Smart tv online streaming movie videoThe digital media and entertainment industry continues to be in constant change. New streaming offers will hit the market, merge or even disappear, and some will break new ground in their efforts to engage audiences. All this won’t be without consequences but affect the entire media industry, says Jim O'Neill, principal analyst, Ooyala, and gives some predictions of what he thinks will happen:

  • Mobile video views continue to grow: In Q3 2017, 58% of videos were viewed on mobile devices, rising for the sixth consecutive quarter. This year this percentage will hit the 60% mark as more mobile operators offer OTT content. Their offer includes both subscription-based models and display-based formats and the development is supported by the fact that mobile data volume is becoming cheaper and cheaper worldwide.
  • OTT will continue to grow and the competition for Netflix gets bigger: Although Netflix is seeing a large increase in its subscriber numbers, other OTT providers are growing unnoticed, too. Especially, subscription-based streaming services with a niche offer (that Netflix just does not have) are expanding, with local content as well as sports and event news.
  • The slow downfall of traditional advertising: The advertising industry has finally realized that the future lies in interactive advertising and sponsored programs. Soon, we will see fundamental changes in the consumption of advertising, which means less advertising on ad-funded websites, better targeting, and more engaging campaigns using data and new technologies.
  • The cost of content will reach dizzying heights: Netflix plans to spend $8 billion on content in 2018, Amazon around $5 billion, and HBO $2 billion. Apple is ready to spend at least a billion dollars, just like Facebook. If one includes sports content, the numbers could even get higher. Expenditure on content will continue to increase and be further intensified by competition among providers.
  • Amazon experiments with sports content: Amazon has reportedly spent $50 million on streaming eleven NFL games this season. Compared to what Amazon could spend this year, these are just peanuts. The Internet giant sets out to shake up the sports content business. In 2018, the broadcasting rights for the British Premier League will be reassigned. Last time, almost six billion euros were due and this time the price will be even higher. Supposedly, Amazon is considering bidding on the rights.
  • Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning come out on top: More and more devices use voice control to deliver conteno users. Apple's Siri, Google Home and Amazon's Alexa all use AI and Machine Learning to find what viewers want to see without having to type in their titles, names or genres. Not only will AI improve content discovery and recommendations, companies will see the results of targeted advertising on mobile devices that are not only used at home.
  • VR & AR will finally have their breakthrough moment: Augmented Reality (AR) will get off the ground this year thanks to investments made by Apple (ARKit), Facebook (Camera Effects Platform) and Google (ARCore), besides getting a push from the Olympic Winter Games and involved Virtual Reality (VR) technology.
  • More mergers in the media industry: The telecommunications giant AT&T just completed its takeover of the media empire Time Warner, but that won’t be the only mega deal this year, since the merger of 21st Century Fox and Disney seems to happen soon, too. These deals are likely to be followed by further mergers to satisfy viewers' insatiable appetite for new content.

By MediaBUZZ