There is no doubt that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the digital advertising industry, as the demand side has seen massive budget cuts, canceled campaigns, and halted spending, estimated by the IAB to be about a 25% decrease . Brands in travel and leisure have been particularly hard hit as many expected under the current circumstances. With demand for available inventory suffering, ad supported businesses have also had to adjust to the new reality. However, as we wait for the world to slowly but surely emerge from the recession, there are some strategies publishers and media businesses can use to mitigate the setbacks. With help from our analytics partner, WatchingThat, we discussed a few of these in a video discussion that you can find on PLAY TV . 

Hit pause on autoplay

Many AVOD businesses are relying on autoplay videos to boost the total views and consequently, ad impressions. However, this can sometimes be problematic due to the multitude of ad errors and viewability issues autoplay often brings. For example, as browsers have different rules around when and how autoplay is allowed to function it is very difficult to say with any measure of certainty that a given autoplayed ad will work the same way across every platform and browser. In addition, muted autoplay has the potential to create viewability problems if not managed carefully. For example, this can occur when  a video fails to load properly when trying to autoplay on a poor connection, or if a user may scroll past an autoplaying video in an article page. Errors lead to a lower fill rate and poor viewability only compounds that while decreasing potential CPM. In a time when ad spend is down, it is wise to shift focus to click to play implementations to ensure that you are getting the most out of every single video view. A click to play implementation is almost always more stable and (as overall demand is lower) publishers may not have the ability to fill the extra impressions autoplay may have generated regardless. 

Focus on what sells

Brand safety remains a top priority, now more than ever, for advertisers and their agencies. It is critical for AVOD businesses to identify the content that is most attractive to the buyer while recognizing that some sensitive topics can draw in viewers but may not necessarily be of interest to the advertiser. Of course, the reverse can also be true, which is why it is important to continually evaluate your content performance and work with your demand partners to focus areas of high yield. In other words, while a video pertaining to the epidemic may have large viewership, the same content may struggle to maintain a high fill rate. However, you might discover that your social or sports content performs far better in an open auction. This can help guide focus for your video production and editorial teams. There are a variety of tools publishers may leverage to identify the most desirable content – while naturally brings us to our third tip. 

Continually assess performance and be ready to act

2020 has brought many trials and tribulations, but one cardinal rule of video advertising has stayed the same – an AVOD business needs access to clear and actionable analytical insight which it must continually assess and be ready to act. Brightcove Analytics can help a publisher determine which videos perform the best with your viewership while Google Ad Manager features granular and customizable reporting tools that will do the same for your ad metrics. However, the best method is to combine both sets of data, which is where our partner, WatchingThat , has proven to be invaluable. The platform will aggregate ad and content performance data into live, customizable dashboards that allow a publisher to get as deep or as broad as they need to with their analytics. Ad Ops teams can access a wealth of information on a regular basis while being alerted to any undesirable trends, such as a high autoplay error rate. This allows your business to respond quickly and ensure that any damage to your revenue stream remains minimal. 

There is no doubt the world is different from just a few months ago, but we are already seeing many of our AVOD customers successfully persevere and recover their video advertising revenue streams. Measures such as temporarily moving away from autoplay, identifying high yield content, and acting on analytical insight are all a direct result of their experiences. 

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The coronavirus pandemic has proven to be an evolutionary event for streaming video as millions of new users, following strict shelter-in-place edicts, turned to streaming video for entertainment, news, remote learning and work. That’s one of the findings from Brightcove’s Q1 2020 Global Video Index . 

Media and entertainment trends included a surge of viewing on computers and connected TVs and a pause in the growth of share of viewing on mobile devices after six consecutive quarters.

Video views globally increased nearly 23% for entertainment, news and sports properties. In North America, views were up 19% and time watching increased 21%. Asia-Pac saw a 67% increase in views with, Australia/New Zealand up 39%, with a 31% jump in time watched.

