In Broadcast - January 2018 - 15

15

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 8 - Issue 1 | January 2018

InForm

Diaspora - The Next
OTT Frontier
Brightcove's Greg Armshaw outlines
five key steps to cater to the widespread
diaspora for OTT market opportunities...

T

he OTT entertainment revolution
continues with the adoption of
Netflix, Amazon and Hulu collectively
reaching up to 245 million subscribers
worldwide in 2017. But for Asian
content publishers seeking to venture
into the OTT market, there is still more
land to grab - by targeting the sizeable
diaspora of Asians dispersed across the
world. Here are five steps for content
owners to consider in order to succeed
in harnessing this unique market
opportunity.
Choose Your Launch Market Wisely
Asian countries have some of the
most widely spread diasporas in the
world. When launching a fledgling
service, start by choosing one or two
strategic countries to launch in. It's
important not to rush towards growth
too quickly because operating the
service in first few initial countries
will help to understand how users are
adopting the service.
Serving niche audiences by definition
does not mean massive scale, but it is
evident there are sizable audiences
in North America, Europe, and within
Asia that warrant further evaluation.
Overseas addressable audience sizes
are estimated as Table 1.
Audience size is important and
so is the propensity to pay for TV
content online. According to Digital
TV Research, the online TV and video
market will be worth over US$24billion
in North America alone by 2021,
placing it as the top market for online
TV and video revenues.

Keep OTT Costs Low
If niche "export" content is priced
at a premium, most consumers can
reconcile with this because this
content is not readily accessible or
available mass market in their host
countries. However, OTT service
providers do need to reconcile that
niche offerings aren't likely to build
the same scale of subscribers as a
mass market OTT service. And that can
be painful. This is where OTT service
providers need to strike a balance
between ensuring a highquality video streaming
experience while keeping
costs associated with
bandwidth and storage
low so they can have some
flexibility over pricing.
Keeping a tight rein on
costs means investing
in solutions like Context
Aware Encoding and Dynamic Delivery
to help reduce storage and bandwidth
costs. If niche OTT service providers
are only relying on subscriptions as the
sole source of revenue, then this is not
a sustainable approach. Which brings
us to the next topic.
Develop Marketing Strategies That
Tap Into The Diasporas World
Awareness
and
acquisition
campaigns for the diaspora audience
are a whole different ballgame.
Understanding that these subscribers
need to feel connected to their
national heritage, OTT service
providers need to find cultural

Diaspora: Addressable audience sizes (Source: Digital TV Research)

Content publishers are seeking to maximise outreach

touchstones to leverage marketing
activities. For example, HeroTalkies,
the online Tamil movie destination that
caters to the Indian diaspora globally,
sees their largest growth period during
Diwali where they tend to release
a chunk of new movies to tie into
the festive season and offer special
weekend sign-up and festive season
passes.

Indian channel - HeroTalkies

Yearning for the motherland also
stretches to local brands that can
be difficult to obtain overseas but it
does not mean advertising or branded
content is irrelevant to this audience.
For example, an OTT offering targeted
at the Filipino diaspora can be
designed like this: buy a six-pack of
a Coca-Cola and get a promo code to
watch Filipino blockbuster movie of
the week, valid for the existing OTT
service subscriber and family members
from their home country. This brand
experience, although unique, can be
amplified by facilitating separated
families and friends to connect over
shared entertainment experiences.
Other sign-up offers can be designed
around products that target diasporas,

European Promotion - Walter Presents

i.e. remittance companies like Western
Union could partner up with an OTT
service provider and offer a promo
code to redeem for an OTT weekend
pass for remittances up to a specific
dollar amount.
Think Creatively About
Revenue Sources
Leave the limitations of the
broadcast world behind and approach
your business model creatively.
Consider if there are alternative
revenue sources available that do not
require charging the end user. Aside
from direct revenues, government
bodies quite often have grants for
cultural promotion. Walter Presents
recently won a government grant from
the European Union for €450,000
(US$550,000) that will be used to
promote European drama in both the
UK and the US.
Focus On Content and Marketing,
Outsource the Technology
The
biggest
challenge
with
building any OTT business is not
the applications and delivering the
content, but user acquisition and
retention. Content owners should
devote more of their time and
investment in this area and leave the
underlying technology to organisations
like Brightcove.
Understanding
and
navigating
around the intricacies and challenges
of streaming video across the world
is what video technology companies
like Brightcove specialise in, so
that our OTT customers
can focus on providing
the exceptional video
experiences that deliver
results and helps them
conquer this next frontier
in OTT.

Greg Armshaw is Head of
Media Sales at Brightcove,
covering the Asia region.
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.brightcove.com/en/ https://www.brightcove.com/en/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - January 2018
