Today, TV has evolved from a world of limited options to one of almost unlimited choices. The future of TV is OTT and fundamentally, it will be defined by what the viewer wants, exerting a strong influence on how media companies package, deliver, and monetise their content. Across Asia, Brightcove has a regular dialogue with many content owners who are in various stages of their OTT journey. Launching an OTT TV service requires rethinking and orchestrating every aspect of running an online TV business.
Do OTT service providers understand their audience well enough to design an attractive and relevant value proposition?
To answer this, we teamed up with YouGov , an international data and analytics group, to poll 5,000 consumers in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. The study investigated how these viewers typically consume TV, which platforms and devices they prefer, what factors motivate them to either sign up or unsubscribe, their payment preferences, and their tolerance for ads. The summary of some of the findings are:
- Thirty-five percent of viewers polled stated that they spend one to five hours per week watching content, while 21 percent stated they spend up to six to 10 hours per week.
- Mobile access is one of the key drivers for OTT TV sign-ups and retention for 27 percent of consumers, given the mobile centricity of Asia markets.
- Twenty-two percent of consumers stated they do not subscribe to OTT services because they simply do not have the time to watch.
- Twenty-eight percent said that the value proposition was simply not strong enough for them to subscribe, while 19 percent said that they were satisfied with existing payTV services as a reason for not subscribing.
- Once trial users convert to subscribers, four main factors play a role in their retention: accessibility on mobile, quality of experience on mobile, price, and content library.
- For those that stated that they do not have a current subscription and have never subscribed in the past, the value proposition has to be significantly compelling for these consumers to sign-up: the price point cannot be too expensive, and must be cheaper than existing pay TV services.
- Twenty-nine percent of viewers polled also stated that free online streaming sites were the preferred platform to watch movies. Movies are the anchor content of these sites.
- Asian consumers are happy to watch one to three ads. With OTT, the consumer general expectation is for more content and less ads, with 23 percent stating that they would rather pay a lower fee and watch some ads.
To read about the research results and what these mean for content owners, you can download the Asia OTT Television Research Report 2018.