The increases were even higher in Europe, where views were up 58% and time watched increased 43%.

COVID-19 drove big gains in news consumption

Some of the biggest gains were, unsurprisingly, in news content. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic raced across the world, consumers increasingly turned to streaming video sources for their up-to-the-minute news briefings, data from Brightcove’s Q1 2020 Global Video Index shows, with video views up 47%.

As news became more critical and the world’s attention turned to al-things coronavirus, consumers increasingly saw streaming news as their best bet for breaking information about the world, their country and even their hometown.

Globally, and in most regions, March saw the highest engagement with viewers and the last two weeks of March saw more views and time spent with news than the first two weeks.

Among the news highlights:

• In the US, time spent watching news video increased 319%

• 42% of all news video view for the quarter occurred in March

• Australia/New Zealand saw Y/Y news video views increase+57%

• Europe saw Y/Y views of news increased by 47%; views in March made up 41% of the quarter’s views

• News views in the Middle East/North Africa region rose nearly 3X, with March making up 42% of the quarter’s views; time spent viewing news video nearly doubled.

Enterprise, retail video use soars

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was even more evident on enterprises and retailers.

Views of enterprise videos nearly doubled globally (+91%) as companies increased their efforts to stay connected with a remote workforce, customers and vendors.

March saw more than 41% of all views in the quarter, with the second half of the month accounting for 23% of the quarter’s total video views. 

Retailers also turned to online video as the coronavirus impacted their willingness to put ads alongside the grim news of the pandemic. But consumers remained curious about retail, increasing consumption 135% globally as they increasingly moved online to shop. 

Unlike media and entertainment, smartphones remained at the center of consumer’s video world when it came to retail, with video views up 253% Y/Y on smartphones and 143% Q/Q. Views more than doubled in the United States and were up 188% in Europe.

Brightcove’s Global Video Index assesses more than 400 billion anonymized data points from Brightcove’s thousands of customers each quarter, drawing industry insights that can help guide strategic and tactical decisions for businesses of all sizes.

The bottom line

The coronavirus pandemic saw streaming increase across the globe. It legitimately can be seen as an event that will change the course of how Internet-delivered video is used and accelerate its adoption around the globe and across virtually all demographics.

In terms of news, it’s far more flexible in terms of delivery than broadcast, able to spin up additional news “channels” quickly. That gives publishers and content owners more bandwidth to deliver in-depth reports on either a macro- or micro-basis, including live events as they happen.

Aside from COVID-19, with recent events, we’ll see an even more significant surge in viewing consumption for Q2.

It wasn’t just news, obviously, that has seen greater adoption of video; entertainment moved front and center (as evidenced by Netflix’s 15.8 million new subscribers in Q1) during the quarter, as well.

Simply put, consumer’s accelerated adoption of OTT in Q1 (and we’ll see more in Q2) is an example of how we adapt to change. It’s evolution in action.

Content owners and distributors need to understand that this isn’t a blip in data, it’s evolution… and we won’t be going back to the way it was.

Stay tuned – and stay well.

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The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the lives of millions as businesses, schools, and public event centers around the world have been forced to close their doors in response to social distancing. Industries that rely heavily on live audiences to fuel their operations, such as entertainment and sports, are looking toward new and innovative technologies to keep fans engaged while at home.

Here’s the latest news on how a few businesses in the entertainment and sports industries are tackling the lockdown head-on, and why we will definitely continue to see these virtual practices post-pandemic. 

Metropolitan Opera hosts nightly HD encore performances powered by Brightcove: Renowned NYC opera house and performing arts center, the Metropolitan Opera closed its doors to the public on March 12, but just because the seats are empty doesn’t mean the show stops. With more than 40 talented singers and members of the orchestra and chorus, the Met hosted it’s very first At-Home Gala , streaming live performances to opera lovers and music fans in more than 150 countries all through the power of Brightcove video. 750,000 viewers tuned in to the Gala. The Met continues to post a free stream from its extensive on-demand library every night, stating that since March 12 the number of paid subscribers to its Met Opera on Demand service has more than doubled. 

