In Broadcast - February 2018 - 26

26

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 8 - Issue 2 | February 2018

InForm

Five Predictions In Media
& Entertainment For 2018
O

ver the last year, writes Sue
Couto, SVP, APAC Sales, TiVo,
the media and entertainment industry
has seen a significant number
of developments, including the
introduction of conversational voice
search capabilities in the TV space
that has transformed how consumers
search and discover content.
In 2018, we're predicting that these
five trends will develop and gain
momentum.
1 - 'Specialist' voice services
will win when it comes to the
entertainment experience:
With the proliferation of devices,
both in and out of pay-TV, there is
a need for re-simplification of the
discovery experience. For pay-TV
operators, voice has become table
stakes in today's competitive economy;
as soon as one provider in the market
gets it, the other providers start to
look lacking. However, it will be the
'specialists' in the pay-TV market that
come out on top.
Indeed, many voice services
outside of pay -TV - such as home
smart assistants - are considered
'generalists' when it comes to voice;
they have knowledge of a lot of topics,
but they also lack detail. Whereas
in the pay-TV space, voice services
understand in-depth queries so that
consumers don't feel the need to hold
back when it comes to entertainment
discovery. It's this that will separate
the wheat from the chaff in 2018.
Critical to this will be the availability of
voice services in other local languages.

2 - Artificial Intelligence (AI)
will realise the importance of
'emotional intelligence':
Entertainment is all about emotion;
it is how an audience connects to
content. For the entertainment
industry to tap into this, AI
needs to become more than just
anticipating consumers' interests and
merchandising back catalogues to
reference-related content. It needs to
become more 'emotionally intelligent'.
Voice assistants should have the
capabilities to develop a personality by
understanding the emotional factors
within a piece of content and the
person it is interacting with, all while
tying those two together to make an
emotionally intelligent decision. It is
also about voice assistants having a
constant personality for a consistent
entertainment discovery experience. In
2018, AI will realise the need to bring
in 'emotion' to voice services.
3 - The pay-as-you-go mentality
will affect media consumption:
As consumers move - away from
the commitment of contractual
arrangements - and towards a 'payas-you-go' mentality, providers will
need to adjust their business models
to meet this demand. YouTube has
already capitalised on the potential
of spontaneous viewing, reinforcing
the taste for instantaneous watching
among audiences, rather than a longterm commitment.
In 2018, the flexible provision of
entertainment content will be a
step in the right direction for media

and content organisations, and the
industry.
4 - Mobile will fulfil a huge part of
content consumption in 2018, even
in sporting events:
With the Asia Pacific mobile economy
valued at $1.3 trillion, there is no doubt
that we have seen a rapid uptake of
mobile streaming across Asia in 2017.
Groupe Spéciale Mobile Association
(GSMA) forecasts that India and China
will account for half all new mobile
subscribers by 2020. This will have a
huge impact on content consumption.
(China and India to account for half of
all new mobile subscribers added by
2020, finds new GSMA study, GSMA,
June 28, 2017).
In fact, content providers are
starting to capitalise on this growth by
investing in original and local content.
HOOQ has 20 local film and TV
projects in development, (Asia TV
Forum: Content Localization Essential
for Asian Streaming Platforms, Variety,
November 28, 2017) while Netflix
acquired its first mainland-originated
Chinese drama from Alibaba-owned
streaming platform Youko. (Netflix
acquires first mainland drama from
Youku, Campaign Asia, December 1,
2017). These investments serve as
proof points that mobile streaming will
only continue to take off, catering to
wider audiences with the introduction
of live streaming for sports events.
Twitter has already jumped on the
bandwagon when it livestreamed
the 2017 Melbourne Cup for the
second consecutive year, with an

Sue Couto, TiVo

impressive reach of 1.6 million unique
users worldwide. In addition, Twitter
continues to expand its partnerships
with major sports-industry players in
Asia Pacific. (Twitter eager to cement
its position as live sports content
provider in Asia as Amazon settles in,
The Drum, December 13, 2017).
2018 seems to be an exciting year
with several global events to look
forward to - such as the royal wedding
of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle,
and the Winter Olympics. Therefore,
it's likely they will also be watched live
from mobile devices across the world.
What's more, with global events, e.g.
Formula One, mobile device viewing
is highly dependent on location, with
time zones playing an important role
in how viewers watch these key events.
Thus, the availability of catch-up
services could also lead to an uptake in
device viewing.
5 - Regional OTT services will
remain the global frontrunner until
global OTT harnesses localisation:
In many markets, multi-country OTT
service providers are currently battling
for viewership with regional service
providers. There is a rise in the number
of regional OTT as consumers typically
prefer watching content that are
localised culturally. With regional OTT,
typically being more cost effective, the
tug of war between global and regional
OTT necessitates having access to a
good selection of more topical, local
issues which are in tune with regional
audience's daily lives. This regionspecific content could provide regional
OTTs with the leverage they need to
compete on a more even playing field,
and not be swallowed up by the global
players.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - February 2018
