Transcript
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Making Money From Multiscreen
One of the best examples of how cable operators are poised to grow revenue from delivering pay TV content and advertising to tablets, gaming consoles and other IP-connected devices may be the BlackArrow Linear targeted advertising solution that the video-on-demand vendor unveiled in May. Time Warner Cable and other major MSOs now offer apps on Apple’s iPad and other IP-connected devices that can stream dozens of linear networks. Using technology like the BlackArrow solution, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and other BlackArrow customers could soon deliver unique ads to viewers watching the same program on different devices based on demographics. Parents watching ABC’s “Modern Family” on an HDTV in the living room would see a commercial for a minivan, while their teenage son using an Xbox 360 to watch the same program in his bedroom would see an ad for the upcoming release of the Halo 5 video game. BlackArrow is one of many tech vendors that are looking to make a business from helping cable operators cash in on multiscreen video programming and advertising. We analyze some of the key trends in this eBook, including the impact of cloud technology, HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), second-screen applications and t-commerce. Cable operators and networks are slowly building a
platform that could make multiscreen programming and advertising a much bigger business. Comcast’s USA Network made multiscreen programming the focus of its upfront presentation for advertisers this year, where it announced that it would deliver programming and advertising on mobile devices that is synchronized with original series like “Burn Notice” and “Graceland” that subscribers are watching on TV. “We have eliminated the walls between TVs and mobile devices to give brands a unified and fluid fan interaction, organically extending their presence everywhere the consumer is,” USA EVP Alexandra Shapiro said at the upfront. NBCUniversal and A&E Networks are also beginning to cash in on t-commerce. A&E announced in June that a pact with interactive TV technology vendor Delivery Agent will allow subscribers to buy merchandise related to programs on History and other networks with their cable remotes and mobile devices. But it’s still not clear how cable operators may be compensated for letting subscribers buy products touted in programs like “Pawn Stars” with a few clicks of a cable remote. Years ago, network executives feared that mobile devices would erode ratings. But as we detail in this eBook, tablets and smartphones can actually drive increased viewership.
by Steve Donohue
Editor /// Fiercecable
platinum Sponsors:
3
Q&A: Cox’s Steve Necessary: It’s All About Personalization
1
August 2 012
6
Is HEVC Ready for Prime Time? *Sponsored Content*
7
Second Screen Apps Rising with the Tide
9
HEVC’s Rise to Stardom
10
Efficient Operations in a Multiscreen World *Sponsored Content*
11
Multiscreen Ad Market Holds Potential, but Can it Make Money?
13
Cloud-Based Multiscreen: Ready For Financial Prime Time?
gold Sponsor:
14
Unlock The Potential of Your Video Assets *Sponsored Content*
16
TV Everywhere’s Next Wave: Cloud TV *Sponsored Content* August 2 013
2
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Q&A: Cox’s Steve Necessary: It’s All About Personalization According to Steve Necessary, vice president of video product development at Cox Communications, what viewers really want on all of their devices – from the TVs in their family rooms to the phones in their pockets – is a personal experience, which is a far cry from the traditional family time on the sofa. Multiscreen services provide for individual preferences while offering easy-to-use interfaces and consistent quality, no matter where content is viewed or on what equipment. In an interview with FierceCable contributing editor Debra Baker, Necessary discusses the cloud, the network and the screen along with how all three are being cultivated by Cox to help future-proof its subscriber base while catering to user wants and needs.
FierceCable: Will the cloudbased multiscreen concept really bring cord cutters and cord shavers back to cable – or to cable in the first place? What does it offer that other video services do not? Steve Necessary: Cable still offers the best overall video experience, with more content than any over-the-top (OTT) provider. With TV Everywhere capabilities increasing, customers have more options to consume more content on more devices in an experience designed just for them. There is no doubt that consumer expectations continue to rise relative to secondary screens and access to OTT content, but it’s also important to remember that all of us like to watch content on the best screen with the easiest interface and have access to the best, most personally relevant content. In that 3
july 2 013
context, cable’s value proposition will only get better. FC: It has taken some time for multiscreen to take off. What will the next big video thing look like? How will the cloud drive other services? SN: We believe the big movement right now is personalization. Viewers want access on second screens and more content, but what that is really indicative of is a desire to have a personal TV experience that
Viewers want access on second screens and more content, but what that is really indicative of is a desire to have a personal TV experience that meets the needs of the individual, not an aggregated household or community approach.
meets the needs of the individual, not an aggregated household or community approach. We have done extensive research in this area and have started to deliver product enhancements to address the need. In December 2012, we launched the first personal recommendation in the United States; already, 56 percent of users say it has made them aware of content they hadn’t known about, 32 percent say they enjoy watching TV more and 75 percent strongly agree that it is easy to find recommended shows/ movies. Whether we deliver content to second screens via the cloud or to the living-room TV, customers will demand a personalized experience that connects them to the things they care about.
network we have been building and expanding for many years. To that, we added a Content Delivery Network (CDN) infrastructure to support the IP carriage of linear channels, first delivered to our Cox TV Connect application in November 2011. Along the way, we have also supported authentication of programmers’ apps (e.g., HBOGo and WatchESPN) with integration into our Identity Management System and associated provisioning system. We are now expanding to offer Video On Demand (VOD) content that leverages the same CDN but using a next-generation VOD back office environment that handles IP-delivered VOD content. Longer-term expansion of IP video delivery will be facilitated by the advent of next-generation Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS)
products (using the Converged Cable Access Platform [CCAP] standard), thus making broader IP distribution more cost-effective.
this summer, but we’ll continue to explore new ways to help customers discover and connect to the things they care about.
