This is TV

This is TV

2

IntroductionWhat is TV? For many years, the answer was simple. A square box plugged into a wall that showcased linear programming. Today, the answer is a lot more complicated. From smartphones to set top boxes, the family room couch to the airport, live to Video-on-Demand… and everything in between. Viewers no longer exclusively think of TV as a couch-bound activity. They now see TV as a multi-screen experience that lets them watch on whatever, wherever, and whenever it is most convenient. It’s all TV to them, regardless of whether it comes from the cloud or through a cord.

In this white paper you will learn about the key technologies needed to not only meet this ‘every screen’ expectation, but to exceed it. In other words, to make today’s untethered television viewing experience even better than that of a traditional TV set …from both a viewer and business standpoint.

Changes in Content ConsumptionFor many years, viewers were principally served their TV in one course: live-linear broadcasting. TV programs were scheduled to air at specific time slots, whether they were live or produced in advance. If you wanted to watch “The Simpsons” in 1989, you had to visit Fox’s local channel at 8 pm, Sunday night. In the last decade, however, viewers were introduced to Video-on-Demand (VoD) and gained access to a catalog of episodes that they could watch at ‘anytime’ via their cable subscription package. If you wanted to watch The Simpsons in 2005, you could still watch the latest episode on Fox at 8 pm or instead watch an older episode through a set top box at 11:45 am, Tuesday morning. Today, technology now permits viewers to consume both forms of content whenever and wherever it’s most convenient via a variety of devices. You can now use Fox’s “Simpsons World” app to watch the latest episode (yes, it’s still running after 25 years), older episodes, and further engage with the show through interactive features such as social media sharing and trivia.

Today, however, there are even more options that media companies can provide to their consumers. Incorporating ‘start over’ and ‘catch-up’ viewing combine the excitement of ‘the latest episode’ with the convenience of being able to watch it whenever the viewer wants. With start over, you can tune into a live broadcasting of a show 10 minutes late and start the show over. With catch-up, you can completely miss its live broadcasting and watch it two hours later. With these two new ways to deliver TV content, a viewer no longer has to wait several hours or even days for the latest episode of a show to appear in VoD. thePlatform’s mpx Replay lets media companies easily add start over and catch-up to the TV menu. Designed to be a simple, lights-out workflow through one centralized video management system, mpx Replay lets media companies enter metadata and business policies once and automatically applies them as content transitions from linear channels to start over to catch-up to VoD.

This is TV

3

Advanced AdvertisingWith the advent of DVRs and VoD, subscribers have been delaying their viewing more and more. Although live broadcasting continues to be an essential part of the overall TV experience, recent research shows that there is a growing trend to delay viewing for up to seven days after a broadcast initially takes place.1 Unfortunately, monetizing this ‘time-shifted’ viewing with advertising requires a few compromises for media companies.

Nielsen, the primary way to measure a broadcast’s audience size in the U.S. and Canada, only factors in views during the first three days (C3) in the U.S. and seven days (C7) in Canada after a broadcast originally airs when determining a show’s success. In order to get Nielsen ratings for each eligible day, the delayed viewing needs to include the broadcast’s original ad-load and ID3 tags with Nielsen watermarks to track viewing activity. In order to monetize the days beyond Nielsen’s three/seven-day window, media companies have to replace the original ad load of the broadcast with dynamic advertising. Since the original broadcast ad structure is not used, a program does not get Nielsen ratings.

That said, measuring the success of a program and its advertising via Nielsen will soon take a step forward. In the fall of 2014, Nielsen and Adobe jointly announced the impending arrival of “Digital Content Ratings” (DCR) in 2015. Once it officially launches, DCR will be the industry’s first cross-platform system for measuring online TV viewing, in addition to other types of content, and will ultimately deliver analytics and currency-grade content metrics to help media companies make smarter advertising decisions.2

For views beyond the C3/C7 window, the technology to optimize advertising has already arrived. Through dynamic ad insertion (DAI) and a strong campaign management system, media companies can better target and track the effectiveness of advertising for delayed views in 2015. With DAI, ads are dynamically inserted into a VoD, program, live event or linear channel at segment breaks. Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system may further enhance the advertising’s effectiveness. A media company can better analyze the demographics behind content consumption and choose targeted ads that are more likely to resonate with viewers. For example, a stay-at-home mom decided to watch an episode of CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” (daytime’s #1 drama) from last season via VoD at 10:34 am, Tuesday morning. While watching, the pay TV provider used DAI to show her baby care, cleaning, and cosmetics commercials, rather than say, auto care, gaming, and fast food commercials.

1 “As DVR Shifts TV Habits, Ratings Calculations Follow,” Brian Stelter, New York Times, October 2013.2 “Adobe and Nielsen to Create Industry’s First Comprehensive Measurement Platform for Digital Content” by Nielsen, October 21, 2014.

