Monetisation is front and centre
Monetisation is front and centre
At the end of each year, several publications like to take a look at current and future trends, exploring how the market is evolving and what to look out for. The end of 2023 was no different but what really struck us here at Jump, when working with our clients to bring their thoughts to the fore, were two things. One, the key word was ‘monetisation’. Yes, it took us by surprise a little, too, but we’ll come back to this shortly. The other was the sheer scale of change across the industry in multiple ways.
One would have thought monetisation was always front and centre, and, behind the scenes the financials are clearly always paramount – the bottom line is the bottom line. The fact that it was clearly a huge topic of conversation right across the industry – open, reality-based conversation – was refreshing to see.
One topic that arose repeatedly is the sheer number of services available to consumers, the cost of those – combined with a very significant cost-of-living crisis – and then the associated turbulence in the ad spend world. The boom growth in OTT services, and the benefit they gained from pandemic-driven lockdowns, disguised wider issues in terms of payment models, valuable content spread across multiple platforms and the question of where live content – sports, essentially – fits in to those models. From a consumer perspective, there’s too much choice at too higher a cost, compounded by that feeling of sitting down, skimming through an EPG and finding nothing to watch or, rather, not being able to easily identify what to watch.
But streaming services – live and on-demand – are clearly the future and they have a huge advantage over traditional linear TV in terms of analytics for advertisers. In fact, that data advantage should extend across recommendation engines but, at the moment, that advantage is not being fully realised because those engines simply aren’t good enough. AI must surely have a role to play here.
This is the world in which new Jump client Simplestream operates as a provider of next-generation TV solutions across streaming services. We’re working with them on a whole range of subject areas to help broadcasters, rights holders/federations, event organisers and so on to better understand this market sector.
There has been a move away from subscription models (SVOD) to ad models (AVOD) and hybrid solutions. We think the consumer would likely be happier with a pay-per-item/series model (possibly under an overall subscription of a minimal amount per month/year). One – quite out there – possibility is to follow a model used in the US second hand car market where one platform – AutoTempest – aggregates all the content from every used car site under one umbrella.
Looking more widely at the huge technology changes the industry is currently embracing adds to the complex nature of this sector. The move to the cloud across contribution, production processes and playout is clearly a paradigm shift. Using the cloud brings huge advantages, breaking the shackles of linear workflows once and for all via remote and distributed production models.
The notion of being able to create more freely extends across the production sector. As our client Steve Wind-Mozley, CMO, LiveU, wrote in one trends article, “LiveU hasn’t spoken to many customers who have told us their content budgets have grown, but we have spoken to many who need to shorten their workflows by removing complexity so they can reduce the time, cost and effort between capturing content and playing it out. This ultimately leads to the production of more engaging content. Lightweight workflows are allowing creators to bring a more diverse range of stories to a highly distributed set of audiences. This has led to news, sports and event coverage that was previously deemed uneconomical to produce now being brought to market, serving a wider range of viewers with content they crave.”
And then there’s the wider move to IP workflows right across the board, something we seem to have been writing about for at least a decade but is now an ever-increasing reality. Writing about it is complex enough; actually deploying it is clearly a huge undertaking but one with which comes significant rewards. On the audio side, our client Calrec has been, and is, heavily involved in a whole range of IP installs around the world and has taken a leading position across the protocol, helping educate customers – existing and potential – to understand the value proposition while not shying away from explaining the challenges.
What’s also been interesting to note is the cross-pollination between the broadcast industry and the AV sector. Technologies like NDI, across which Rascular is a key player, are helping bridge that divide. Having said that, from all the conversations we’ve had, the sales models vary greatly between the two sectors.
What is absolutely clear is in a time of great change, your company’s voice needs to be heard and heard clearly, from your website to your socials; articles to press releases and beyond. We are here to help so get in touch and we’ll chat through the possibilities.