FC: It’s only been a few weeks, but how is the flareWatch launch in California going? Any surprises to report? With mobility being the key factor, how have security/ authentication been addressed? SN:Cox is testing a video service with a unique user interface as part of a small trial in our Orange County (Calif.) market. Not a lot to say beyond that right now; results and customer feedback will determine if we proceed with future plans. We are clearly focused right now on the personalized video experience, and the related tablet app and sixtuner/2 Terabyte whole-home DVR/ IP gateway that will launch later
FC: One of the reasons many MSOs have not turned to the cloud is difficulty with programmer negotiations, mostly due to security issues/digital rights. How has Cox overcome this roadblock? SN:Cox has been offering authenticated content via a Web portal for a couple of years – what we call Cox TV Online – where more than 2 million video assets are viewed per month by customers. The entire cable ecosystem understands that customers want and value anywhere/anytime/any device access to the content they pay for, and we are working closely with programmers to continue to
FC: What did Cox need to have in place before it went to the cloud, i.e., infrastructure (and its related costs) and the bandwidth to support an all-IP system? SN:First, of course, is the DOCSIS July 2 013
4
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Sponsored Content
Is HEVC Ready for Prime Time?
CONCLUSIONS
• HEVC for OTT content delivery is just around the corner
By Sophie Percheron, Product Marke ting Manager, ATEME
• MPEG-4 decoding
• De-interlacing and downscaling the 1080i25 source to 720p50
• Pre-processing (de-noising & motion blurring)
• HEVC encoding at two different bitrates, one for Over the Top (OTT) @ 3.5 Mbps and one for traditional TV viewing @ 4 Mbps
Click on the image above to enlarge
Live End-to-End Delivery Chain Demonstration Tells All
expand viewing options. This is an iterative process, of course, and issues are knocked off one at a time. Security tends not to be an issue, so long as an industry-recognized DRM solution is used; in our case, we use Cisco’s VideoGuard system. FC: As a second part to that question, what is Cox doing to prevent customers from sharing their cloud-based accounts with others, thus impacting revenues? SN:Our research indicates that while customers are consuming more content time-shifted and on secondary screens, the TV in the home is still central to the total viewing experience for most. We attract and retain our customers due to the total video experience we provide that includes the ability to consume content in-home, online and on second screens. In some cases, the content is available only within the home and, thus, we 5
july 2 013
associated access with the address of the cable modem. It’s also important to note that we limit the number of simultaneous log-ins to prevent any abuse. FC: How has advertising on portable devices like smartphones and tablets been received by subscribers? Do they tune out or are they taking the opportunity to purchase products and services related either to the programming they’re watching or what friends have recommended? SN:We simply pass through the network ad feeds on our TV Everywhere platforms. I think viewers understand there is a cost to content, and advertising helps offset some of that cost. More than anything, I think they are most interested in getting the content when and where it is most convenient for them and delivered in a reliable format.
Our research indicates that while customers are consuming more content time-shifted and on secondary screens, the TV in the home is still central to the total viewing experience for most
FC: Do you think the cloud eventually will eliminate the need for gateways? SN:Set-top boxes and gateways still have years and years of life left. They provide multiple useful functions, like switching and DVR, very efficiently. Our company and our industry have spent billions in developing a very cost-effective means of delivering huge amounts of video content digitally. Those efficiencies will serve us well for many years to come. l
Visitors to the French Tennis Open in June witnessed a world premiere presentation of a live end-to-end delivery chain for High Definition HEVC/H.265. This trial, orchestrated by the 4EVER Consortium (www.4ever-project.com) that includes Orange and ATEME, used the new codec to encode, stream over the Orange fiber network, broadcast over the air using DVBT2, decode and display, the live competition on PC, TV and tablet. The two weeks trial reached thousands of viewers and featured the following content delivery stages: 1. T he tournament was produced in 1080i25 by France Télévisions, and delivered to the HEVC headend as a high bitrate, high quality MPEG-4 4:2:2 10-bit contribution feed over IP using ATEME’s Kyrion line of contribution encoders 2. T he HEVC video head-end, centered on ATEME’s TITAN platform, applied the following software processes in real time:
• Content stream encapsulation in both classic MPEG-2 transport stream and MPEGDASH for OTT
3.Broadcasting on unmanaged (open internet) and managed networks (both Orange fiber IPTV network and on-air digital terrestrial network) 4. The technology involved in the receiving, decoding and playback of the broadcast on various TVs, PCs and tablets included:
• Using software players such as GPAC (open source) - running on PC as the decoding device to feed TV sets
• ATEME’s DR8400 (the industry first HEVC capable Integrated Receiver Decoder) to feed an SDI monitor
• Multiple HEVC capable smartphones and tablets, running either Android or Windows based player software from Orange, Sony Mobile and VisualOn.
