Legal firm DLA Piper predicts that over-the-top (OTT) content is emerging as the main growth area for media companies in Asia and beyond.
According to the DLA Piper report – ‘International Media Sector Trends 2018’ – 82% of 200 in-house counsel and senior executives surveyed believe that monetizing content through OTT distribution is a major growth area for their business.
Some 90% of Asia-Pacific respondents stated that OTT is now driving mainstream broadcast strategies, significantly more than the 88% of the entire sample, the 71% of North American respondents and the 63% of European respondents. Respondents in Asia-Pacific and North America are also more optimistic about the potential to monetize content through OTT than their UK and European counterparts.
By contrast, other developments, such as virtual and augmented reality, will be slower to affect mainstream media and entertainment. Only 4% of those surveyed felt this would be a significant driver of advertising revenue in 2020, with factors such as consumer hesitation and inadequate content offerings.
In addition, 25% of respondents said that they expected OTT to drive the majority of their content views in 2018, a sharp increase from the 11% of companies who said that it was a majority driver of content views for 2017. Nearly two thirds (63%) of respondents stated that of all OTT models, subscription video on demand (SVOD) has the greatest revenue potential for their business.
The development of targeted OTT content will be supported by the rise of the internet-of-things (IOT), according to the report. Three quarters (73%) of respondents said data collected via the IOT is already enabling better targeting and production of content, with a further third stating that it is enabling more targeted subscription income.
The potential for monetizing on OTT content is not limited to new market entrants. The report highlights that broadcasters and traditional players can easily capture a share of the market by leveraging their recognized brand and providing OTT content to consumers across a number of jurisdictions outside their home market.