10:34 am 11:12 am

This is TV

4

Programmatic video advertising platforms (software-driven automation as opposed to real-time bidding) will be the next toolset to make the ad selection and insertion process more efficient for media companies. By broadening the base of companies buying online TV commercials served through programmatic, they can increase the effectiveness of dynamically inserted advertising. So much so, in fact, that some analysts are predicting that a few media companies with programmatic advertising platforms will start guaranteeing performance metrics in 2015.3 However, media companies are also wary of programmatic advertising’s potential downside – that it might eventually commoditize inventory, drive pricing down, and ultimately lower advertising profit margins. Whether media companies are interested in Nielsen and Adobe’s DCR, DAI, CRM, programmatic advertising, or all the above, thePlatform has an extensive network of advertising partners that can help media companies optimize their video advertising initiatives.

Integrating Video Business ModelsTo maximize revenue, media companies have developed sophisticated windowing strategies. This can include TV Everywhere, rentals, purchase, and over-the-top subscriptions:

■ TV Everywhere – TV Everywhere enables pay TV subscribers to receive authenticated access to a number of different cable or broadcast offerings based on their pay TV subscription level.

■ Rentals and Pay-Per-View – Rentals (sometimes referred to as TVOD, or transactional Video-on-Demand) are non-recurring viewing options. A rental gives a viewer temporary access to pay TV content, such as 24 hour access to Matthew McConaughey’s latest movie. Or access to a one-time event, like a boxing match.

■ Purchase – Also known as electronic sell-through (EST), a purchase gives the viewer permanent access to pay TV content (being able to watch “Interstellar” every day if so inclined).

■ Over-the-Top (OTT) Subscriptions – With OTT subscriptions, media companies may offer both traditional TV subscriptions (these are primarily associated with linear channels) and VoD subscriptions (they provide access to only VoD content). An OTT subscription can be with a single programmer (CBS launched an OTT offering in 2014 and HBO announced plans for OTT offerings in 2015), or with an aggregator like Netflix or Hulu.

Each of the above business models is content agnostic, so a media company can apply each window as appropriate to movies, TV shows, and events. Although versatile from a business standpoint, this siloed approach is not so convenient for the viewer. Let’s say a viewer wants to watch their favorite show via a broadcaster’s website. The most current episode is available for free as an ad-supported program. The preceding four episodes require a TV Everywhere authentication and may be on another section of the site. The first few episodes of the current season can’t be found at all. And for last season, the broadcaster will likely send the viewer for a season pass to iTunes, Amazon or maybe Netflix. Different access policies, siloed sites (even foreign websites), and apps are all in store for the viewer.

A better strategy, for both media companies and viewers, is one that takes an integrated approach. Instead of segregating content by their different pay windows, it should all be consolidated into one

3 “Why 2015 is video advertising’s breakout year” by Tod Sacerdoti, BrightRoll, January 4, 2015.

This is TV

5

discovery experience. Media companies should try to make it as easy as possible for a viewer to find the content they are looking for. Showing a viewer all content options available in one user interface (UI) view will greatly reduce their search time and encourage them to consume more content since they might be seeing content that they would have otherwise missed during a search through multiple silos. One site or app that provides access to the show or movie during every relevant window, including ad-supported, TV Everywhere and selling a Season Pass, is the best strategy for keeping fans happy and the audience growing. mpx’s Advanced Commerce can help media companies integrate these business silos and gain more control over how they package, market, and monetize their programs. It provides extensive support to enable viewers to purchase content via different pricing models, including subscriptions, rentals, and purchases.

Better Content DiscoveryAs touched on in the previous section, enabling viewers to discover the content they want to watch the most is paramount. Through the years, viewers have primarily relied on some form of a TV guide to help them quickly find something good to watch. ‘Quick’ is a relative term, however. Thirty years ago, leafing through a printed TV guide was considered quick relative to blindly flipping through a series of channels. Twenty years ago, checking out the dedicated TV guide channel was more convenient than hunting down a rumpled print version. Ten years ago, clicking through a catalog of VoD offerings superseded live-linear broadcasting altogether as the quickest way to find something specific. Today, there are now many ways that viewers can quickly discover content; through guides, catalogs, search, and an assortment of ‘personalization’ features that put a viewer’s favorite TV programs and movies right up front in the UI. A few popular personalization features include bookmarking, which follows the progress of a viewing session and lets the viewer pause on one device and resume on a different device; recommendation engines, which track viewing history and recommend similar content (although different recommendation engines work better for different types of content); and social media integrations that make it easy to see what others enjoyed watching.