• Benefits of using HEVC for OTT demonstrated with the 4EVER trial include:
o Improved quality at today’s bitrate, for example showing sports content at the full frame rate of 50 or 60 frames per second, using no more bitrate than what is needed for 25 or 30 FPS today in MPEG-4
o True HD experience on the go
o Reduced bandwidth by up to 50 percent
o Dramatically reduced cost of Content Delivery Networks
• Benefits for classic TV delivery include:
o Half the bandwidth of today’s HD broadcasts
o Room for new services such as Ultra HDTV
• For TV over DSL networks, HEVC dramatically increases the reach of HD services, boosting the viewing experience and satisfaction of most users who are limited to SD quality today • For more information or to accelerate your HEVC agenda please visit www.ateme.com l
July 2 013
6
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Second Screen Apps Rising with the Tide By Cr aig Kuhl
Second screen apps create opportunities to engage and grow the audience. But some wonder if they can hold the viewer’s attention. Engaging the TV viewer using second screen apps is the new mantra of video content providers and their expanding universe of supporting technology, software and advertising communities. And for good reason. Nearly half of U.S. smartphone and tablet owners—46 and 43 percent respectively—use their devices as second screens daily while watching TV, with 76 percent of tablet owners ranking Web searches among the top second screen activities for deeper engagement, according to a recent Nielsen study. An ABI Research report added that the mobile apps market will value at $27 billion this year. Those impressive figures, combined with the increased
use of mobile and second screen apps are elevating the second screen app market to new heights, albeit with it’s fair share of
challenges. “There’s innovation and value being created. Now, there’s usage and advertisers are noticing that path for second screen apps, enabling technologies are re-creating the TV experience with second screens becoming an enhancer, not a competitor, and apps allow new inventory for ads. With metadata and fingerprinting you also get huge profiles when first and second screens are synched up. There are lots of second screen apps creating opportunities to engage, so it’s a real eco-system and a rising tide,” said Rick Ducey, managing director for the research firm, BIA/Kelsey. Rising with the second screen apps tide are players such as Viggle, a free mobile app that operates as a second screen for TV loyalty. “We want to connect brand emotion of TV to retail. You check in to Viggle and earn loyalty points. Devices are smarter so we built a free app to download as a verification point. And as a ratings play, we want to show that we have a meaningful impact on ratings, and can prove it,” explained Greg Consiglio, president and COO of Viggle.
“All advertisers value data and trending information. Second screen apps can indicate ratings through checkin activity—from demographics to aggregate number of impressions—and how engaged people are.” Sean Besser, EVP of business development at GetGlue.
7
july 2 013
And the proof is in the measurement, insisted Sean Besser, EVP of business development for GetGlue, a company that drives entertainment activity to social platforms. “All advertisers value data and trending information. Second screen apps can indicate ratings through check-in activity—from demographics to aggregate number of impressions—and how engaged people are,” Besser said. Yet Besser and others have no illusions about the challenges of advancing the second screen apps model. “Yes, there’s a ton of challenges, particularly in the cable space. There are legacy set-top boxes several years old and TVs without Internet capability. The technology in the living room many times just can’t
keep up. So how do we help solve their social functionality problems like territories? We’re pushing out upgrades that will enhance our app,” he noted. Comcast, for example, recently added an app allowing subscribers to use their device as a virtual TV remote control for Windows Phone customers. But most experts agree that for second screen apps, it’s all about increasing audience loyalty, ratings and deeper engagements. “The biggest opportunities for
second screen apps are around growing viewership and leveraging audience loyalty. Both translate to ratings and engaging friends by adding a social interaction element. And there’s the definite potential for ad growth, with a large majority of younger viewers using second screens while watching TV,” said Jonathan Weitz, partner at IBB Consulting. The advertising component to second screen apps, he added, could be the wild card. “Creative, grabbing multi-screen
“There’s a richness of data and an increasing goal of bringing together data that operators might gleen from consumers.” Phil Knightbridge, CTO and Fellow for IBB.
