Is Content Still King?

Entertainment industry is going through significant changes as compared to the old model, where modes of entertainment were limited with a limited number of TV channels, where limited choices were available in terms of TV serials, movies, songs, and sources of news as well. Gone are those days when people used to set the antenna to watch their favourite program and wait for specific time to watch programs.

We have moved far ahead with multiple distribution technologies available like cable TV, satellite, and IP. With multiple distribution modes easily available and lots of competition in the market, there is paradigm shift in the taste of consumers. Consumer now cannot wait for content; it is the trend of content everywhere/entertainment everywhere. With competition in distribution market in terms of cost and acquiring maximum subscribers, simulcrypt has become common in the Industry. Simulcrypt is nowadays opted by many cable and DTH companies and many are moving towards it due to:

• Competition in terms of price and need to acquire more subscribers.
• End the monopoly of single CAS solution provider in their network.

On the other hand, IP is catching speed, OTT has become common where over-the-top refers to delivering content to end-user in which ISP simply transports IP packets, over-the-top content (OTT) is video, audio and other media content delivered over the internet without any multiple-system operator (MSO) involvement. The internet provider may be aware of the contents of the internet protocol (IP) packets but is not responsible for, nor able to control, the viewing abilities and redistribution of the content. OTT gives freedom to consumers to consume content on multiple devices, i.e., mobile, laptop, TV, etc., anytime, anywhere, and users can take the entertainment with them wherever they are.
Many existing players are continuing to roll out new OTT services, while more players in the OTT space are emerging in hopes of gaining market share. All this is resulting in massive demand for data and bandwidth speeds.

Looking to the tough competition in distribution market, content that used to be the king of the entertainment industry has also started facing competition since many players are keen to control entertainment end to end. Now, content is becoming eyeball as consumers are no longer interested/like the content which is served, but with multiple choices available they choose according to their taste and it has become important to know the taste of consumers and deliver content accordingly, that too not on limited streaming platforms but on every streaming platform available in the market. Thus, having content alone will not help in winning the competition but streaming platforms with quick adaptation to flickering consumer demands are also needed to survive and win the competition.

Thus, we can say neither content nor distribution alone can win the battle but duo of both will win the battle. And when we talk about combination of content and distribution, in that also there are certain parameters for both.

Delivering content alone will not serve the purpose, because gone are those days when content used to satisfy the viewer, which was a fact for many years but now making content available as per taste of viewer by analyzing the taste will only satisfy the viewer. Viewers are controlling the market and those who will win their hearts will win their wallets. And same is the case with distribution where making content available on all streaming platforms is needed for consumer’s attention. Hence, both content and distribution have to move together for success.

To conclude:

• Customers are content hungry.
• Data and bandwidth are most important chess pieces.
• Content is no longer the king, but viewers are the king makers.
• Players controlling entertainment end to end will win the wallet of customers.