As the Met continues to experience new growth, it’s safe to assume accessibility in this unprecedented time of quarantine has played a major role in the global expansion of its streaming services. For those who may not have been able to afford or have access to the premiere staged performances before the lockdown, these streams open the doors to a broader range of viewers. (So far, the Met’s nightly streams have garnered more than 408 million viewing minutes.) Accessibility could lead to the future democratization of the arts.

The NFL experiences a record-breaking draft weekend: The National Football League hosted its first-ever virtual draft. An event that was originally scheduled to be held in Las Vegas proved that an “at-home” version can be just as big, or in this case, bigger, than on a physical stage. Drawing a record 15.6 million viewers across every major sports network, the NFL saw a 37% increase over last year. 

“Beyond Live” streaming service offers an alternative for music fans everywhere: South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment and media powerhouse Naver teamed up to unveil an innovative new streaming service, Beyond Live, that focuses on broadcasting live concerts to fans during the lockdown. The event secured more than $2 million in ticket revenue with over 75,000 tickets sold to fans from 109 countries around the world , all of whom tuned in on April 26 to listen and watch Korean pop group Super M live from their homes. Super M in-person events typically draw an average of only 10,000 fans per concert–whether or not they’ll continue in-person events in the future or go completely digital is something to watch for.

After the pandemic – what is the future of live events? 

While most people are itching to return to a sense of normalcy, what a post-coronavirus world will look like is still unclear. It’s reasonable to assume that virtual events will not completely replace in-person ones, but many experts predict organizers will incorporate virtual elements to complement physical events , possibly transforming entertainment as we know it. 

As organizations face new challenges and successes in the midst of this pandemic, video remains a powerful tool to drive innovation and keep businesses moving forward. As Albert Einstein once said, “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity,” and in this crisis, we look forward to finding new ways to innovate, create better experiences for audiences everywhere, and help businesses expand their reach. 

Want to keep up to date on all things video? We’ve got you covered. Read our latest blog posts on everything from the latest industry happenings to top video tips and tricks. Check it out.  

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What happens when you take a highly creative, unique, and resilient group of people and give them a stage to truly celebrate and share their authentic selves? For niche streaming services like Revry TV®, you get a chance to cultivate a diverse community of liberated storytellers. 

As the world becomes increasingly digital, the opportunities for certain communities to create, share, and watch content tailored to their interests are becoming more readily available, giving a voice to those who were unable to tell their stories before. For members of the LGBTQ community, this rang especially true when Revry launched the first ever queer streaming service, Revry TV, with unique content created by queer people for queer people.  

With a goal of creating a one-stop shop, Revry introduced a global platform powered by Brightcove that would act as the foundation for queer content creators everywhere, streaming everything from original television series, top music videos and binge-worthy podcasts.

As important as it was for Revry to be the first in the history of streaming media to create a safe space for the LGBTQ community to share their stories, they also sought to create a premium streaming experience for their audience – an experience that was capable of reaching people from every corner of the globe to connect, inspire, and celebrate a diverse community.

A community that bonds over one key value in life: being “unapologetically” yourself. 

Through Brightcove’s powerful streaming technology, Revry is able to spread this message, along with some truly creative content, to over 225 million homes in more than 110 countries around the world. And for those concerned about reaching into their pockets, Revry partnered with Brightcove to expand its subscription offerings, giving viewers options as simple as free with ads or pay-to-play monthly memberships.    

Video has proven time and time again to be one of the most powerful tools to help give individuals a voice in a noisy world. And with Brightcove’s unmatched scalability, the dream of bringing authentic and affordable entertainment to audiences everywhere is a dream that can be realized. 

