
of the content on the service. While CBS All Access is in the
mid-single-digit millions of subscribers (i.e., far from Netflix)
[which according to CNN's report, is on the brink of 150 million
subscribers], it has gained steady traction thanks to a mix of live
TV and originals” [1].
Apple Tax
Apple
certainly has a interesting plan of action. - In March of this year,
it revealed its upcoming service, Apple TV+, which like Disney+, is
also coming out this autumn. It sent out waves of excitement about
its A-lister line-up which will include the likes of Jennifer Aniston
and Steven Spielberg. “But, don’t let the glitter distract you
from the ruthless focus on the bottom line. The company is
emphasizing its services revenue, collecting a 30% “Apple tax” on
every app downloaded from the App Store or music track downloaded on
iTunes” [1]. But will its anticipated TV+ success ultimately go the
way of the current global creeping android vs iOS phone take-over?
Market tracker, Parks Associates,
indicates that at the present time, in the US, there are close to 235
OTT video services on offer. However, although viewers are
progressively ditching their conventional pay-TV bundle contracts:
“the question for all of the new entrants is whether they will
bring must-have offerings to the crowded marketplace. Studies have
shown that three services tend to be the limit in most households—how
will the new breed replace one of the current must-haves?” [1].
OONA TV: A Highly Successful Fresh
Face of Streaming
In order to answer this pertinent
question, we can put the spotlight on OONA TV as a practicable
example. The OONA AVOD model, which is set to
empower billions of consumers across the world, so they can enjoy a
free, first-class entertainment experience on the go - any time, any
where, and at home via OONA app casting, has made the movers and
shakers of SVOD OTT streaming services sit up and take note - and
this can benefit viewers, be they in the US, Asia, or any where else
in the world.
OONA TV is one of the advancing global brands that is proving to be
a winner, and gaining worldwide recognition. - Its unstoppable drive
for innovation, looking outside the box, and putting users in the
driving seat, is having an enormous impact on the industry, with
various OTT TV platforms all over the world following the OONA model
by changing from their SVOD (subscription-based video on demand) to
AVOD, or by adding AVOD; and then emulated OONA by adding live TV,
and other unique strategies.
Joddy
Hernady, SVP Media and Digital Business & EGM Digital Services
Division at Telcom Indonesia, & Christophe Hochart, Founder &
CEO of OONA
OONA first hit the media world
headlines in 2017, when it formed a partnership with one of the
world's foremost telcom companies, Telkom Indonesia, in order to
serve 180 million Indonesians. This association resulted in the
launch of a highly unique way to provide countless millions of
viewers with a winning ad-based video on demand interactive service,
along with a very flexible SVOD option which offers multiple choices
to suit everyone's pocket, such as just paying for one-off live
sports specials, or a weekend of fun filled premium content.
Rewarding Viewers With
a Virtual Currency
Another OONA advantage, is the fact
that OONA users get rewarded with a virtual currency – tcoins,
just for watching the content they love, checking out personalised
ads which can save them time and money; sharing on social media, and
interacting with OONAbot, the cool genie in the app who is there to
serve them, and give them the best possible CX. The tcoins are stored in a personalised e-wallet, and can be redeemed for a huge range of quality branded goods and services, coupons, discounts, free meals and fun days out, telcom products, and exclusive prizes. Naturally, this is
garnering a lot of attention from the industry, particularly as the
OONA platform is largely funded by ads.
Image credit: Telcoms Tech News
Disruption at its Best
Besides being set up to serve 185
million Indonesians, OONA is well on its way to bringing
entertainment equality to billions of people by becoming established
in the US, other parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, South America and the
Middle East, with a number of high profile launches planned for this
year.
Headed by leading digital strategist
and AI expert, founder, Christophe Hochart, the platform's ethos has
been the same ever since he founded it a few years ago: to put
consumers first and give them loyalty rewards; give telcoms, studios
and content holders an unbeatable deal, operate in a transparent way;
and empower billions of people with free access to top entertainment,
thereby bringing equality to all, and putting a stop to pirate TV.
