Why I watched Stranger Things on my fridge this weekend – how to keep your cool with device fragmentation

by Edward Norton, Digital Content Writer

Do you remember the last time you bought something that wasn’t a necessity? My partner told me it was a waste of money when I forked out for a smart fridge with a built-in touch screen that you can use to order your shopping or stream your favourite programme. “When are you going to watch tv on the fridge?!” was the main argument against it, but when my furry friend Jess knocked over our TV a few days ago, I could still stream my favourite programme on the fridge screen. Ok, maybe I watched the latest season of Stranger Things back-to-back on the fridge to prove a point, but this got me thinking about device fragmentation in the OTT industry. When you launch an OTT service now, do you stop at Smart TVs and games consoles, or do you really need to be everywhere… even the fridge?

Be where your customers are, but don’t milk it 🐄

 For the first time ever, streaming was more popular than both cable and broadcast TV in July, with a record 34.8% share of total television consumption (with an extra percentile increase predicted next month following my fridge viewing habits). Showing that audience viewing habits are leaning towards streaming, it’s important to be available where existing and potential customers want you to be. Mobile and Tablet both outrank Connected TV devices in viewing consumption habits, but only by a small percentage, so you would ideally want to be across all these devices with a full set of applications. Not being on the platform of choice for a potential viewer is as useful to them as an empty bottle of milk but being available everywhere isn’t sustainable unless it delivers ROI. The name of the game is prioritising the most popular platforms, with the option of expanding to the ones with the most potential for growth in the future. So, how do you know where your audience is?

User behaviour and seamless experiences 🌱🏃

Competition is rife for each audience member, so it’s crucial to be able to win them over with a consistent experience across all touchpoints. Whether they are accessing your service from their mobile or Smart TV, consistency is key. Actionable insights into viewer behaviour are where you'll be able to learn and deliver this for your customers, so having excellent insights and analytics integration with your platforms is a must. Similar to how my new fridge tells me I should throw out the celery bought 3 weeks ago before it grows legs and walks out, you should know which platforms need to stay or go to get the best value from your investment. 

Out-of-the-box applications 🧊 

Creating separate applications for each platform and device is the harsh reality faced by streaming and OTT providers, but it’s no reason to get frosty. Utilising an experienced technology partner to overcome this complexity and develop multi-platform apps is a simple way to diffuse your service in a saturated market. By using an out-of-the-box set of applications, you avoid the extensive QA process of developing from scratch and get tried and tested apps with a significantly reduced time to market.

Now If you’ll excuse me, I need to use my fridge to order a new TV. 📺

UNBOXED

Four trends to look out for at IBC2022 in September 

IBC2022 is just a couple of weeks away. What are the hottest trends to look for in Amsterdam? We rounded up our predictions on why you should meet us at our booth in Hall 5, #5.F54, to discuss:

💰 Advertising that moves fast

🏉 Sports OTT services of the future

➡️ Content aggregation and service bundling

💳 Hybrid monetisation models

If you are attending IBC2022, save the date. Our Technical Director, Ashley Horne, will be on stage on Sunday, 11th September, at 10:30 am, as part of the panel titled 'From SVOD to multi-dimensional business models'.

📍 Hall 5 - Content Everywhere Stage

🗓 Sunday 11th September, 10:30 am CET

SNIPPETS

😱 Did you know that over half of the UK population is currently using someone else's login details to access a streaming service? A survey recently commissioned by publisher LADbible Group has revealed that over 56% of 18-44-years-old in the UK (some 11.8 million people) are sharing access to SVOD platforms amid the growing cost of living crisis

🌍 However, some regions are on upwards trends when it comes to subscription-based streaming services. According to the Africa SVOD Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research, Africa will have 13.64 million paying SVOD subscriptions by 2027, up from 4.9 million at end-2021.