Geo-Blocking Attacked on All Sides

It is a given, that when a market is nascent, any kind of obstacle can be a serious barrier to wider adoption of the product or service.

Take OTT and VoD for example. Many people, for an insignificant monthly sum, subscribe to a live sports service. Last month, one of our VisiTechians was vacationing in Tenerife and decided to watch some UK Premier League Soccer. Except, he couldn’t. He was blocked due to his location.

This got our curiosity going, so we did some research on geo-blocking. One thing we learned was that almost a quarter (23%) of Internet users in Germany wanted to watch videos on the net, which turned out to be inaccessible due to geo-blocking. In Germany alone there are around 25 million Internet users, or nearly one in two, that watch video on the Internet.

Two thirds (66%) of the geo-blocked internet users wanted to watch movies, almost half of them (47%) music videos. An additional 10% tried to access entertainment programmes, 8% sports and 7% a series.

Don’t think this is a big deal? Well, actually, it is. With more than 500 million people in Europe, that is a BIG market being geo-blocked! Content owners are being deprived of satisfied users and, more importantly, substantial revenues.

There are a lot of issues in play here – mostly political and financial. It’s all about making content pay its way in each of the EU member states. And then there are the copyright laws….

Some would say that geo-blocking is a minefield built on quicksand. Others would say that the growing OTT/VOD market is being artificially and unnecessarily held back.

What would you say? Have you ever been geo-blocked? Let us know your thoughts.

Flagship LATAM Media Show ABTA Back in Sao Paulo 29 June

ABTA, the leading event for Latin America’s pay-TV, broadband and media markets, is now in its 24th year and will once again focus on innovation in video services, new technologies, on-demand content distribution platforms such as IPTV and OTT as well as distribution of linear, non-linear and high-definition content.

This year the show is expecting more than 100 exhibitors and some 5,000 visitors from around the globe to converge on the Transamérica Expo Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The exhibition will be supported by a full three-day conference program featuring panel debates and keynote addresses from industry leaders.

Our top conference picks include:

  • Pay TV in a year of Olympics and challenges
  • User experience and digital services
  • Embracing the reality of on-demand content

Are you attending ABTA 2016? Share with us your thoughts on the key topics for this year’s event.