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OTT is booming 

Traffic is high and growing rapidly on connected devices (CTV). This high traffic, in addition to the uncluttered, high quality experience, is driving up CPMs. Due to the premium nature of their content, Brightcove customers have even reported CPMs between $25-$70, surpassing the range observed by eMarketer of $19.84 to $28.33 from Q4 2017 to Q4 2018.

In the competitive and crowded market of streaming services, these high CPMs, along with a lower barrier to entry for viewers, make ad-supported models attractive for media companies. Even HBO, which has historically been known for its lack of ads, has announced that it will be including ads with its HBO Max offering in 2021, according to Reuters . Agencies like Mediacom are even launching divisions specializing in OTT with smart TVs and gaming consoles as their core focus.

For Brightcove, the ANZ region has been a leading indicator for what’s to come for digital advertising. The ANZ market is dominated by free to air Broadcasters and non paywalled content, which has forced leadership and innovation in the space. So we turned to our Australian colleagues, customers and partners to weigh in on some global OTT advertising challenges and opportunities, starting with IAB Australia CEO, Gai Le Roy,

“The Australian market has seen a huge surge in CTV investment over the last 12 months with the percentage of local media owners’ video revenue for big screen inventory increasing from 23% to 40%. The increase in trading has been driven by a combination of higher consumption and agencies embracing the opportunity of buying inventory in high quality environments often with first party data that can help replace reach that may have been eroded by shrinking linear TV audiences.” 

OTT advertising still has challenges

There has been a major gap between the tracking, reporting and targeting available on desktop versus what’s available on CTV, with mobile falling somewhere in the middle. This has led to lower fill rates on CTV compared to other devices. While there are inherent measurement challenges in OTT environments, this inventory is subject to the same scrutiny as traditional online video advertising. It’s important for buyers and sellers to understand this and come to the table with the right expectations. One common example is that some advertisers have been reluctant to buy inventory that doesn’t include viewability or doesn’t let them drop a cookie. 

“The value of being seen in an uncluttered, big-screen environment vastly outweighs the nearly non-existent value of having a viewability metric on a CTV, but buyers are still slow to change,” says Mark Stanton, VP, International Product Management at Brightcove. 

Things are improving 

New standards: In response, leaders in the space have begun investing in initiatives designed to alleviate the problem, like the IAB’s Open Measurement SDK. Smart TVs are also getting easier to work with. Teams around the industry are building universal HTML5 apps that work across Samsung, LG, Playstation, etc. to further encourage standardization. However, these efforts are lost if buyers do not get on board. 

Buyers are loosening up: Although buyers don’t get the granular reporting they are accustomed to on the web, they are loosening their requirements as they see the opportunity in OTT. While there are still technical limitations, buyers have become more accepting that an ad on a TV is inherently viewable. Some DSPs have made updates to their algorithms to detect whether inventory is coming from a CTV and evaluate it differently from web and app. Other factors, such as Google phasing out cookies and restrictions on user tracking imposed by GDPR , will help drive action. The technologies used to track users that are unavailable in CTV environments will soon be unavailable on the web as well, forcing buyers to adapt. 

Juliette Stead, Senior Vice President, APAC for video advertising platform Telaria weighed in saying, “BVOD (broadcast video on demand) is 100% viewable.  Most buyers now appreciate that viewability vendors simply don’t have a consistent product solution for CTV. The need for viewability measurement across CTV has generally decreased among savvy buyers who recognise the power, value and long term benefit of television, and who are safe in the knowledge that curated, professionally produced content which is 100% viewable will provide an effective environment for their brand. BVOD generally, and CTV in particular, has seen a significant increase in demand from a broad range of advertiser categories over the past 24 months, and I expect to see a further increase in investment over coming years.” 

Advancements in audience data: Media companies are providing more context for content beyond just name and genre; leading companies are even using AI indexing on content. Many broadcasters have been building out their audience data on CTV. However, agency CTV data is still limited. 

“The industry is developing new ways of measuring audiences to both verify audience data as well as evolve co-viewing estimations. Locally three quarters of AVOD audiences are watching content with another person for at least half of their viewing sessions,” confirms Gai Le Roy, IAB Australia. 

