Pay TV: Your time is now!

The world is different now. Every activity or business that involves humans meeting strangers in unknown places will have a negative co-efficient of growth. With the virus lurking around, and a vaccine being distant - humans will adapt their behaviour. They are already distancing between each other, keeping away from strangers, doing more of known and routine things.

Industry verticals that make strangers meet are going to struggle in the near and medium term (travel, tourism, public transport, malls, cinemas, restaurants, theme parks, sports arenas, offline personal grooming services etc).

Industry verticals that allow people to live life well - without meeting strangers will thrive well (home entertainment, telecommunication, cloud technology, digital banking, digital living, digital work, home delivery, retail, consumer electronics, personal automobiles, home improvement - in that order).

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As industrial manufacturing will continue guardedly - shifting production towards the new leaders, most business support functions will accelerate digital transformation. Accounting, audits and consulting will not travel as much. Even healthcare will move to video conferencing until physical examination is absolutely warranted.

While every industry is now hurting because of lockdowns - when lockdowns make way for physical and social distancing, the changes in human micro-economic behaviour will shape business outcomes.

In all this, Pay TV has emerged a huge beneficiary already. In the last couple of months - metrics unheard of have been achieved:

• Churn rate and subscription extensions have been at record highs. TV Operators in India posted record subscriptions and reduction in churn, and Netflix posted record outcomes.
• Shelf life of content has extended beyond belief. Doordarshan just announced that their 33 year old series Ramayan set the worldwide record for highest viewership. Several other titles have been chart busters.
• Acquisition cost of subscribers has been the lowest ever.
• Average time spent on Television went up by 50% every day.
• Big movies are queuing up to OTT platforms for direct-to-home releases. Until recently the Cinema lobbies vehemently opposed such moves.
• Every subscription TV provider has made gains. Every media asset owner has been chased for original content.

If this already sounded like a dream come true, there's more coming soon.

When manufacturing resumes and latent demand for products gets exposed - there is still a need for marketing.

Out of home advertising, Print newspapers, Sports-arena advertising, Big banners on roads, Offline events and exhibitions, Carnivals will all see a downslide. Where will the money typically spent on these mechanisms go?

TV and Mobile.

TV being the digital biggest screen in a home - it is the closest replacement to big banners. Out of home advertising will slowly fit into TV.

How should the Pay TV industry react now?

1. Accelerate your digital transformation: Broadcast got a big booster dose recently. Everyone understands that Broadcast and OTT will live together. All TV consumption needs to happen on "connected screens". Pay TV must accelerate towards their digital transformation - looking at themselves as super-aggregators of all types of content.
2. Invest in converting video attention into $$: The retail industry needs a way to make commerce easier from TV. Digitally connected screens with simple add-to-carts will facilitate impulse buying. TV as a platform will have the appeal of large banner advertising combined with the effectiveness of purchasing on mobile.
3. Make everything about the family: Mobiles have won the battle for personal identity. But they are a family's worst enemy (especially when the family is in one place). TV is about shared viewing and clocks as family time. In these times, social distancing is already making people feel lonely. It is TV's responsibility to bring the family closer. Going digital does not just mean doing everything personal. TV can bring in "shared personalisation".
4. Convert reduction in churn into an attack offensive: Pay TV has been challenged in the past by Internet players, Consumer Electronics giants and D2C apps. Many were plush with funds - and invested aggressively in advertising and customer acquisition. In these times, new customer acquisition is harder for them - especially if it involves physical hardware. Pay TV households have drastically reduced churn. With a natural barrier built up, Pay TV can exploit this opportunity to match the experiences provided by the challengers.
5. Measure, analyse and act: Pay TV companies must measure and understand the taste of their subscribers. If you cannot measure, you cannot understand your customer. If you cannot understand the customer, you cannot serve them well. Audience measurement should be taken as a discipline internally. The TV is a conduit for the Pay TV company to interact with house holds. With smart banners becoming available in connected set top boxes, it is like a customised and targetable big banner - addressable through the taste of the household. To enable such smart conduits, Pay TV must understand their households and segment them.

In the next 2 years, the Pay TV industry can march ahead and take the leadership position again in influence marketing and the attention economy. Helped by a slump in outdoor marketing, naturally increased family time in front of the TV - and the benefit of increased revenue and reduced churn, Pay TV has the ammunition to strengthen itself.

At Sensara.tv, we can help you get into the act fast. The time is now!

Our unique enterprise class self-learning Knowledge Engine for TV helps you deploy personalised content discovery, measure audience and gather business intelligence for internal teams, manage direct promotions and advertising on your managed devices, helps you be an industry leader by setting up an audience exchange, and ushers in actionable advertising for TV. We are a one-stop data platform for Pay TV operators to keep subscribers, business and industry partners all happy - through linked data.

Write to us at [email protected], so we can help you through this journey.