Although content discovery has come a long way in the last 30 years, it still has a long way to go. It still takes time; sometimes a lot of time, to review all the different content options available, to choose something to watch, and to actually start watching. In 2015, media companies should make it a goal to reduce this time to first watch. There are two ways they can accomplish this: (1) reduce the number of content silos a viewer has to wade through and (2) improve their UI. All content offerings (both subscription and transactional) of a specific actor, director, genre, etc. should be in one convenient experience for a viewer to review. In other words, a viewer should be offered one big silo of Matthew McConaughey

This is TV

6

content rather than several smaller silos based on linear channels, VoD, and the rental windows. And, although UIs are successfully putting favored content in the front row, center of a viewer’s attention today,4 the perfect UI still does not exist. Yet. A media company needs to treat the UI as a work-in-progress. New features should be tried, what works or doesn’t should be tracked, and amendments should be made on a regular basis. thePlatform understands the importance of content discovery and an adaptable UI. In addition to a robust set of REST-based APIs that permit easy updates to an mpx-powered UI, thePlatform also provides a Ways to Watch service that uses robust metadata connections to give viewers the ability to search, discover, and quickly view the content they care the most about.

Know Your AudienceKnowing your viewers goes hand-in-hand with reducing the time it takes for them to find what they want to watch the most. By studying their individual demographics and observing how viewing preferences change over time, a media company will have more success at serving a menu of content that the audience will be inclined to consume. And the more content is discovered and consumed, the more it can be monetized. Today, media companies can get to know their viewers multiple ways. They can track the frequency of a viewer’s online subscription viewing through their anonymous TV Everywhere ID. They can see what types of content a viewer purchases through their commerce activity. And, they can review a viewer’s viewing history. All of this valuable viewer information is now readily available to most media companies.

However, without a strong CRM or identity management system, this information is not easily analyzed and acted upon. A strong CRM system tracks all of these viewer insights, performs the analysis, and provides helpful observations that can be used to generate a custom pay TV experience for the viewer. This experience might include targeted advertising; promotions (such as rent two movies, get one free); quick content discovery (such as recommending past seasons of The Simpsons); and a UI that reduces the time it takes to start watching a video (such as letting a viewer pause their favorite show on their iPad and resume watching on their iPhone). In the months ahead, custom user experiences based on CRM information will make for a more satisfying viewing experience and a more successful pay TV business. The mpx Identity Service makes integrating and working with CRM systems a straightforward task, allowing media companies and pay TV operators to keep personally identifiable information independent of mpx.

Strong Back-End Video SystemUnderlying all the key technologies outlined above is a flexible and reliable back-end video publishing and management system. Few industries are evolving faster than pay TV, and a video system needs to be able to keep up with the rapidly changing expectations of viewers and to permit a media company to easily try new ways to maximize monetization opportunities. It also needs to be able to accommodate the ebb and flow of viewer traffic, both anticipated and not anticipated.

4 “The Ultimate Challenge for Recommendation Engines” by arXiv, MIT Technology Review, Aug. 25, 2014.

©2015 thePlatform, LLC. All rights reserved. thePlatform, thePlatform for Media, Inc., “Media Publishing System,” “mps,” “mpx,” and thePlatform circle logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of thePlatform for Media, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Rev.: 01/2015

1000 Second Avenue, Suite 1000 Seattle, WA 98104 theplatform.comNorth America: sales@theplatform.com Asia/Pacific: APACsales@theplatform.com EMEA: EMEAsales@theplatform.com 7

RESOURCESthePlatform’s Technical Resource Center:

https://help.theplatform.com/

thePlatform’s white papers and case studies:

http://www.theplatform.com/solutions

Have a comment on this paper?

whitepapers@theplatform.com

mpx has been used by the world’s leading media companies to power unique, compelling, and value-generating TV businesses for over a decade. From media upload to distributing content to websites and all types of devices, there isn’t an aspect of online TV technology that thePlatform hasn’t touched. This experience, coupled with our service-level agreement of 99.99% availability for consumer-facing services, service-oriented architecture, open APIs, and 24x7 customer support all makes mpx an enterprise-class system that can be relied on.

As the industry’s leading back-end video publishing and management system, mpx can fully support today’s TV experience. Through one seamless system, media companies and pay TV operators can:

■ Use mpx Replay to deliver new forms of content; ■ Make their advertising more effective with thePlatform’s advertising policies and broad advertising

partner network; ■ Easily test and adopt new business models with Advanced Commerce; ■ Help viewers quickly discover the content they want to watch the most with Ways to Watch; ■ Deliver a customized and more satisfying viewing experience with mpx Identity Service; and ■ Rest assured knowing that mpx is an enterprise-class system that will reliably work.

ConclusionMedia companies need to have the ability to improve their advertising, windowing, content discovery, and viewer relationships. Why? Because it is the new baseline in offering today’s TV. To meet the ever-increasing expectations of viewers and to capture all the opportunities to come with TV’s increasing popularity across lots of devices, media companies and pay TV operators need to have a back-end video system they can both easily work with and truly rely on. mpx can help media companies meet this baseline and even raise the bar of what TV is today. This is TV, only better.

Please feel free to give us a call to learn more about how we can help you with your back-end video publishing and management solution:

Toll Free: 1 (877) 436-7940