ad campaigns to support recall and engagement are enabling operators and programmers to leverage and go beyond the 30-second spot. With second screen apps, there’s more information you can tag, brand and offer loyalty awards, like Viggle. There’s also a vast amount of data generated by second screen app usage.” And vast is the operative word when it comes to data, added Phil Knightbridge, CTO and Fellow for IBB. “There’s a richness of data and an increasing goal of bringing together data that operators might glean from consumers. So the collection and analysis of data is a key. Second screens are becoming more meaningful, but tying them together with TVs is a challenge.” Challenge indeed. Some are very wary about the second screen apps’ ability to hold a viewer’s attention. “Every second screen company will say I’m wrong, but after people download a second screen app, 99 percent of them never use it again. They don’t want to sit and stare at a second screen while watching TV. There’s a tremendous barrier to entry in getting multi-taskers into apps. Most of the industry hasn’t addressed the behavior of multitaskers,” said Mike Kokernak, CEO of Across Platforms, a TV consulting and software development firm. Maybe so, but most can agree on one thing: second screen apps are creating a bundle of opportunities. Concluded Ducey: “There’s money going to mobile apps and advertising, and new deals around enabling technologies and re-creating the TV experience. Most people are using second screen apps, so there is significant behavior there.” l July 2 013
8
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
HEVC’s Rise to Stardom By Cr aig Kuhl
HEVC promises to be a gamechanger because it offers four times the resolution with half the bit-rate. High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) promises to deliver UltraHD content using half the compression rate, which allows service providers and their supporting vendor community to deliver content more efficiently. By leveraging current infrastructure, HEVC can enable the cable industry to deliver video over wireless networks, tablets and smartphones. “It was time to create a new standard and it was HEVC,” said Arianne
“We looked at 4K as an emerging video format. It’s pushing the envelope and with standards emerging around it, some workforce components are needed.” Mark Francisco, Fellow at Comcast
Hinds, senior architect for standard strategy at CableLabs, which recently demonstrated HEVC’s role in UltraHD at the Cable Show in Washington, D.C. It was also time to throttle up the UltraHD (4K or four times the resolution of current HD) video format, not only to gain valuable efficiencies, but as a competitive tool. Comcast is one of a growing number of service providers pushing HEVC as not only valuable, but crucial to its business. “We looked at 4K as an emerging video format. It’s pushing the envelope and with standards
emerging around it, some workforce components are needed,” said Mark Francisco, Fellow at Comcast. “It’s early, but encoders and compressors are coming to market and it will take a year to really get into the scalable hardware. So now it’s all about capacity to handle more programming, more efficient means of carrying video and anything to squeeze the bit rates down,” he added.
Network capacity is king
And bit rates count. By halving the bit rate and significantly increasing compression efficiency via HEVC, the long-standing issue of network capacity is being addressed, Francisco noted. “Compression efficiency is the top level purpose of HEVC, with video quality the key benefit. It can increase the quality without overstepping the network’s capacity, especially with higher Wi-Fi use. Overall, it makes for a better, seamless experience for customers.” It’s also raising the competitive stakes, prompting many industry experts to count HEVC as a musthave addition to a service provider’s operational and business strategies. “The impact of HEVC is a tide raising all boats. Cable realized it needed to adopt UltraHD and the 4X bit rate it required. HEVC cuts continued on page 15
9
july 2 013
Efficient Operations in a Multiscreen World
Sponsored Content
enable the level of orchestration required to unlock the value of by Scot t Crile y, Director, Media & Workflow at Harris Broadcast new techniques for advertisers to increase advertising recall and encourage purchase action. your standard day-to-day Consolidated systems will enable operation, but disparate the centralization of common technologies make taking advantage of these models tasks associated with advertising management while distributing difficult. How do you the dynamic actions required for crack the code to make nontraditional advertising a targeted multi-device advertising. For any consolidated platform to stable, efficient, profitable be relevant in the future, it must part of your business? be standards based (SCTE/IAB) to To efficiently manage enable operation in a highly diverse the divergent forms of environment. Standards enable advertising available today, consolidation of operations centered your media systems on sales, proposal, order entry, must have the ability to Click on the image above to enlarge reconciliation, billing and analytics, manage orders across while enabling federated advertising multiple mediums; traffic In the world of media, scheduled decision-making associated with or manage multiple platform linear spots are at the foundational dynamic ad decisioning for live and ad placements; reconcile and core of most media companies’ time-shifted viewing across IP- or invoice advertisers; and provide business models. As consumers QAM-delivered content on multiple analytics to measure your results. shift their viewing habits to device types. Proprietary systems Currently, the media space’s rapid simultaneous or standalone viewing with private or antiquated interfaces growth of distribution channels is on alternative devices such as will not provide media companies forcing companies to work with smartphones, tablets and PCs, the flexibility required to costmyriad systems to meet new media companies are presented with term objectives of launching new effectively consolidate operations opportunities to increase revenue and unlock the synergistic value of services. This short-term explosion and consumer satisfaction through multiscreen advertising. of systems enables new services, the ability to offer new content Measurement is an additional but is not a cost-effective or and advertising options. Along cornerstone in unlocking the value sustainable model. with opportunity comes pressure of multiscreen advertising. A Consolidation of “advertising from advertisers who want take consolidated system must be able operations” will enable media advantage of the new technologies to capture and consolidate data companies to cost-effectively and offer single campaign to enable efficient reporting on manage multiple-platform management and placement within delivery. The absence of a “common ad sales while unlocking the both traditional linear broadcasts and synergies between traditional and currency” across traditional and myriad additional multimedia delivery nontraditional advertising types. new media makes the ability to slice modes. and dice metrics to develop metrics Synergies will span the universe New forms of delivery are resulting from “road-blocked spots” for individual advertisers a critical in increasingly divergent revenue business function. l across multiple devices to single models; alternate sources of revenue or multiscreen companion ads. are uncovering themselves through Targeted advertising will enable interactive, targeted and addressable greater precision in ad placement advertising. You want to seize the and will increase inventory for opportunity presented by advanced content suppliers and distributors. advertising without disrupting Consolidated systems will July 2 013
10
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Multiscreen Ad Market Holds Potential, but Can it Make Money? By Cr aig Kuhl
Cable companies say multiscreen is a key part of their strategy, but synchronizing ads for second screens is a tricky proposition. The mass appeal of mobile devices and the multiple screens they bring to consumers is driving the advertising and T-commerce markets into unexplored territory. Content and service providers, along with just about everyone in the video delivery ecosystem, are paying close attention to the advertising and commerce upsides in the expanding multiscreen phenomena. And why not. Nearly one-third of U.S. telco TV households are expected to access multiscreen or TV Everywhere services by yearend 2013, with more than 39 million tablets shipped worldwide in 1Q 2013 and $72 billion spent on tablet devices, according to ABI Research. For the multiscreen ad and commerce space, it’s now about deeper engagement and monetization. “For programs that have amassed a second screen audience, there’s a core demographic that advertisers are very interested in because there’s a deeper engagement. Now, the onus is 11 july 2 013
on programmers to prove they can bring the same audience to multiple screens like the first screen. The challenge is monetizing the content and advertising,” said Sam Rosen,
practice director for ABI Research.
