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Whole Fish and Whole Stuffed Lobster

The Chef’s Kitchen is at Nordon Preferred Kitchens Equipment Studios with Chef Tony Clark, who will be making a Whole Red Snapper, a three-pound Stuffed Lobster, and roasted vegetables. Nordon, PKE’s Corporate Chef Mark Seyboth describes the benefits of the Electrolux Combi Oven.

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Pay TV Is Rising Globally But Declining In The US

As cord-cutting has grown exponentially, it’s no secret that OTT services and networks have outshined cable, satellite, and pay TV networks. This is especially true for states across the US; OTT continues to grow as pay TV declines. However, data analysts have noted that there are still many parts of the world where pay TV is still growing at a fast pace, but not nearly as much as OTT.

Around The World

In many countries around the world, pay TV is predominantly used, as OTT networks are preferred in other regions. On a global scale, Digital Pay TV subscriptions, such as cable, satellite, and IPTV, are still on the rise. At the end of 2017, pay TV reached 1 billion in sales. Even though that is a substantial number, OTT services are still growing more profitable.

The Asia-Pacific region of the world is responsible for 83% of pay TV network subscriptions–most of which are driven by the IPTV growth within China. In addition to this data, researchers noted that the spike in smartphone usage and other improvements made in the mobile network has spurred a drive in OTT network subscriptions that was three times as many as pay TV, proving that no matter the region of the world and the usage of pay TV they contribute to, OTT networks are still surpassing them.

In Western Europe, subscriptions to OTT networks have gained traction even faster than the US and the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, for every newly purchased pay TV subscription, there were eight OTT subscriptions being matched. Currently, Central and Eastern Europe have a pay TV and OTT subscription scale that are equal to one another. However, with the constant updates being made to smartphones, tablets, and other devices, researchers are confident that OTT services will start to increase more in those two areas.

In The U.S

In the US there are still many consumers who use pay TV services. However, of those consumers, nearly 55% claim that the only reason they invest in pay TV services is due to the broadband plan that’s bundled into their service. Since cord-cutting became popular in the US, there has been a significant decline in the use of pay TV, including cable and satellite.

By the end of 2017, media analysts noted a decrease in digital pay TV by 3 million US homes. In light of this decline, OTT soared by 30 million. In a digital media trend survey conducted by Deloitte, analysts discovered that more than half of households in the United States are currently subscribed to a variety of OTT networks.

In addition to these results, the researchers of Deloitte also discovered that 55% of their participants subscribe to at least one video streaming service. In this discovery, data shows that this is actually a 450% increase since 2009. Additionally, Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends showed that the average US OTT customer is paying for approximately 3 different  OTT platforms.

In total, US consumers have contributed to a $2 billion monthly average on streaming services. While this number is sure to increase, pay TV is taking quite the hit in the US. Currently, pay TV subscriptions declined to 63% of households that were once held at 75% in 2017. According to IHS Market, for every new subscription to a pay TV network, there were three more subscriptions for OTT services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc (source)..

To break down their results even further, Deloitte even looked at the number of hours spent watching streaming content. They found that the average American watches approximately 38 hours of video content each week. Of that, 39% is through streaming networks. Deloitte also notes that nearly half of US consumers stream TV content every single day, contributing to an 11% increase in over a year.

Why OTT Is Forcing Traditional TV To Evolve

In light of the rapid expansion of OTT services, many operators are reviewing and revising their pay-TV strategies with much haste. The goals of many of these operators are to create pay-TV strategies that will match the integrity of a majority of OTT networks.

Pay TV Subscribers Dropping Rapidly

With the boom in cord-cutting, many analysts have noticed a significant decrease in the number of pay-TV subscriptions that are being purchased by consumers within the past two years. Though the United States has shown staggering results in cord-cutting, so have countries across the globe.

Since 2015, Asian markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore have shown sizable drops in pay-TV subscriptions. Within the first year, these markets experienced a 4% drop and in the second there was a 9% drop. With this in mind, analysts believe that the drop in pay-TV is only going to increase as the years progress.

Main Factors Contributing To Fall of Traditional TV

  • More sports channels are being offered on a variety of OTT services.
  • The amount and variety of original content from OTT services is growing exponentially.

Unexpectedly, levels of piracy and video streaming on unofficial sites have increased significantly. Though this sounds very counterintuitive, unfortunately, it’s very true. For example, before and during season 7 of Game of Thrones, reportedly each episode was pirated 140 million times with 32 million views that were streamed legally. However, researchers believe that many of those who pirated the episodes of Game of Thrones were owners of pay-TV subscriptions who don’t have access to the channels such as HBO due to affordability. It’s only a matter of time before they cut the cord and invest in an OTT streaming network that will provide them with all the shows they want.

