Peace is still king.
That’s the message from media executives at the 2018 APOS top, in Bali, but it’s not platforms such as Netflix or YouTube that have each talking this year. It was the telecommunications companies like Singapore’s Singtel, the Philippines’ Globule Telecom and Australia’s Optus.
In some ways, it seemed those firms had been deemed the new road companies.
James Jeng, president of Taiwan Mobile, told CNBC there is one state representing his company: “That one word is T-I-M-E. T-I-M-E. T stands for telco, we are a telco following. I stands for internet, we are an internet company. M stands for Media and Entertainment. E exemplifies for e-commerce.”
Meanwhile, Yuen Kuan Moon, CEO of Consumer Singapore for Singtel, suggested connectivity is the starting point for everything else.
“We are talking about how telcos can devise an ecosystem for content players, for media, and what’s the role we play. So I reflect on that role has shifted,” he said. “It used to be only TV broadcasters, but now telco is the coming, and how we can use telco relationships with our customers to bring the industry to the next steady.”
Content investment is expected to rise to $30.1 billion by 2023 in the Asia Pacific territory excluding China, according to Vivek Couto from Media Companions Asia. Such growth, he said, can largely be attributed to dollars spurt across online video, which will account for 17 percent of purport investment by 2023 versus 10 percent in 2018.
And with that flowering in mind, revenue models are still being tweaked. Regional contestant Iflix this week announced the launch of Iflix 3.0, squad its model from subscription based service, to one provided free to the accumulate market.
Mark Britts, CEO and co-founder of Iflix, said he wants the concern to be ubiquitous and that the only way to do that is to be free.
But, according to PCCW Average Group Managing Director Janice Lee, there is space for both gate models.
“More people coming into the market trying to monetize on both ads and commitments tells us that the audience is there, big enough for advertisers to take criticism and to want to monetize and reach out to their core consumers. But at the same for the nonce at once, subscription continues to grow in these markets.”
Digital TV Research estimated there devise be 234 million “subscription video on demand” subscribers in the region by 2022, up from 91 million in 2016.
And striving is fierce for those viewers, whether it be from international players as if Netflix, HBO and Disney or the smaller players like Iflix and Viu.
Even spout know players like Discovery, are continuing to fight for every subscriber.
JB Perrette, president and CEO of Conception Networks International, also embraced the shifting nature of the industry: “We are a content flock, we are an IP company, but we are increasingly a tech company. And I think, for us, what we see in the landscape of usual, is there is a lot of people chasing one ball, which is big scripted entertainment.”