Re-evaluating the ad model
Challenges aside, and there are many, the emerging role of advertising and T-commerce in the multiscreen universe is prompting companies such as Cox continued on page 17
“The challenge is figuring out how to use the technologies and capabilities and then scaling the business. That’s the phase we’re in now, packaging all of this information and monetizing it.”
» A better way to deliver multiscreen media «
Chris Hock, SVP of marketing BlackArrow
Transcode more live video channels per watt per 2U per year Enjoy a new magnitude of cloud efficiency and workload performance for any multiscreen content delivery application – including transcoding streaming video – that you deploy in cloud infrastructure. The Kontron SYMKLOUD MS2900 Media platform provides more control over performance, power, management, and elastic scalability for mobile TV, IPTV, User Generated Content and Video on Demand subscriber services. »
Maximize subscriber revenue: efficient use of rack space with built-in switches and load balancers
»
More control: over power and cluster configurations for reduced IT OPEX
»
Highly efficient: distributed and hot-pluggable, dedicated 3rd/4th gen Intel® Core i7 processing
Integrated platforms that bring infrastructure to life Kontron integrated platforms bring applications to life deployed anywhere in telecom and cloud network infrastructures.
Discover more at kontron.com/symkloud
See the live SYMKLOUD video transcoding demo with partners at Intel Booth 106, Hall 14 at the IBC show. Sept. 12-17, 2013 The pulse of innovation
july 2 013
12
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Cloud-Based Multiscreen: Ready For Financial Prime Time? By Debr a Baker
Cloud technology is being used cautiously by top tier cable operators. Although it offers cost savings, there are security and digital rights management concerns. “It has become increasingly clear that the only way to deliver TV services everywhere is to move the video to the cloud,” said nScreenMedia founder and chief analyst Colin Dixon. “Operators have been working hard to get VOD assets and, more recently, linear channels online and available through their TV Everywhere clients.” But how do MSOs get there and when will they reap the financial benefits of such a strategy? Despite the ubiquity of the term “cloud” in the communications industry, cloud-based technology still is relatively new and is being used cautiously, even by top-tier cable operators that just now are beginning to roll out new multiscreen subscriber services. However, Alcatel Lucent estimates the total potential market for multiscreen video services during the next five years could reach nearly $90 billion. Certainly, vendors are offering all flavors of cloud to facilitate MSO expansion into new territory. So far, there 13 july 2 013
has been no “eureka moment,” but it will come as more subscribers segue to cloud programming and storage, and as MSOs discover cloud services are cheaper to provide.