Decreased Profitability From Traditional TV

So, with OTT services increasing more and more each month, pay-TV operators are put in a very tricky position. They are left with very limited flexibility to properly sustain their profitability (source). With the decrease in pay-TV customers and revenue, there’s also a significant decrease in operating costs. However, although TV content in one of the largest costs for pay-TV operators, most premium content contracts are constructed in the form of lump-sum payments. Ultimately, this will reduce the operators’ profitability come time when both subscribers and revenue take a fall. In addition to the content costs, operators must also think about the high costs of broadcasting. To keep up with the OTT trend, operators must consider the options of investing even more in their broadcasting capabilities. For example, by investing more in broadcasting, they will be able to better support 4K transmission of channels. Unfortunately, this happens to be a sizeable investment that must be made and many companies are having a hard time justifying it since their revenue is not nearly as high as it used to be.

A Revised Strategy

With that in mind, operators are leaning towards a strategy that will completely change their business model, resulting in increased revenue and cost. Innovation is the key here, and operators from cable/satellite TV companies around the world are looking for the next best business model that will tower over OTT and bring their revenue up to a more profitable level. Let’s take a look at some of the possible models they may initiate:

  • The integration of live TV, VOD, and cloud DVR.
  • Reducing prices and offering more affordable bundles.
  • Adopting an OTT model.
  • Partnering with OTT companies.

Though these seem like feasible business plans that could induce profits, researchers believe that it might be too late in the game for them. Since the creation of networks like Netflix and Hulu, there has been a multitude of high-quality OTT services that presented themselves to customers. If operators from pay-TV services want a taste of the revenue built from OTT content, then they would really have to create a business model that is new, and exceeds any that already exist; truly a difficult task. With cord-cutting and OTT services growing more and more popular, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for networks outside this elite realm.

OTT Continues To Innovate In 2018

In 2017, media analysts saw a significant surge in TV streaming services and as we transition into 2018, consumer growth is expected to increase even more. eMarketer predicts that approximately 181.5 million US consumers will use connected TVs once a month at the least, which comes out to over 55% of the US population. Additionally, eMarketer researchers believe that by the time we reach 2021, this number will jump to 194.4 million, increasing to over 58% of the US population (source).

OTT Content Is Putting Pressure ON Traditional TV To Conform

Not only are OTT services changing the way consumers watch TV, it is completely reshaping the television industry while making room for growth and innovation. Since OTT services and providers have given consumers access to unique ways to stream their favorite media on any device at any time–not to mention, at a cheaper cost–more and more TV providers are searching for ways to keep up with such a high level of competition. However, the expansion of IP-delivered media content has actually transformed distribution models while modifying consumer viewing practices as well as advertising means. Since the rise and domination of OTT services, cable and satellite companies have begun to introduce their versions of OTT streaming services.

The Innovation of Advertising

In addition to the growth of OTT services and the innovations they are putting in place as their consumer market continues to expand, more changes are being made to the TV industry in an effort to keep up and conform. For example, advertising efforts have had to adapt to OTT services throughout the years in order to continue to thrive–which they have. Many advertising agencies have carefully monitored the growth in the OTT audience in order to adapt and conform their marketing procedures to match the engagement involved in OTT streaming services. Advertisers have even created new analytic tools that allow them to target OTT audiences with great accuracy, as well as measure the effectivity of a certain campaign they ran on an OTT service. All these efforts allow agencies to better educate themselves in the intricacies of OTT advertising. As time goes on, you’ll find that more and more advertising agencies will start to perfect the art of OTT advertising campaigns.

A Better Experience For Consumers

As the world of OTT continues to grow and expand, research analysts believe that more efforts will be made to improve the overall OTT consumer experience. Since more and more viewers tend to binge-watch their favorite shows, there’s a higher expectation in ads to match their preferences, and to even be shown less frequently–not many viewers enjoy being interrupted by an advertisement, especially one that doesn’t pertain to their interests. With that being said, analysts discovered that many streaming services market the same ads over and over again, all in the same viewing session. This common occurrence has led to low results in overall customer experience; something that these networks need to adjust in months to come. With such high levels of competition in the OTT market, there’s really no room for mistakes.

As time goes on in 2018, media analysts are quite intrigued by the results that will yield in the OTT market. If one thing is certain, the OTT market is still on an upward trend and is likely to grow even more as the years progress.