Limited agency data can be viewed as both a positive and a negative for media companies: It’s good in that if agencies want targeting, they need to buy using the media company’s data. But it’s bad in that if agencies are buying programmatically using their own data, CTV inventory will get overlooked. In comes third-party data.

Third-party measurement and data providers like Nielsen, OzTAM, and Moat are actively trying to solve this dilemma with solutions like co-viewing measurement and by leveraging manufacturer data from vendors like Roku. Things like global scale and how this data is transacted upon still need to be sorted out, but this effort represents progress nonetheless. 

Peter Henning, Principal Consultant at Traffic Software, who has worked extensively with major broadcaster TVNZ expresses, “It will be interesting to see the innovation that OTT publishers and technology vendors can achieve with first party data ‘logged in and federated’ solutions, that are secure and scalable.”

According to Julliette Stead, “At Telaria, we work with a number of Australian and New Zealand broadcasters – Seven West Media, Nine Entertainment, Foxtel, Ten, SBS, TVNZ and Mediaworks. All have a data capture strategy in place, and we have integrated with publisher DMPs in order to best segment BVOD supply for targeting purposes across all devices, including CTV. In addition, we are able to ingest content metadata for show specific or category targeting. This allows broadcasters to create solutions to the many differing needs presented by brands for broad and targeted reach campaigns alike.” 

There’s still a ways to go

“Innovation is happening on multiple complimentary fronts in OTT to increase the value proposition for advertisers. These innovations need to integrate with a server side ad insertion foundation to offer a viable product pathway for OTT publishers,” says Henning. “Consumers now expect a quality viewing experience and it is vital that the industry pivots in how we deliver marketing messages to provide interactive, contextually relevant experiences.”

At Brightcove, we’ve been using our unique position in the industry to help solve these tough challenges. Among other efforts, we’ve been investigating how to improve the data available from CTV Server-Side Ad Insertion – both the data about the user that’s available to the ad decisioning system and the data about the ads served (or not served) that’s available to the publisher. We’re keeping these considerations in mind in order to enhance our SSAI measurement and to optimize OTT apps with flexible monetization. 

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This is a great time of year if you’re an analyst… it’s time for industry predictions!

So, for someone who follows the industry — like me — there are lots of questions to answer about just what the heck is going on. And, of course, predictions for the coming year need to be made. The problem is that, usually, forecasts and predictions are made by looking back at what happened during the past year. That’s seldom an accurate guide. I mean, just think about the pay-TV industry when cord-cutting started to accelerate. Looking back really wasn’t very helpful, right?

So, I’ve gathered my notes from all the meetings and conferences I’ve attended in 2019, the research we’ve done for the Global Video Index (download the latest Index here ) and, of course, my best resource, the Magic 8 Ball.

A quick look back at 2019 predictions

First, here’s a look back at my predictions for 2019. (A DING!, obviously, is a win. A DOINK!, the same as when a kicked football hits the uprights… a loss):

• The Justice Department swings and misses in its “re-effort” to disrupt the AT&T/Time Warner deal. DING! Done deal. AT&T now has a Super Max, er, HBO Max, that it’ll be trying to figure out a strategy for the rest of this year and beyond. A pricier subscription than Netflix? Please.

• Nexstar succeeds where Sinclair failed and gets the nod to acquire a bevy of Tribune Media stations. DING! A strategy that proves if at first, you don’t succeed, change partners.

• Hulu do-si-dos and changes partners. DING! Disney makes a huge content move to add control of Hulu to its empire.

• Amazon breaks up the Google/Facebook digital advertising duopoly. DOINK(ish)!
  Google and little brother Facebook controlled 58% of U.S. digital ad spend in 2018. Amazon? Just 4%.

  My prediction called for double digits by the end of this year. eMarketer says 8.8.%.