snacking, sharing and discovery), operators will see their revenue bases grow and their operating costs drop. Because cloud-service implementation could include upfront infrastructure costs, an increased need for IP bandwidth for content streaming, DOCSIS 3.0 compliance and the right subscriber-authentication program, it makes sense that only the top cable and IPTV providers, including
“The market is still developing with many of the early growing pains, like authentication, finally starting to take a back seat to the content.” Michael Inouye, ABI Research Senior Analyst
Agility Test
With cablecos seeing their programming costs rising anywhere from 6 percent to 7 percent per year along with the ongoing and expensive upkeep/upgrades of set-top boxes (STBs), it only makes sense to go cloud moving forward. Provision of cloud-based multiscreen services is less expensive and more agile than STB-based offerings. For example, it could take six months and highly trained technicians to upgrade today’s STBs, but it might take only 15 minutes to change up softwarebased cloud services. Everything can be rendered in the cloud and delivered to cheaper boxes in the home, to a Roku box, to a connected TV or to personal wireless devices. As cable customers morph from being couch potatoes to being mobile users of smartphones and tablets (and as many “never were” subs use these devices for
Comcast, Cablevision and Charter Communications, have announced cloud-based multiscreen services. Are MSOs making money with cloud-based multiscreen right now or are the building blocks just being put into place? While not being able to break out cloud-specific billings, Sachin Sathaye, vice president, strategy & product marketing at ActiveVideo Networks (which has been working closely with Cablevision and Charter on their cloud-based multiscreen offerings), notes revenues for pay TV are on the rise. However, viewers are switching around where they are spending their money, and they aren’t focused as much on traditional cable services as they have been in the past. To make sure they are getting a piece of that new billing/ viewing mix, Sathaye said. “MSOs are trying to create new experiences continued on page 18
Unlock The Potential of Your Video Assets
Sponsored Content
by Tom Wilde, CEO, R AMP
You’ve created an arsenal of videos, have them on your website, and even track their analytics… but now what? It’s time to further unlock their value by making them more engaging and driving additional, more relevant advertising opportunities from them. The key is accessing the typically untapped wealth of metadata from the transcripts of the audio tracks underlying your videos, and not simply from curated titles and tags. Putting this full set of metadata together with a rules-based engine that associates related content and advertising with the video, you can create rich video “lean-forward” experiences that increase video stream starts, double video engagement, and generate new revenue. Let’s take a look:
Increase Video Stream Starts and Engagement:
One proven way to significantly increase video stream starts is to offer the viewer additional videos that relate to what they are watching. Using a rules-based engine tied to the transcripts, tags, and topics of your videos, you can, for example, display highlight clips from a football team’s last season as a viewer watches an NFL recap. Or if they are watching a news story about Microsoft, a video can display in the sidebar that offers commentary on Microsoft’s latest earnings report. In each of these examples, the additional contextual content increases the potential for new video stream starts, more time on site and increased engagement levels.
Generate New Revenue
What if you could automatically
trigger an advertisement for a blender the moment Giada De Laurentiis tosses some mango slices into hers? And Meredith Publishing leverages the full metadata potential of their videos to then serve serve up engaging related content. Click on the image above to enlarge. up an ad for the tumblers she pours that smoothie into? And so additional relevant content directly on… Keyword driven, contextually to the viewer at the precise moment based ads receive 10x the number they’re interested, you’re using your of click-throughs as traditional video as a tool for more connections banner ad placements. This can be – and more revenue. accomplished by once again utilizing the full metadata potential of the About RAMP: video, and leveraging a rules-based RAMP has developed the next engine that triggers ads relevant to generation of search & video the content in the video at any given experiences to make video more moment. This approach opens up valuable. Using RAMP, clients are more opportunities within the video able to fully leverage the value of experience to offer advertising all of their video content by driving that is contextually relevant to the increased discovery across search viewer and therefore more likely to and social sites, enhancing user drive response. engagement through dynamic Combining video metadata and a search and publishing solutions rules-based system for video can across web, mobile, and connected increase engagement and unlock devices, and maximizing revenue new content for your viewers. As the through sophisticated advertising image shows, Meredith Publishing capabilities. leverages this approach on their Leading media companies and BHG.com property so that when enterprises using RAMP include users watch a video about creating Thomson Reuters, FOXNews, French toast, they are directed to ABCNews, NBC, Dow Jones, additional videos about French toast, Meredith, Citibank, and others. For different recipes that involve eggs more information visit RAMP.com, or and recommended products that contact us at
[email protected]. l are mentioned in the video. People’s Choice Awards uses a similar approach by surfacing actor bios when specific people are mentioned during the broadcast. By linking July 2 013
14
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Sponsored Content continued from page 9 that bit rate down by half using existing equipment. It really mutes any competitive disadvantage and makes UltraHD a game-changing technology,” said Joe Del Rio, associate product line director for Broadcom, a player in the HEVC/ UltraHD TV market. The game may be changing thanks to UltraHD and its enabler HEVC, but there’s an ecosystem that must evolve first. And that ecosystem must include a gaggle of devices and industries. “Bit rate reduction is the key reason for HEVC and will allow the same HD quality with half the bit rate. But it comes into play when 4K TV gets deployed and can deploy at higher resolution. It will be awhile until that happens. In the meantime we’ll have to wait for devices to support HEVC, like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, and for Apple, Sony and others to embrace HEVC,” said Daniel Howard, CTO and SVP of engineers for the Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers (SCTE).
HEVC’s advertising potential
Embracing the advertising potential of HEVC is also gaining momentum. And no wonder. Nielsen recently reported that 20 percent of tablet owners use their mobile devices to shop for goods and services advertised on TV, which “provides advertisers another opportunity to connect with consumers.” And with an increasingly fickle consumer whose expectation of anytime, anywhere high quality video is prompting a more engaging form of advertising, HEVC seems to match up well. “Compression is the key, but 15 july 2 013
TV Everywhere’s Next Wave: Cloud TV
“Compression is the key, but HEVC can also load ads faster and crank up the quality. We want ads to look crisp, so they are a great place to look for new compression rates.” Eric Grab, vice president of technology for Rovi.
