FIFA+ provides sports biopics and documentaries as well as match action and has been expanding globally across connected TV apps and FAST channels. Romy Gai, FIFA’s Chief Business Officer, said: “Sky Media’s expertise and leading capabilities in advertising sales will maximise the commercial success of FIFA+ content, enabling us to create new commercial opportunities.”

Brett Aumuller, Managing Director of Sky Media added: “It’s great to be collaborating with FIFA as they move into the connected TV and FAST channels space. We already provide a wide-ranging football offering to advertisers, and adding FIFA+ will make it an even simpler and more compelling proposition for brands.”

FIFA+ has been well received by consumers in its first year. During the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, FIFA+ generated 190 million views on match recaps.

Editor’s comment:

Advertisers welcome premium streaming services as a way to reach audiences, but also value simplicity when it comes to planning and buying audiences. This deal is a classic example of how an established sales house gives them a direct route into a new audience opportunity. There are many entities ready to represent streamers selling ads. Existing broadcast/Pay TV groups are well-placed to perform that role, as Sky Media has demonstrated here.

The new Android TV service was developed on the Netgem Entertainment platform for use on a ZTE set-top box (integrated by Netgem as a ‘Google Operator Tier’ certified partner). Netgem says it can help any operator introduce Operator Tier and promises that its cloud-based aggregation platform and hardware partnership will deliver Capex and Opex savings.

Emmanuel André, CEO of Zeop, says: “We are committed to delivering the best entertainment, always with a super-simple experience. We can rely on Netgem’s expertise and its ability to deliver a full service to our customers.”

Jianbo Wang, CEO of ZTE France & Benelux, adds: “We are very pleased to work with Netgem to launch a new generation of TV and streaming services across our range of Android TV set-top boxes and dongles. This combination of services offers great opportunities for telecom operators to differentiate with innovative TV devices, cost-effectively.”

Wang adds that ZTE will be building on its partnership with Netgem to make the joint proposition available to more Pay TV operators in Europe.

The key point about TVkey Cloud is that the Pay TV operator brand is placed front and centre – this is not the operator appearing as one amongst many connected TV apps that are accessed via the app store every time you need it. This is, in effect, a virtual set-top box experience, as if Claro (and other TVkey customers like VTVcab in Vietnam) did have an STB plugged into HDMI1. The programme guide you see is the one belonging to the Pay TV operator. The solution takes full advantage of the Smart TV’s remote control and other built-in features.

Customers of the Claro tv+ service can launch the initial activation process from the Samsung TV app store. But as NAGRA explains to Pay TV providers on its TVkey product page, the app then becomes the primary UX for the Pay TV customers. “Your brand remains visible at all times. Your app will be the first one consumers see when the TV is turned on. Pick the features you want to activate for your subscribers.”

TVkey Cloud takes care of the content security that would normally be managed from a set-top box. The solution complies with the MovieLabs requirements for Enhanced Content Protection of 4K Ultra HD, HDR and early release content.

“We are working together with Samsung and NAGRA to facilitate access to our customers who have Samsung TVs without the need for additional devices. In this way, we reinforce our purpose of enabling customers to watch TV how and when they want, in a simple way and without the need for a receiver,” confirms Rodrigo de Gusmao, Executive Director of Claro Colombia’s Mass Market Unit.

The direct-to-TV launch is the latest part of a multiscreen offering supported by NAGRA that gives access to all Claro entertainment content on a wide choice of devices, including via Android TV.

In Vietnam, VTVcab, one of that country’s largest Pay TV providers, has been using TVkey Cloud to expand subscriber reach by harnessing Samsung Smart TVs as a set-top box replacement. These companies are not the only ones who have been focused on how to provide a Pay TV experience where the operator remains in control of the user experience but without supplying a set-top box.

As we reported recently, Deutsche Telekom is weighing up its options, with Pedro Bandeira, Vice President Product and New Business, Europe, adamant that the company cannot become one app among many on the TV screen, so can only remove the set-top box if it can remain the primary application and UX.

At Connected TV World Summit in March he outlined a vision to become a virtual STB on third-party Smart TVs, in collaboration with the TV makers, or follow the Sky Glass path and design and retail its own television sets. The decision to appear directly on the ‘glass’ is driven by the need to ensure the Pay TV UX sits in front of any other UX on a Smart TV.

Cyta (which also provides broadband), offers multichannel linear TV spanning entertainment and sports, plus VOD via its Cytavision packages. It also has the CytavisionGo streaming service for mobile, tablet and computer. Last year the company implemented a Smart TV app for Android, Tizen and WebOS that largely replicates the Pay TV experience already delivered via set-top boxes on the managed IPTV network, including the provision of pay-per-view as well as VOD.

