PAY-TV INNOVATION FORUM REVEALS THE 2018 PRIORITIES FOR ASIA-PACIFIC

Research by NAGRA and MTM highlights the increased focus on industry collaboration to develop the next generation of paid-for video services and combat piracy

Cheseaux, Switzerland – 24 July, 2018 – NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world’s leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, in partnership with MTM, a leading international research and strategy consultancy, today revealed emerged findings from the 2018 Asia-Pacific Pay-TV Innovation Forum. In its third year, the research programme seeks to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the industry in a disruptive period.

Executives attending the Singapore event argued that the pay-TV industry in Asia Pacific is experiencing significant challenges, driven by the proliferation of high-quality OTT services and widespread piracy. With consumers in both advanced and emerging countries in the region increasingly choosing streaming services, pay-TV providers expect to see a slowdown in growth and, in some mature markets, a decline in revenue from traditional pay-TV services, while demand for fixed and mobile connectivity services is expected to grow.

Conversely, OTT service providers in the region are becoming more optimistic about growth, with many now focusing on hybrid business models that balance free and paid offerings and rely on marketing partnerships with telcos. However, OTT providers in the region still face challenges – most are not yet breaking even, converting users into paying customers remains challenging, and the market is becoming more crowded and competitive. There are also concerns that recent progress has been driven by telco marketing and bundling initiatives, and may not be sustained in the long-term.

Piracy, fuelled by the widespread availability of illicit streaming devices, continues to be major problem in Asia-Pacific, and is widely seen as a genuine threat to the long-term sustainability of pay-TV and OTT businesses.

Pay-TV executives shared broadly positive yet sometimes reserved views about the growing adoption of Android TV across the region. While it is widely seen as a helpful way to reduce technology costs, open up the platform to partners and developers, provide access to an established app ecosystem, and roll out advanced features, such as voice control, executives noted that larger providers are concerned about giving up control of their platforms.

To adapt to the new competitive landscape, industry executives identified three key priorities for pay-TV providers in Asia-Pacific:

  • Invest in the next generation of paid-for video services: Pay-TV providers need to offer a more diverse range of packages and services at a wider range of price-points and across different devices, leveraging existing pay-TV infrastructure and fixed and mobile broadband networks. Executives also noted that providers will have to address the growing consumer demand for flexible content pricing and packaging, low-cost offerings, a mix of global, regional and local content, and personalised user experiences that are available across multiple devices. This will enable pay-TV providers to compete against new entrants, with some also seeing an opportunity to become the central aggregators of choice, offering a wide range of content presented in an integrated and user-friendly experience.

    • Re-think the relationship between pay-TV service providers and content owners:With content owners increasingly selling their assets to a wide range of service providers, the challenge for the pay-TV industry is to defend its value proposition against OTT operators and pirates. To do that, pay-TV providers and content owners need to re-think how they work together and move away from legacy business models to support a more diverse range of products and services, often at more attractive price points. This will involve more flexibility and give-and-take on both sides, as well as a willingness to share risks and rewards. It may also increase the importance of scale, with providers increasingly looking at joint-ventures, pan-regional alliances and mergers and acquisitions to support their businesses in the region.

    • Combat streaming piracy:With continued consensus that the industry needs to do more to combat piracy, executives see further opportunities to work together to develop new approaches to monitor, track and stop the distribution of illegal content. By increasing investment in effective technological solutions, supporting anti-piracy initiatives, such as CASBAA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), lobbying to improve legal frameworks and government enforcement, the industry believes that pirates can be effectively tackled. Alongside such activities, executives also argue that the industry can do more to offer affordable and user-friendly legitimate video services that appeal to consumers who currently choose pirate services.

“Asia-Pacific is a complex region for pay-TV, with advanced and emerging markets facing a multitude of challenges that can require specific solutions in each country,“ said Simon Trudelle, Senior Director, Product Marketing, NAGRA. “What is clear is that regardless of their market conditions and subscriber base, all service providers need to re-think how they face these challenges if they are to maintain growth. By working with content owners and third parties, they can effectively combat the dual pronged attack they face from OTT providers and pirates to offer consumers compelling experiences tailored to their individual requirements.”