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Cord Cutting Took Off in 2017 And Continues To Expand

In 2017, plenty of people grew sick and tired of paying through the nose for basic cable subscriptions. Once the simplicity and affordability of OTT services presented itself, consumers were more than ready to cut ties with their cable or satellite TV company and jump on the OTT bandwagon. How could you blame them?

The thought of high-quality streaming services at a low and affordable price is an alluring option for almost everyone. Not to mention, consumers would be given the opportunity to stream ANY TV show, movie, or media form that wanted from the comfort of their home or while they were on the go.

The versatility and flexibility of OTT streaming services truly knows no bounds. With the cord-cutting trend skyrocketing in 2017, researchers believe that this trend with only continue to expand as we pass through 2018.

How The Ball Got Rolling

In 2016, the traditional cable and satellite TV companies lost approximately 1.7 million subscribers, and in September of 2017, that number swelled to 2.6 million. All of whom switched to an OTT streaming alternative shortly after (source). Though these numbers are still fluctuating (decreasing in the case of traditional TV), there are currently 94 million US consumers that pay for traditional TV services and 3.5 million consumers that use OTT services. Researchers believe that the number of OTT service users is only going to increase in the next few years.

2017 left many notorious cable companies in the lurch when a significant amount of their customers canceled their subscription to explore the more affordable option of OTT streaming networks. The VOD (video on demand) services that these OTT services provide set the overall tone of the cord-cutting trend. From there, many other OTT provides have come out of the woodwork and sold their own unique forms of video streaming services for an affordable monthly subscription. However, with this sudden drop in profit, cable companies scrambled to come up with their own OTT services in order to keep up with the competition.

However, cable companies are backing down yet. Though there have been many attempts to create their own versions of OTT networks, cable companies are determined to be the number one service for US media consumers. Now, many cable and satellite TV companies are pouring all their efforts into creating faster high-speed internet networks to compel their customers into staying with their subscription. Only time will tell if that tactic will prove to be successful.

Cord Cutting Is Here To Stay

Although cord-cutting started off as a popular trend within the Millennial community, more and more generations are starting to join in. OTT services have even broadened their reach to baby boomer generation. Nonetheless, cord cutting is still mainly popular within younger generations due to the dependency it has on advanced technology. With this in mind, the pay-TV market is only estimated to decrease while cord-cutting continues to surge.

TV Advertising Is Gaining Steam Again Through OTT Content

Cord-cutting has grown steadily over the past few years and exponentially in recent months. With the continuous production of smart TV’s and accessories that allow consumers to stream their favorite shows right on their TV screen, cable companies, TV networks, and other advertising agencies are adapting and mainstreaming to this new way of media streaming.

In particular, brand advertising is taking on a new strategy that will allow them to utilize this new technology trend and make their advertisements and commercials more consistent and concurrent with OTT standards. Most importantly, advertisers have set the goal to not only create high-performing advertisements that fit the protocol of OTT but to have these advertisements be interactive, as well.

How Advertisers Can Utilize OTT Content 

In the 2017 Innovid’s Global Video Benchmark Report, research showed that interactive video significantly exceeds and performs much more efficiently than pre-roll video in categories such as completion rate, timed earned, and user activity (source). With that being said, through the use of OTT, marketing agencies will have the ability to create advertisements that directly target specific individuals. With advertisements that are both interactive and viewer-specific, viewer engagement is predicted to only increase since it encourages consumers to click through to the website. Many of these interactive ads include overlays, additional videos, image galleries, branded microsites, and much more.

Additionally, using advertising strategies that are congruent with OTT platforms and have interactive characteristics will help to increase value and create higher benchmarks in comparison to standard ads that are not interactive and reach a general audience rather than a specific one. Basically, ads that are run on standard cable at random are really based off of the careful guesswork of market researchers. Of course, this guesswork was created through the means of control groups and (random) studies; however, many times ads were created and further published in the hopes of reaching out to a specific demographic and have that demographic be engaged with the content they are advertising. In reality, it was a lot of guesswork that was proved to be successful a while. That is, until advancements were made and the way consumers viewed their favorite shows began to change.

Interactive Ads Make the Difference

Continuing with the benefits of OTT advertising, if marketers can stick to these guidelines and create interactive, user-specific ads for OTT purposes, agencies would be looking at a 561% increase in total user activity. As if those statistics weren’t enough, OTT advertising content would also allow for marketers to efficiently measure its performance at the same time it’s running. Based on its rating and success rate, marketers could then make adjustments where they are needed and release the improved versions of these ads that will generate more viewer interactivity and leads.