HEVC can also load ads faster and crank up the quality. We want ads to look crisp, so they are a great place to look for new compression rates,” said Eric Grab, vice president of technology for Rovi, a player in the HEVC space. Mobile devices, Grab added, also warrant a look. “We’re looking at HEVC very holistically, with multiple business models. There are some use cases you just can’t do without HEVC, particularly with mobile devices and 4K. With better compression, there are a lot of side effects to HEVC.” And some notable challenges,
he admitted. “Making things interoperable across all platforms and making HEVC work in real time or better are big challenges, along with an explosion of assets on the back end that need to be handled. But a quantum leap in compression like HEVC doesn’t happen very often. It’s very impressive.” Impressive enough to prompt a version two. Concluded Hinds of CableLabs: “Now, there are extensions being added for deeper color resolution, scaleable coding and 3D coding. Not a next generation HEVC, but some add-ons.” l
Whether it’s sports, movies, episodes of TV shows, or obscure foreign films, someone somewhere wants to watch it. Until now, the costs of acquisition, storage and distribution have required service providers to make choices. As a result, on-demand content libraries have traditionally been filled with mainstream content designed to appeal to the greatest number of subscribers. But this is changing… enter the era of personalized TV. Cloud storage and distribution offers service providers a single managed remote infrastructure that makes it much more economical – and technologically feasible – to build and maintain massive libraries of content and metadata – all of it formatted and encoded for any device. Today, it’s no longer just about delivering content – instead, it’s about providing the content any subscriber might want, and making it accessible to them on their terms.
What Do You Want to Watch?
Cloud distribution makes a nearinfinite catalog of content possible, allowing truly personalized viewing. Suddenly, recommendation engines can hone in on the exact content that uniquely fits the subscriber; and subscribers themselves can find the content that fits their viewing needs – and consume it on any device, when they want it. The capabilities of these new viewing platforms – connected devices – give operators new opportunities to position and market all of this content. Social media interactions, recommendation engines and robust search capabilities add value to the subscriber experience In this exciting new environment, Cloud TV delivers increased monetization opportunities. Whether it’s reducing subscriber churn by better satisfying consumers’ appetites for the content they want, or more content translating to additional transactions, subscriptions or advertising, Cloud TV holds great opportunity.
a managed Cloud TV service bundled with its ViewNow library of thousands of movies. The content is available in multiple formats – SD, HD, MBR, ABR, MPEG2, MPEG4 – making it accessible to consumers, through their service provider, on any device. Over the coming months, more and more content will be added to this library, in an increasing number of formats and specifications, ultimately creating a near-infinite content catalog that will drive personalization of the TV experience – “my content, on my device.”
Changing the Economics of Delivering TV Everywhere
There are a host of approaches to monetizing multiplatform viewing today – from subscription services, to ad-supported content, or driving value for subscribers who choose higher tiers of service. AnyVUpowered Cloud TV is providing the economies of scale to make TV Everywhere a reality for service providers of all sizes, and allows them to monetize the growing demand for access to content on any device. Through a managed Cloud TV approach, matched with flexible and market leading content licensing terms, Vubiquity is changing the economics of TV Everywhere delivery for service providers, providing a path to monetizing content on any screen, and hastening the advent of the truly personalized TV experience for subscribers. For more information, visit Vubiquity.com. l
So What’s Next? High-quality sourced content is increasingly available “in the cloud.” Today, Vubiquity, the largest global provider of multiplatform video services, offers AnyVU Streaming, July 2 013
16
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
continued from page 11 Communications to re-evaluate their multiscreen ad models. “It’s a key part of our strategy and we are expanding more content to second screens and personalizing the video experience. It brings a completely unique and qualitative profile, especially among younger viewers, and video consumption on tablets is 100 percent measurable. Now, we can just target ads for second screens,” said Mike Zeigler, VP of business development and operations for Cox. Synchronizing those ads with TV commercials is a tricky proposition, Zeigler admitted. Yet he believes the effort is worth it. “ We need to synchronize our program feeds to second screens and figure out the metrics of the second screen business, and there is an unresolved issue with tablets being separate from TV viewing. But ad buys in general are only growing at the rate of inflation, so we see it as a growth opportunity.” Cox, Zeigler noted, is not currently targeting ads with multiscreen,“We’re looking at it down the road. Overall, multiple screens offer an accountable ad model with unique demographics and profiles.” The data retrieval piece from multiscreen usage could be the wild card in the evolving multiscreen space. “We can get granular data from every demographic and can layer in technologies to provide household demographics. There are now opportunities to mine that data and target ads where they work best,” said Bill Feininger, general manager of the massive data division at FourthWall Media. What works best for advertisers 17 july 2 013
“There’s lots of hype around online and multiscreen video advertising. Just because it’s easy to put video on multiple screens doesn’t mean much.” Dan Rayburn, principal analyst for Frost & Sullivan.
in the multiscreen space is consolidating audiences. “It’s about when and where viewers are watching, so advertisers can reach certain audiences and measure. It’s also about normalizing all of the audience data. The challenge is figuring out how to use the technologies and capabilities and then scaling the business. That’s the phase we’re in now, packaging all of this information and monetizing it,” said Chris Hock, SVP of marketing for the advanced advertising company, BlackArrow. Maybe so, but some believe it’s only a phase, and any semblance of a viable multiscreen business model is way down the road.