• Artificial Intelligence grows up. Huh? REPLAY IS LOOKING AT THIS. Honestly, it’s too hard to call… because AI’s adoption is too hard to measure. BUT, AI certainly upped its game in the media industry, playing a larger part in content recommendation, ad and content personalization, and even playing a bigger role in production and editing of content. 

• The “polycloud” becomes a thing. PUSH. REPLAY BOOTH. Another one of those artful-dodge predictions on my part. How do you measure something like that? Actually, you can Google it. Last year there were 22,451 results for “polycloud.” This year, 28,100. I can’t tell you for sure that 2019 was the year that media began looking to use multiple cloud services concurrently, but it has become a more common term.

  Still, with the increasing importance of AI, being willing to use multiple cloud services is simply realizing that Microsoft, for example, may be better than Amazon at some things and that Google has its own special offerings in, say, machine learning. All three offer similar core services, but each has its own special talents.

• OTT services are not even close to the saturation point. DING! The news media loves to talk about SVOD saturation or how OTT choices have become exhausting. Consumers continue to sign up. But, pundits in this industry have this bizarre predilection to compare OTT services to traditional TV. That’s patently wrong.
  OTT is not traditional TV!

  Nor are we playing in a Texas Hold ‘Em contest, where the winner takes all and everyone else retires to their dens to watch the single-channel (Netflix?) that has become the center of the Internet TV universe.
  Another one of my (sneak) predictions for 2020 and beyond? There will be a handful of Big SVOD Services like there are a handful of Big TV Networks. They will have the biggest share of viewers, make the most money, take home the most awards and get the biggest headlines. But, there will always be a market that supports niche players (even some services that have outgrown niche status). They will have subscribers, make money and produce dynamite content.

• Disney D2C OTT launch lands with a yawn. MAJOR DOINK!
  I can’t even begin to defend this. I was wrong to the tune of 10 million sign-ups on Day One.
  But, does Disney+ have legs? Can iT thrive? Rumors now have Disney+ at 24 million. That is pretty thrive-y. But is the catalog deep enough to maintain that? Um, yes (another one of those firm mini-2020 predictions), simply because Disney will launch madly in 2020 and, like Netflix, have global access that supports it for a long time.

• Sports – big and small – find a welcoming home online. DING!
  No brainer, like betting on Ohio State to win the Big Ten. And we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg. We saw more MLB, EPL soccer, NBA, NFL, IPL cricket etc. streaming than ever before. And, it’s just the beginning as pay-TV’s last pillar begins to erode more rapidly.

My 2020 Vision

Let’s just jump into 2020 predictions, shall we? (Ed. Note: Like Nostradamus, Jim is prone to vague statements… we’ll do our best to help him focus.)

• Quibi, the multi-billion dollar short-form video baby headed up by Jeffrey Katzenberg and scheduled to launch April 6… Mobile-only, targeting younger viewers, and with a bevy of influencers and big-name content experts already on board. A shoo-in, right? Nope. Short-form content is great. But we’ve seen — in the quarterly Video Index — a higher percentage of short-form video starts on computers than on mobile devices. That’s especially true as more longer-form premium content becomes available on high-res smartphones. There’s also the question of how, exactly, does Quibi justify its expected $5/mo. subscription price for short-form content? And, how does it anticipate consumers engaging long-term? Magic 8 Ball says: Outlook not so good.

Let’s get a bevy of Netflix prediction:

• Netflix continues to increase its content spend (estimated to exceed $15 billion, which is higher than the GDP of about 80 countries in 2019), as it continues to increase its subscriber rolls. Despite growing revenues, will Netflix raise prices in 2020? Magic 8 Ball says: Count on it.

• One quick fix, of course, and one of the most popular topics of content at industry events is the potential increase in revenues Netflix would have if it introduced advertising in some way. So, with that in mind, will Netflix add advertising to its service (Alternative: Will it add an ad-supported tier?): Magic 8 Ball says: Very Doubtful.