Due to easily accessible delivery channels and marketing information, advertising agencies will be able to create interactive ads that increase engagement time, improves return on investments (ROIs), and is viewer-specific. Some marketing companies are even creating ads that allow them the ability to produce certain campaigns that can narrow in on specific consumer preferences and even engage in personal conversations with the customers who are watching giving a whole new aspect and roll to the world of marketing.

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Roku’s New Streaming Devices

In the beginning of October, Roku made a major announcement regarding their newest line of hardware products completed with a new software update for consumer TV’s running the Roku operating system. In total, Roku has several new streaming devices ranging from entry-level to high-end players that consumers can’t wait to get their hands on.

A Look Into Roku’s New OTT Devices

The Roku Ultra

The first in the lineup of Roku’s new OTT devices is the Roku Ultra. This handy gadget has many features such as 4K and HDR compatibility, as well as both a microSD card slot and USB port. In addition to these features, the Roku Ultra has ethernet ports in the event users want to connect their Roku device to a hard line cable due to a suboptimal WiFi connection .

The Roku Ultra is a highly rated OTT device that packs quite the punch. This new tool was designed for consumers who have their own home theater setup, but can also be used in any room within one’s home.

The Roku Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus

Unlike the Ultra, the Stick Plus does not require the use of a box that’s equipped with ethernet ports, USB ports, or HDMI slots. The Stick Plus, alone, is a whole new type of wireless receiver. The Stick Plus can successfully stream any type of 4K content, as well as HDR content.

In addition to the Stick Plus, buyers will receive an external WiFi antenna that will assist in streaming TV media from a distance without having to come across buffering issues that can result from poor connections.

The standard Streaming Stick does not include the WiFi antenna or the 4K and HDR content streaming option. The latest and greatest Streaming Stick comes with a high-speed processor, standard Roku remote, and has voice control features.

The Roku Express and Express Plus

The Roku Express is a miniature box that is placed under the TV and provides customers with standard HD streaming.

The Express Plus version has all the features of the Express but with the option to connect the Roku to the TV by composite cables instead of HDMI.

As OTT grows stronger and more popular as the years, devices like the Roku will continue to evolve to match the demand.

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Faster Internet Is Contributing to OTT Expansion in India

broadband internet

Recently, there has been a significant improvement and rapid increase in Internet speed across India that is resulting in the expansion of OTT content in the country. With faster and more widely available broadband speeds and the spread of OTT, industry experts expect there to be a major behavioral shift amongst the consumer population within India.

India’s OTT Growth

The delivery of video or media content via the Internet (OTT) has made a significant spike in popularity within India’s community of consumers.

In Akamai’s–a Cloud delivery platform–most recent internet report, it has been determined that the average internet speed has spiked from 3mbps to approximately 6.5mbps in about 18 months. In response to this report, Vamshi Reddy, the CEO and founder of Apalya Technologies divulged, “The massive upsurge in 4G connections across new telcos and incumbents has powered this surge, which is reflected in a massive 6X leap in data consumption at 1.3 billion GB per month” (Source). In Reddy’s opinion, the surge in data consumption, mixed with more cost-efficient data plans, and better 4G speed, will ultimately lead to a higher utilization of OTT content.

Although India’s internet speed is still a third of the global average, researchers believe that OTT content will only grow and expand as time goes on. In fact, market researchers from Media Partners Asia have determined that the OTT market within India is projected to hit the 10 million monthly user mark by the time we reach the year 2020. Additionally, with this future possibility, content creators across the country have made it a priority to focus their work on developing smartphone-specific content that will likely generate the behavioral shift within India’s half a billion consumers that was previously predicted to occur by researchers.

Although India’s Internet speed isn’t great in comparison to other countries, researchers claim that India has already far exceeded the US’s estimations of Internet growth. The IAMAI, Internet and Mobile Association of India, claims that the number of Internet users in mid-2016 was averaged at 462 million. Of the 462 million, over 300 million were estimated to Internet access via mobile devices–i.e. Smartphones.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality

Additionally, it seems like Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality might be aiding in the surge of OTT content growth, as well.

With the constant changes being made to Virtual Reality options, developers believe that in a very short amount of time, VR tools will be created that will be compatible with OTT services; completely changing the way consumers view media content.

Alongside VR, is Artificial Intelligence’s effect on OTT growth. Vamshi Reddy explains that AI will have the ability to determine the type of content that is being viewed more often, what content is not selling, and the type of content that investors should secure their money with. Eventually, with enough research, development and technology advancements, Reddy is confident that technologies such as VR and AI will soon become a very important component to the world of OTT services and providers, not just in India, but globally.

