In a press release announcing new research on OTT video platforms, devices and consumer expectations, In-Stat Research concludes that consumers want the best of both worlds. The announcement quotes Analyst Keith Nissen on the bottom line:
“Nearly 40 percent of consumer broadband household respondents want a combination of linear TV and on-demand TV, and nearly three quarters want to acquire all their video content from their pay TV service provider.”
That’s nearing half of all broadband households wanting technology and services that only became available in the last couple of years. From a technology adoption point of view, that’s consumer acceptance at warp speed.
For service providers, this new reality has significant impact from at least two perspectives. First, broadband providers are going to see increasing video volume filling their networks. Telco’s and ISPs have a choice: manage exploding network traffic without any added revenue to support it, or actively participate with service offerings that add new revenue from video and provide some control over their customers’ quality of service. In fact, this is a network issue that is already a reality. The U.S. Internet Industry Association says that video already represents 80 percent of all bandwidth consumed.
Secondly, customer desire for converged services that unite live TV with over-the-top (OTT) video impact decisions that service providers make when developing and deploying entertainment services offerings. Deploying traditional IPTV services often does not support the OTT content customers want. Cable providers and satellite companies are beginning to develop OTT capabilities, and most already offer some form of video-on-demand service as a part of their offerings. Service providers have a window of opportunity to secure customer relationships with converged entertainment services that can keep more customers loyal, if they choose their video platforms wisely.
These trends validate Skitter’s approach to entertainment services technology. Skitter.TV is a converged TV services platform that was designed from the ground up to provide live TV, Web video, video-on-demand and support for user-generated content in one experience. We believe our video platform best positions service providers to take advantage of both the OTT and live TV worlds for new revenue generation, increased ARPU and more loyal customers.
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