• Disney+. Apple TV+. HBO Max. Peacock. Those are just a few of the new services that have appeared, or that are about to appear, on the streaming screen. What impact will they have? How big a piece of the market will they take?  Is (insert service name here) a Netflix killer? Is there a Netflix killer on the horizon?: Magic 8 Ball says: My reply is “No.”

• Will Netflix get involved in broadcasting sports/bid on sports rights/introduce live news shows? Magic 8 Ball says: Don’t count on it.
  (Bonus answer) What Netflix will do is produce more international content, move more aggressively into international markets and leverage its new “mobile-only” service in emerging markets.

Moving on from Netflix…

2020 will be a banner year for sports online. That’s not a prediction, it’s simply an observation.

The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics are the biggest global event coming down the pike and it’s obvious that it will be streamed to a massive extent around the globe. Amazon this quarter launched a short slate of games from the English Premier League that it paid a boatload of cash for. How that plays out will have a big impact on whether the e-tailer manages to score a big deal with that other football league, the NFL. But, let’s assume it goes well enough… will Amazon Prime Video win a major streaming rights deal for the NFL? Magic 8 Ball says: It is certain. 

Some quick and easy ones I don’t need the 8 Ball for…

• Consumers will reach a saturation point with OTT services. Nope.
  See 2019 predictions above.

• Consumers will look to an evolved pay-TV industry (ha!) to help them simplify channel aggregation… in other words, consumers will go back to the bundle (in some form) for convenience. Um, snowball’s chance in hell.
  Let me explain why I think this is one of the three major fallacies about the media industries that just won’t die.

• Will cord cutting slow down? Not likely. The U.S. will lose about 10% of its subscribers in  2020. But that’s OK, because pay-TV operators don’t want to be pay-TV operators anymore anyway. They want to be “connectivity companies,” (seriously, almost all of them said that during earnings calls this year). The margin on Internet services is significantly more than that for pay-TV… and the future is significantly brighter.

One more quick prediction about a soon-to-be-born streaming service…

NBCUniversal rolls out Peacock to yawns and the same lack of consumer adoption of TV Everywhere (which was one of the fastest-ever technology rollouts for pay-TV and one of the slowest technology adoptions). Peacock will have to pull off a major league Phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes if it hopes to make a dent in the market. Its go-to-market strategy is flawed.

Some final thoughts

• Connected TVs will make it easier for brands to target — and finally reach — consumers.
  But it won’t be with conventional ads. As I’ve been saying for the past several years, the new video audience that is Millennials — and even more so the Gen Edge viewers who are following — won’t sit through the same fatty ads that have clogged TV arteries for decades. Brands will develop new, interactive ads aimed at interactive connected TVs, more intelligent — and featured — product placement that scores well with viewers and puts the content back where it should be… at the top of the heap. Let’s face it, even with the Super Bowl, where the media has made shooting stars of commercials, content, the game is what it’s all about. 

• Consolidation & M&A: AT&T and Time Warner along with Viacom and CBS were the headlines that defined the major M&E M&A during the past 24 months, and we won’t see anything else that big in 2020. But, the time is ripe for consolidation among some smaller content producers.
  And, there are the FAANG companies that still may have a taste for new meat in the next 12 months, especially on the international front.

• No list of predictions for 2020 (or 2021, 2022, 2023 etc.) would be complete without a nod to next-gen wireless. 5G has the potential to drive major evolution in the streaming industry, but it will begin slowly this year and accelerate for the next five as more smartphones come to market and the networks builds out. 5G will make AR commonplace and give VR the potential to make an impact on content consumption, especially sports. 

And finally…

• 2020 will see the emergence of one clear video measurement tool that will make it easy for brands to see where their money is best spent. Just kidding.

Stay tuned.

Jim O’Neill is Principal Analyst at Brightcove. You can follow him on Twitter @JimONeillMedia and on LinkedIn

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