Reality or hype?
“It’s been talked about for eight years, with one-fifth of the ad projection being met. There’s lots of hype around online and multiscreen video advertising. Just because it’s easy to put video on multiple screens doesn’t mean much,” said Dan Rayburn, principal analyst for Frost & Sullivan. Nor do ads mean much if they don’t resonate with viewers. Added Rayburn: “Advertisers don’t want to pay for non-targeted ads or pay for ads that don’t even get checked on. The whole metric system of video advertising is messed up, with not a lot or progress being made.” Nonetheless, new players such as TV Wallet and others are pressing ahead into the multiscreen ad and
T-commerce markets. “There’s a growing list of advertisers. And viewers can complete transactions from multiple screens. The big question is how quickly can TVs be connected. We need scale for multiscreen devices as well. It’s a very complicated ecosystem with OTT capability, legacy set-top boxes and how to use more intelligent data. The industry can’t get in its own way,” said Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO of TV Wallet, a player in the T-commerce market. Scale is definitely a problem, said Jeff Sherwin, CEO of This Technology, a provider of dynamic ad insertion technology. “We can’t gloss over scale. A single device targeting ads on a per second basis on a huge scale like the Super Bowl is a huge issue and there must be solutions in the multiscreen video distribution market for advertising to take shape. The technology is getting good and not an impediment. Once the dynamic ad insertion market operates with scale, technology will move the ads.” And there are more hurdles to be cleared, such as monetizing the second screen ad market, formatting ads for different devices and determining who owns what content. “There are 10-15 pain points and the video supply chain is in turmoil, so it will take a lot of different tools. But there are lots of opportunities,” Rosen said. l
for their consumers. They are creating OTT content with content providers to compete with other offerings into the home, and this only works in the cloud and as software as a service [SaaS].” But cloud innovation also is being picked up by second- and thirdtier cablecos intent on offering what their customers want and on being able to stay competitive with their larger brethren. Joe Jensen, who holds the dual titles of executive vice president/Cable & Telecommunications at Ohio-based Block Communications Inc. and CTO at Buckeye CableSystem, said his group just now is testing cloud services with Azuki Systems, with plans to expand and migrate to more cloud offerings in the future. While admitting to being “a little behind” when it comes to cloud experimentation, Jensen said Buckeye took the initial plunge to “gain experience” with a cloud provider while designing the roadmap to spectrum reclamation and more IP-centric technology. “We’re hoping to be in a position to have something in production by next summer,” he added.
by NTT Europe found that more than 80 percent of CIOs polled believe their own ICT architecture is the greatest hurdle to cloud adoption. In addition, nearly 60 percent think the complexity of their existing IT investment is holding up their implementation. Although most respondents believe the cloud is the future, their biggest fear is that a cloud migration might not be successful on their current systems. The upfront costs MSOs can expect as they make the decision to move from hardware-based to software-based video services may be lower than operators think. ActiveVideo’s Sathaye said most operators already have projects in their environments based on general-purpose hardware from HP, Dell or other like servers; they then need to add an OSS such as Linux. Because ActiveVideo is a managed service, “You don’t need any special hardware requirements for us,” he said. “You can add us to your existing headends. Our CloudTV software can run on their hardware platforms.” MSOs also can run their own HTML5 interfaces in the cloud, making them much more akin to Netflix or Hulu when it comes to user experience on any device.
Upfront preparation
Curing Insecurities
continued from page 13
Cost savings aside, there are some key factors holding MSOs back from moving more confidently into cloud services. A recent survey conducted
According to Buckeye’s Jensen, there is some concern about common downloadable security. “We need to find the user interface
“We’re hoping to be in a position to have something in production by next summer.” Joe Jensen, executive vice president/Cable & Telecommunications at Ohio-based Block Communications Inc, and CTO at Buckeye CableSystem
and experience we feel will be amenable with our plans and will be of interest with our customers. Can we define an IP environment from the headend to our devices to address our long-term strategy?” Addressing the latter, Jensen noted Buckeye will be replicating some aspects of its already established security measures along with a new digital rights management (DRM) system for content security. “We also have to make sure we can move from a set-top box to a retail IP box play like Rovi and tablet apps. Several DRM solutions fit that mold,” he said. “We don’t want to have a DRM solution that relies on online connection only. We want to make sure people can access our content on the plane.” Jensen said that his biggest concern/challenge is getting programmers to allow Buckeye to move to the cloud. “We need some modicum of agreement that this is indeed the way to go,” he explained. “Their concern is making sure their products are secure and valuable. The bundle is going to be a challenge because we are pricing our services out of the realm of most of our customers.” ABI Research Senior Analyst Michael Inouye said programmers will loosen up moving forward. “The market is still developing with many of the early growing pains, like authentication, finally starting to take a back seat to the content. In many respects, the technology is in place to increasingly offer widerreaching TV Everywhere services. Securing the rights to broader content distribution is the primary remaining hurdle but, once standard metrics are developed, the content floodgates are expected to open wider.” l July 2 013
18
