With a saturation of offerings caused by the launch of a growing number of platforms, traditional players in the Western European VOD market are seeing slowed growth meaning, says a Dataxis research note, that OTT services need to intensify their efforts to expand their user base and above all retain them.
The note stressed that in the face of this slow down, the launch of new platforms needs to be carefully planned to attract users seeing platforms turning towards telecommunication operators to benefit from their strong penetration rate and knowledge of national markets.
Indeed, Dataxis argued that while network agnosticism was at the heart of OTT disruption, it was now seeing a return of operators at the forefront of content distribution and pointed out that the recent launches of Paramount+ and Peacock illustrated this trend perfectly. That is, Peacock was taking advantage of Sky's networks in Europe to support its international expansion, while Paramount+ implemented 31 partnerships in 2021.
Dataxis added that these collaborations mainly take the form of bundles where OTT subscriptions are fully or partially sold by the operator at an agreed price and added to the customer’s mobile or broadband package charges. The OTT service is then integrated into the operator’s branded TV service, usually through a set-top box or pay- TV interface. This approach was seen as becoming more systematic for new entrants, as illustrated by HBO Max, but said Dataxis was already largely used by other well established platforms like Viaplay, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix which has partnerships with operators including Orange, Canal, Sky, Deutsche Telekom and Virgin Media.
Summing up why this is taking. place, Dataxis said strategy benefits not only the platforms but also the operators. Operators generally offer their customers aggregated packages, which are more attractive, thereby generating new subscriptions or achieving a better retention rate. It is also an opportunity for telecommunication companies to differentiate themselves from competitors in a context of increasing homogenisation of mobile and broadband services.
Dataxis predicted that as new platforms continue to emerge and competition increases in this already saturated market, it could can expect further partnerships to be concluded in the future to help users navigate in these plethoric content offers.
Indeed, Dataxis argued that while network agnosticism was at the heart of OTT disruption, it was now seeing a return of operators at the forefront of content distribution and pointed out that the recent launches of Paramount+ and Peacock illustrated this trend perfectly. That is, Peacock was taking advantage of Sky's networks in Europe to support its international expansion, while Paramount+ implemented 31 partnerships in 2021.
Dataxis added that these collaborations mainly take the form of bundles where OTT subscriptions are fully or partially sold by the operator at an agreed price and added to the customer’s mobile or broadband package charges. The OTT service is then integrated into the operator’s branded TV service, usually through a set-top box or pay- TV interface. This approach was seen as becoming more systematic for new entrants, as illustrated by HBO Max, but said Dataxis was already largely used by other well established platforms like Viaplay, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix which has partnerships with operators including Orange, Canal, Sky, Deutsche Telekom and Virgin Media.
Summing up why this is taking. place, Dataxis said strategy benefits not only the platforms but also the operators. Operators generally offer their customers aggregated packages, which are more attractive, thereby generating new subscriptions or achieving a better retention rate. It is also an opportunity for telecommunication companies to differentiate themselves from competitors in a context of increasing homogenisation of mobile and broadband services.
Dataxis predicted that as new platforms continue to emerge and competition increases in this already saturated market, it could can expect further partnerships to be concluded in the future to help users navigate in these plethoric content offers.