The Future for OTT Content In India

Alongside Reddy’s hopes and predictions for the growth of OTT throughout India, Abhesh Verma, Chief Operating Officer of nexGTV, has a few of his own. Verma strongly believes that OTT will thrive within India in years to come due to the new dependency we have on tech-driven, digital products. Verma explains that throughout the years, as technology has changed and thrived, India has strived to meet these adjustments. Now, it’s to the point where India can proudly consider themselves a mobile-first economy, with the constant availability of smartphones to allow their population to take part in all the wonders that OTT services have to offer.

OTT and B2B Marketing

b2b marketing

It’s no secret that the TV industry has completely evolved from the outdated cable and satellite to the high-in-demand OTT streaming services. Consumers went from purchasing cable boxes to searching for the latest and greatest TV-connected devices in just a few short years. In fact, nearly 50% of households today, stream a form of OTT content.

As for B2B marketers, this growth in interest for OTT networks is quite intriguing to them. It’s so perplexing that they are looking to test it out. Of course, with OTT’s vast versatility, it offers plenty of accessibility to B2B marketers to experiment.

Can OTT Be Useful for B2B Marketers?

B2B is a shortened way of saying business-to-business. It can also be referred to as e-biz, but in all, this term describes products, services, and information that is exchanged between businesses. With that being said, B2B marketers are researching whether OTT can be useful to them. Here’s what they found:

Accessibility is a major pro when it comes to OTT services. Marketers found that:

  • A large TV ad agency isn’t really necessary when trying to accomplish premium content buy.
  • Since OTT has much lower CPMs, the minimum amount that is required for a test won’t exceed the budget
  • Targeted ad displays are easy to construct and have the ability to re-engage already viewed OTT content through ads that steer customers back to the site while the company acquires lower-funnel KPIs.

Additionally, B2B marketers determined that in only a short time, OTT will progress to the point where consumers will have the ability to access different and additional content–product galleries, longer-form video–simply from their remotes. This means that brand awareness and consumer engagement is soon to vastly broaden.

Marketers recommend that other B2B marketers run plenty of tests that measure the impact that OTT has on their specific audiences and their reactions to the corresponding display ads.

The Future For OTT B2B Marketing Is Bright

With more time to build metrics and measure trends versus gaps, more advancements will be made to the word of OTT; that includes major advancements in the field of advertising as well. Additionally, the opportunity for granularity and reaching targeted audiences will only grow stronger and more prevalent. With a little time and patience, OTT from an advertising standpoint will soon flourish.

Streaming Content – More Popular Than Ever With Youth

With OTT services growing popular as the time progresses, more and more studies are being conducted to show its rate of progression and what it may mean to cable and satellite TV companies. However, all of these studies have one thing in common: they all allude to the fact that watching TV live just may be a thing of the past.

The Young and The Restless

In a study conducted by Adobe Digital, research showed that nearly two-thirds of those under the age of 35 use OTT streaming services on a regular basis. The study also confirmed that approximately a quarter of consumers (under the age of 35) also jumped on the cord-cutting bandwagon and only watch their content through OTT streaming services.

Researchers are beginning to notice that the cord-cutting trend is vastly growing alongside another trend that is popular amongst a younger community of consumers: the binge-watching trend. This trend really took off when on-demand services and OTT platforms grew popular by giving viewers the option to watch as much as they want, when they want.

Binge-watching trend is most prominent in younger audiences. Research shows that over 50% of OTT consumers are between the ages of 13 and 22 and claim that they prefer to binge watch when streaming OTT. To counter, one-third of consumers over 35 claim to watch an episode a week of their favorite shows. However, when introduced to OTT platforms such as Netflix, more and more viewers were much more inclined to binge-watch their favorite shows.

Could it be that the start of the cord-cutting trend was a result of the ever-popular binge-watching phenomenon? Regardless of its origin, these two trends are definitely interconnected.

The Proliferation of Compatible Devices

Although the original OTT streaming platforms were designed for the TV, more and more services are compatible with devices such as game consoles, smartphones, and tablets. Even though there are still so many options to stream content on, TV screens still seem to be the number one preferred method. However, just under 60% of college and high school students prefer to watch OTT content on gaming devices, whereas young professionals and consumers aged 35 and up prefer their TV.

As OTT grows and expands, so does its consumer base. Now, more than ever, a younger generation of consumers are tuning in and binge-watching their favorite shows on all sorts of OTT platforms.