2016 has proven to be a turning point in the Video On Demand industry. From the first services that launched in 2014, two of which subsequently closed their doors, 2016 ushered in the year with the arrival of Netflix and the solidification of the Naspers’ offering Showmax.
The most significant impact of the two, was the resultant consumer awareness and education – both, either through existing brand equity (Netflix) or aggressive brand positioning (Showmax), resulted in a turn of heads towards this ‘new’ trend called VOD. With that came a much needed deeper understanding of video streaming and affordable entertainment alternatives through video subscription services.
Alongside this emerging consumer awareness, telco and broadcast businesses began to fully comprehend their potential irrelevance in the near future if they didn’t adapt to this new wave of TV. Alongside the vast national rollout of internet, from fibre to free wifi, the provision of data became an instrumental ingredient in any consumer-centric offer. MTN’s service, VU, was the first to fully embrace this by offering complete free streaming from a MTN sim.
Unfortunately, VOD business strategies are still often targeted top down and not people-up, leaning on short term business imperatives over truly offering a service for all people, the result of which could very possibly be a slate of poorly performing VOD and IPTV services in the near future.
What will 2017 hold? Linear on demand and TV Everywhere. Look out for converged VOD and IPTV services – a hybrid of both VOD and traditional TV channels available over the internet, on the go. Tailored content packages, additional billing options and more device alternatives will ultimately result in far greater access and best of all, more choice.