At Connected TV World Summit this spring, Anna Agrotou, Senior Engineer at Cyta, explained the operator-as-an-app Smart TV strategy. “We want to target our younger audience and we need to gradually replace the set-top box. It is more cost-efficient for us [to provide the TV service via a Smart TV app] because if there was a set-top box we would have to install it in the home. The app provides immediate service activation: you just phone our call centre and download the application [to an existing supported Smart TV].”

Smart TV app users get a three-month free trial period that gives them access to a subset of the content. If they then subscribe, the full service begins at a lower monthly price than the set-top box service offering. A subscription comes with multiscreen viewing on three devices plus the television app, with sign-on allowing for one concurrent Smart TV stream on the same IP address. If someone tries to log-in from a different IP address, they are asked if they want to end the viewing session on the first device. But viewing is allowed from different locations, with the ‘portable’ television app ready for use in holiday homes, for example. Additional concurrent Smart TV streams are allowed at extra cost.

Cyta is actively encouraging new customers to take the Smart TV approach rather than the set-top box, and has been doing this since late 2022. Customers who want to convert from STB consumption to Smart TV app usage can do so, to take advantage of the reduced subscription fee. Agrotou acknowledged that even as more customers take up the Smart TV app approach, there will be a need for STBs to serve second, non-Smart TVs in a home (in multiroom homes). “It won’t be easy to migrate these customers [from STB to Smart TV app],” she pointed out.

In 2020, Cyta introduced a pre-paid model for sports packages and discreet sports events on the STB offer, and one of the next steps is to bring this to the Smart TV app.

Agrotou gave the London audience a list of the challenges that Cyta has faced with its operator TV app deployment. The most notable item is the need to support software across multiple TV operating systems and then test upgrades, and ensuring users update the app if this process is not automatic.

“Monitoring the quality of our user experience is a big challenge, like if there is buffering”, she said, admitting that this is a work-in-progress. Stream delivery must be optimised for non-managed networks. The TV app must also contend with any in-home Wi-Fi issues, of course. The Pay TV provider has already fixed one UX issue for its sports content by using CMAF to dramatically reduce the delay from when the STB signal arrives and when a stream plays out on the Smart TV app.

“We had to update our existing agreements with content providers to include the TV app in our portfolio,” Agrotou added. Having to use the television manufacturer’s remote control was not a problem, however. “We manged to put a lot of the navigation process into the UX.”

Cytavision on Smart TVs is the classic ‘app among apps’ model where the Smart TV maker’s UI is the home screen, and users then go into the Cyta app. When they exit the app, they return to the television’s default UI.

Related content:

Deutsche Telekom reveals its CPE roadmap: virtual STBs or its own version of Sky Glass, and away from standard Smart TV apps

Deutsche Telekom’s Bandeira: Let’s recreate the super-aggregator experience on phones and tablets

“There is a real advantage in acquiring content in the bundle model because we have some predictability in the volumes we will deliver. It’s then easier to negotiate segregation with providers. Once we know what we can commit to, we can trade volume for wholesale discounts. It allows us to deliver value upstream to providers, who can count on a certain revenue, which in turn enables us to deliver value downstream, to our subscribers. It’s a win-win deal.”

Explaining consumer needs (and what Pay TV providers must deliver for them), Adam Nightingale, Chief Commercial Officer at 3SS, summarised it in one word: simplicity. “TV is entertainment, where you go to stay informed or to distract yourself, and it’s crucial to make it easy. Ironically, we build huge user experiences but we don’t want people to use them – we want to get viewers watching TV as quickly as possible.”

Nightingale also emphasised the importance of personalisation in a bid to appeal to younger users. “It’s important to understand what kind of user experience appeals to the individual, and make sure what they’re seeing on TV is relevant for them. There is no one size-fits-all.

“Aggregation is key, and non-traditional content sources, such as TikTok, YouTube or local content are all important; but making sure you have them in the right format, in front of people they most appeal to, is what matters. Then comes super-personalisation: understanding, monitoring and tweaking what works and what doesn’t. It’s a never-ending editorial task, but having the means to manage user experience at a fairly granular level will be increasingly important if you want to remain relevant.”

Nancy Goldberg, EVP and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at NAGRA Kudelski Group, also pointed to the power of personalisation, including as a way to combat the attraction of pirate services. “Piracy means users can find content easily for free, so keeping them [consumers, on Pay TV] will be harder. We must give them added flexibility, value, experience. There can’t just be one thing everybody wants; it must be hyper-personalised. The adage, give them what they want, whenever they want, couldn’t be truer today.”

