RZ Ep. 14: James Walmsley - Retaining Streaming Subscribers in a Dynamic Market

Episode 14 of Retention Zone brings us back to the MENA region, an area in constant evolution and with a vibrant streaming media market. Stay tuned for next week episode which will be fully focused on the US market, instead, with a major media analyst as guest.

Leading video streaming service TOD's efforts to retain subscribers across the Middle East and North Africa is James Walmsley , I met him at the IBC in Amsterdam last year and we started an interesting chat on a boat in the canal that had to develop into a RZ episode.

As TOD Media Group's Vice President of Product, Technology and Analytics, Walmsley brings over 10 years of digital media experience in the region. Having helped build and launch TOD in 2021 just ahead of the Qatar World Cup, he now heads development of its streaming platform and data initiatives.

Based in Doha, Qatar during the week and residing with family in Dubai on weekends, Walmsley has an informed perspective on the dynamics and challenges of subscriber retention in the MENA streaming market.

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Retaining Streaming Subscribers in a Dynamic Market

In a recent interview for the video podcast Retention Zone, James Walmsley of TOD BEIN Media Group discussed the challenges of retaining streaming video subscribers in the dynamic Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market.

With major sporting events like the World Cup and a diversity of countries and demographics, TOD employs sophisticated targeting. As Walmsley said, “Our acquisition and retention models will change drastically year from year.”

Tailoring the Funnel

Rather than rely solely on advertising, TOD looks to engage viewers seeking short-form content while funneling them toward premium offerings. As Walmsley explained, “How do we adapt the funnel to still embrace the kind of desire for short form, for free, for easily accessible, sort of bite sized content?”

Removing Customer Friction

Amid intense competition, providing a seamless user experience is a priority. “What's common is when people come to the service, you need it to work and you need it to work how you expect,” Walmsley stated. TOD aims to “minimize those reasons” for subscribers to churn. TOD recently announced they have partnered with Cleeng for the subscription and retention part of their platform.

Leveraging Data

With a vast range of sports programming, TOD is focused on effectively leveraging all content. “We are working increasingly with a smaller pool of service providers that offer a similar to exploiting everything your content library has a lot of,” Walmsley said. The goal is gaining insights to better serve different customer segments.

Localizing Payments

With half of subscribers in the B2B market, TOD must adapt to regional payment preferences. As Walmsley noted, “You're purchasing either through vouchers...or you're purchasing through your operator, your mobile payment, your carrier billing.” This “presents some quite specific challenges around churn.”

Meeting Customer Needs

Ultimately, the churn solutions center on the consumer experience. As Walmsley stated, “It may be we have to address sort of those challenges not in sort of payment specific payment discount trial, because it's almost irrelevant for what could be 70% of our base.”

The MENA market’s rapid evolution means “it’s not ever going to be a case of setting a strategy and sticking with it,” Walmsley concluded. Meeting the ever-changing consumer desire for content will be key to subscriber retention.

All Retention Zone episodes are available here: https://www.youtube.com/@RetentionZone/videos

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Retention Zone is presented by Cleeng , the Subscription Retention Management SAAS platform.

Retention Zone is hosted and produced by Carlo De Marchis (A guy with a scarf)