Digital Disrupters: the new landscape – cloud, data, quad-play and connected TV

On 22 April 2015 we opened our doors to some of the most exciting players in the digital media sector as part of our Digital Disrupters event. The event, held in association with MTM, focussed on the new landscape that awaits the digital media sector and the effects of continued consolidation and convergence of services. Below we explore the key themes discussed.

The key topics covered on the night were:

• Changes to the connected TV market;
• Freeview Play;
• Evolving discovery paradigms for IPTV; and
• Connected consumers and engaging content.

Changes to the connected TV market

Jon Watts (Director and Co-Founder of MTM London) started the evening with an industry overview. He explained that the shift from free TV to paid TV has begun to slow down but the market still continues to develop.

Jon suggested that the increasing uptake of high speed internet connections among consumers has begun to open up the market in new ways. Over-The-Top (OTT) providers, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, have not caused as much disruption as anticipated. However, tri-play and quad-play are now prolific and the market is soon to have five separate major quad-play providers. In addition, Jon argued that the growth in broadband has allowed a new wave of disruptors to enter the market and these entrants are bringing low-cost players and technologies into the fray (for example, GiffGaff and SnapChat). This has, in response, seen a rapid increase in heavily discounted bundles from the market leaders.

Jon then explained that MTM had seen focus shift towards new product development, whether that be through continued development of existing products or the development of more novel products. A key area of development that this has exposed is that of virtualisation of the set-top-box, allowing providers to deliver services directly from the cloud into smart TVs.

Freeview Play

Richard Knight (Commercial Director at Freeview Play) spoke about Freeview’s latest offering; Freeview Play, which will launch pre-installed on several devices this year. Freeview Play will provide backwards seven-day Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to link to live TV, as well as catch-up and on-demand services for most of Freeview’s channels. This will establish connected TV capability as the new baseline for consumers. This development shows the rate at which the market is evolving and how free TV is learning from, and catching up with, the service offerings of paid TV providers.

Evolving discovery paradigms for IPTV

Tristram Biggs (Business Development (TV partnerships) at the BBC) focussed on the use of data in connected TVs. He explained that there is an increasing amount of user data that can be gathered by broadcasters from connected TV viewing, such as viewing habits, favourite shows and ‘who watched what and when?’ and that broadcasters will mostly just use this data to upsell packages. Perhaps the better use of this data will come from breaking down the different elements of the content by analysing the metadata (i.e. ‘What genre does this episode fall into?’ and ‘Does it contain elements of other genres as well?’). Broadcasters can then look at how this links to the choices viewers are making and, from this, be in a better position to provide a more tailored experience by providing a fair, accurate and balanced opinion of what the viewer enjoys as opposed to just upselling them a new package.

Connected consumers and engaging content

For the last talk of the night, Barry Flanigan (Global Network Director at Big Balls Films) discussed how the approach that a company takes can affect the engagement levels of its audience. Big Balls Films is heavily focussed on creating an engaged user base through fan focussed content. This is achieved, in part, by offering content across multiple platforms, to allow for varying interactivity and engagement, and by seeking knowledge from the target community when looking at content production. Big Balls Films try to create a community around the content, as opposed to an audience, believing that the result is a more engaged and empowered viewer.

About the event

On 22 April 2015, Osborne Clarke and MTM brought together a wide range of in-house counsel, senior executives and media providers to hear from five expert speakers looking at the future of cloud, data, quad-play and connected TV.

Speakers included:

• Jon Watts, Director and co-founder at MTM
• Richard Knight, Commercial Director at Freeview Play
• Tristram Biggs, Business Development (TV partnerships) at BBC
• Tony Singh, Business Affairs and Business Development Director at BT Consumer
• Barry Flanigan, Global Network Director at Big Balls Films

The event was chaired by John Davidson-Kelly, a Partner in Osborne Clarke’s Tech, Media and Comms team.