04 Jun
Who are you? Which regions are you covering?
I am Roy Limley, the Sales Consultant of Beenius, based in Singapore. I am currently responsible for Beenius’ business in Southeast Asia.
What are the industry specifics in Southeast Asia?
In Southeast Asia, most operators in the pay-TV industry
are all-in-one players, continuing to offer bundled
services for mobile, Internet and TV content. In recent
years, with the entry of international OTT/IPTV big players into this region, such as Netflix and Disney+, local pure
OTT/IPTV service providers have emerged one after
another, adding more vitality and competition to the
market.
How 2021 will evolve in the industry?
The trend in 2021 is that more operators are transforming themselves into Content Aggregators. And I think the reason behind it is that nowadays, there are so many contents direct to end-users in the industry. It is becoming increasingly difficult for pay-TV operators to acquire solely external sources for their content. Not only is content becoming very expensive, but the number of subscribers to traditional pay-TV is declining. Pay-TV operators need to change their business model rather than paying for content, which is very expensive because of the minimum guarantee paid for carriers like HBO, Cinemax and Fox. They are trying to take advantage of their millions of subscribers and share revenue with content providers. And I’m looking forward to seeing the industry grows in such ways.
What will be the growth points of TV subscribers in 2021 for operators in Southeast Asia? What kind of role the Beenius' products can play in that?
If we look at the market from the pay-TV perspective, the number of subscribers drops while the number of total viewers increases. Especially during the Covid quarantine time, more and more new generations are turning to content platforms like Netflix. But we can not ignore that a certain percentage of consumers are still sticking with local live content. So, in a sense, operators in this region need to integrate the traditional live TV content and premium
subscribing content from Netflix, Disney+, etc.
From this point, we can see the deep linking technology would be the key. In some countries, integration is compulsory because the free-to-air needs to go into the OTT as well. And Beenius, as a Media System Integrator, can meet a wide range of operational requirements on a single Interactive TV Platform and improve productivity and quality for operators at the same time.
What is the development dilemma of operators in Southeast Asia in 2021? How could we help them with our products?
Many operators can still make good revenues from mobile and internet/fiber optic services, especially with the introduction of 5G technology. The dilemma is actually on the pay-TV service now, where operators have been losing money. They are reluctant to invest more in improving this service, but they could not simply drop this part since the consumers would expect it to come bundled with it. Operators need to find new ways to make money from TV services rather than relying on subscriptions to cover costs. And TV Advertising cooperation would be an excellent movement there.
With the Targeted TV Advertising that the Beenius Interactive TV platform offers, operators can unleash additional revenue from selling advertising space inside the user interface and enhance opportunities to address potential customers. And we offer various advertising
placements on IPTV, OTT and DVB Hybrid for different requirements.
How did Covid –19 affect the industry?
I don’t think COVID-19 has had much of a negative impact on our industry on the whole, except to slow down some investment activities. I would even argue that COVID-19 has contributed to the faster adoption and embrace of OTT technology by both operators and
consumers, leading to more business models and the exploration of new technologies.
Are you bringing something new to the market in 2021?
This year, as the sales representative of Beenius in Southeast Asia, I will study the needs of the local market and customers more deeply and combine them with the global industry trends to provide tailored services and business models for local operators. Stay tuned.
Anything you would add to share?
The pandemic of Covid boosts the TV content viewership and permanently rewrites viewing
habits in the process. At the center of change, industry participants need to consider whether to follow the crowd or stay true to themselves. No matter what kind of choice we make, to continue to provide consumers with high-quality services, cater to consumers’ preferences, and optimize their experiences are absolutely the top priorities.