“Since the Pay-TV Innovation Forum was launched in 2016, the Asia-Pacific pay-TV market has continued to face real challenges,” said Jon Watts, Managing Partner, MTM. “This year, we’ve seen pay-TV service providers taking important steps – to tackle piracy, respond to the rapid growth of OTT, and improve the underlying economics of offering pay-TV services. There’s no doubt that these activities are causing pressures, but it’s encouraging to see the industry investing in innovation, offering more choice and value to consumers, and taking a long-term view. It will be interesting to see whether there’s a drive for consolidation, as we’ve seen in the USA and Europe – especially as pan-regional OTT players continue to gain traction with consumers.”

Download the Asia-Pacific findings brief and visit dtv.nagra.com/paytvif for more information on the Pay-TV Innovation Forum.

About NAGRA
NAGRA, a digital TV division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), provides security and multiscreen user experience solutions for the monetization of digital media. The company offers content providers and DTV service providers worldwide secure, open and integrated platforms and applications over broadcast, broadband and mobile platforms, enabling compelling and personalized viewing experiences. Please visit dtv.nagra.com for more information and follow us on Twitter at @nagrakudelski.

About MTM
MTM is a leading international research and strategy consultancy, focused on the media, technology, communications and advertising industries. MTM helps companies understand and respond to digitally-driven change, providing award-winning consumer research and industry analysis, strategic advice and support for organizational change. For more information, please visit www.mtmlondon.com or email info@mtmlondon.com.

The Top Five Considerations to Drive Digital Transformation

APOLAN and Industry Experts Cite Market Traction and Growth Opportunities for Passive Optical LAN

The Association teams up with Gartner, Hanover Research and BSRIA to highlight how the adoption and awareness of POL is exceeding industry expectations

NEW YORK – July 10, 2018 – The Association for Passive Optical LAN (APOLAN), the non-profit organization driving both education and adoption for passive optical local area networks (POL), announced its work with Gartner, Hanover Research and The Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), to showcase the unprecedented increase in demand and growth opportunities for Passive Optical LAN (POL) in various market segments.

“APOLAN has long been an advocate for promoting the growth and awareness of POL through the success and efforts of our member companies,” said Alan Bertsch, Qypsys President and APOLAN Chairman. “The findings from these industry experts are a true testament to the technical superiority of POL and the industry’s need to digitally transform now to keep pace with network demands of the future.”

The latest BSRIA POL report brings an external and independent view of the global POL market. The research sheds light on the market evolution, the global value of passive and active components as well as insight into several other market segmentations. This includes naming the most significant advantages of POL, which are CAPEX/OPEX savings, the ability to easily scale and be future proof, the highest level of security and up to 90 percent space savings capabilities.

“BSRIA’s 2015 network cabling market brief cited that POL will experience significant growth, gaining market share and awareness in the LAN market, solidifying its position as a disruptive technology,” said Martin Chiesa, BSRIA senior researcher. “Two years later, we have released the third edition of our POL report and found that POL has evolved faster than our most optimistic expectations.”

Hanover Research also found industry perceptions that supported this shift in a recent Passive Optical LAN survey.  According to the report, 88 percent of industry professionals considered POL more appealing than copper-based LANs. Awareness is also on the upswing, as 83 percent of respondents have heard of POL technology, with 44 percent being familiar with details surrounding the technology.

“The findings from the Hanover Research POL survey showcases how the industry perception of POL has evolved very quickly over the last few years,” said John Hoover, Tellabs Senior Product Manager and APOLAN Board member. “The most appealing benefits driving this growth, according to survey participants, are product quality, reliability, longevity and POL’s centralized management capabilities.”

Gartner provides additional insight into the challenges and opportunities POL has to offer in its recent report, “Does Passive Optical LAN Have a Future in Your Access Network?” According to the report synopsis, Passive Optical LAN can be an alternative to the traditional structured cabling and Ethernet network when new LAN cabling infrastructure is needed. Gartner recommends you consider POL to help reduce building construction costs in situations where there is a need to simplify network operations for greenfield deployments, where there is a lack of local IT staff, where there is a need for long cable runs, and when security is the highest priority.

For additional information about the reports listed above visit:

About The Association for Passive Optical LAN (APOLAN)

The Association for Passive Optical LAN is a non-profit organization that is driving adoption and educating the market about the technical and economic advantages of passive optical LAN technology. Through its membership, which is comprised of manufacturers, distributors, integrators and consulting companies actively involved in the marketplace, the Association hopes to help designers, engineers, architects, building owners, CIOs and IT departments implement and successfully use passive optical LAN. For more information, visit http://www.apolanglobal.org/

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