OONA's Innovative Strategy to Stimulate Viewers to watch Ads
When OONA was first conceived, Christophe Hochart, looked outside the box for workable strategies within the growing advertising ecosystem. He focused on monitization technology, and attaining valuable deep data, as well as a way to attract viewers to watch the ads they are interested in. Being an early supporter of AI and machine learning, one of the unique ideas he came up with, was to create a patented helpful personal assistant named OONAbot, to ensure that viewers can enjoy content personalisation through: accessing their favourite programs and live content, as well as the kind of helpful ads that interest them, and can save them time and money.
When OONA was first conceived, Christophe Hochart, looked outside the box for workable strategies within the growing advertising ecosystem. He focused on monitization technology, and attaining valuable deep data, as well as a way to attract viewers to watch the ads they are interested in. Being an early supporter of AI and machine learning, one of the unique ideas he came up with, was to create a patented helpful personal assistant named OONAbot, to ensure that viewers can enjoy content personalisation through: accessing their favourite programs and live content, as well as the kind of helpful ads that interest them, and can save them time and money.
In order to get the right personalised
ad fit for each viewer, OONAbot has regular conversations with users
so they enjoy relevant, compelling experiences. She continually finds
out more about them and their lifestyle, as well as the products and
services they use, and are interested in. The latter is vitally
important, as it seamlessly amalgamates relevant ad content into the
digital consumers' experience. - After all, there is no point in
showing ads that viewers will just cut off.
In addition to this, OONA's leverage of
deep data generates contextually connected results for targeted
consumers based on their personal interests. - And this allows
advertisers to take a higher level of control over their campaigns.
It also has to be noted, that all the personal information that OONA
collects, is kept strictly confidential.
Being Rewarded
In order to have success with OONA's
ads, Hochart also devised the ingenious system whereby viewers can
accrue loyalty rewards in the form of tcoins. - So in practice, he laid the groundwork for ensuring that the data the OONA platform
collects, is an effective asset. He notes that: “While there has
been an upsurge in data sources, and the means to collect it; for the
purpose of actually utilising it to propel the business, we focus on
first-class data management in order to achieve the unity,
timeliness, and wholeness of consumer data which will drive accurate
results. In addition to this, we continually work on applying new
patterns so we can integrate the information, and apply new
techniques such as machine learning, in order to achieve optimal
results. All the tools we utilise involve privacy-complaint
methodologies, therefore, consumers' personal data is always
safeguarded, and users can have total confidence in us.”
Groupthink is Off the
Table
When it comes to reeling viewers in
hook line and sinker, the scope of approaches are: “increasingly
unlikely to be tethered to their traditional living room [and]
represents one of the rare moments in media when conglomerates are
not displaying groupthink” [1]. As CBS's DeBevoise notes: “Many
people want to make this a zero-sum game. People say, ‘One person’s
going to win, everyone else is going to lose.’ I disagree. I think
we’ll all have our distinct places in the market and the value
proposition for viewers is going to have to be worth it” [1].
Summary
In summary, only time will tell where
the streaming wars will lead, and there will inevitably be many
unexpected and dramatic twists and turns. - But what is practically
guaranteed, is that the future is tech driven, and that top content,
flexibility and low prices will be key factors. Further, if
innovative players such as OONA Global TV, actually offer viewers a
subscription free service and their pick of hundreds of top local and
international channels, and actually reward them for watching what
they love, then not only is this strategy bringing global
entertainment equality, it is also giving many consumers much needed
incentives such as branded goods, free telephone minutes and telcom
products.
Reference
[1]. Hayes, Dade (2019. “The Fresh
Faces Of Streaming: How Will Existing Services Fare As Big-Budget
Competitors Enter The Fray? — Deadline Disruptors.” Deadline.
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