Andy Waltenspiel, Managing Director, Waltenspiel Management Consulting, moderated the Connected TV World Summit panel, ‘Pay TV in the 2020s – keeping subscribers and channels onboard’. You can see the discussion here.

According to Jonas Engwall, CEO of Bedrock (which provides video streaming platforms to broadcasters and media companies in Europe), the answer is simple. “Content is still king in the streaming world. But the platform is queen.”

He continued that while there are exceptions, “If you look at the global streamers, they are well ahead of the local players. They are quite advanced in their content offering, massively pushing content with the platforms. And I think from a platform perspective, they’re also very advanced. They provide very personalised platforms, they’re stable, they work well.”

Ivars Lubāns, Head of Product at Go3, a local streaming provider in the Baltics (and part of TV3 Group), pointed out that the key to growth for this service was providing variety and locally-focussed content. “Regarding the Baltics, it’s a small market and Netflix is probably not that interested [in providing local content], as it’s three separate countries, three separate languages. So, we have the local knowledge and the local understanding and relevance, which is especially important for the 25+ [demographic] market.”

This was echoed by Anita Barnard, Head of Distribution and Commercial Partnerships at Marquee TV, which offers ballet theatre and opera, and whose service focuses on “content from places where people cannot or cannot afford to go to, such as the Sydney Opera House”. However, Engwall asserted that, “Local players are great at storytelling. But the challenge is to bring that content on a platform that can compete with the big players.”

The panel agreed that consolidation and partnerships could be a key differentiator for driving growth in D2C platforms. But more than that, without consolidation the CTV landscape will become too fractured for consumers. “Consolidation is the future,” said Parul Goel, Territory Head UK and Director Finance, UK/EU/Americas at ZEE Entertainment. “It’s got to happen because there is so much leaking of money everywhere. And we have to stop it to grow our industry. Otherwise, there will be hundreds of channels people won’t watch.”

Marquee TV works with local and global providers to bring its content to wider audiences and provide a better viewing experience, and Barnard sees a customer experience opportunity in this marketplace. “From a consumer point of view, there’s so many different subscriptions in their life and they just want to manage that in one place. Consolidation doesn’t have to be companies buying companies, but it needs cooperation to find an easier way for consumers to manage their subscriptions.”

Lubāns agreed on the need to evolve the CX. “[For consumers] one part is the money and the other is the experience. If you have to switch between providers to watch different content, it’s inconvenient. Some kind of aggregation has to happen within the industry.”

With the current economic situation, it can be hard to justify the investments needed to grow – and the days of growth at all costs may be coming to an end. “For global players it’s a land grab race. They are creating lots of content, but at some point they will have to stabilise to make a profit,” asserted Engwall. From Goel’s point of view, “Cost control in terms of content is the quickest way to get profit.”

With a plethora of ways to monetise content – whether using AVOD, FAST or SVOD – D2C providers should not be afraid to experiment with different strategies. As Engwall explained, “Nowadays, technology allows you to have a broader monetisation strategy; I think it’s up to everyone to try and see how it ends up … Spotify has shown in music that people will pay eventually to get a better experience. I think we’re heading in that direction.”

Ultimately, the panel decided, the key to growth in this sector is putting user experience first. “We want viewers to have a good experience on the bigger screens. Those who do watch via those bigger screens tend to stay longer,” Barnard observed. Lubāns concluded: “Going forward, I think the industry will focus not on the quantity, but on the quality of the content.”

The panel was moderated by Lydia Fairfax, Founder & MD at Triple Crown Consulting.

Subscribers will also have access to mixed martial arts (MMA) content from top competitions, including the Professional Fighters League, MMA Bushido, King of Kings and the Brave Combat Federation.

Alongside a package of elite combat sports, fans can watch women’s football content which includes every game of the UEFA Women’s Champions League and top-flight Spanish women’s football league Primera División Femenina. Subscribing to DAZN 1 HD grants customers access to the entire DAZN service via the DAZN app.

Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN Group, says: “Getting DAZN widely distributed is a priority for us as it delivers our great and growing array of content to more and more fans. We have ambitious, long-term and strategic plans for the UK market. The more people get to know DAZN and what we offer, not just in terms of rights but the full range of digital, interactive and sports entertainment we are developing, the better.”

 Canal+ Action broadcasts popular action titles such as The Expendables 2: Back for War, Escape Plan and The Revenant.

Ladislav Řeháček, VP of CANAL+ Luxembourg for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, says: “Following our successful entry into sports broadcasting last year in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we plan to expand into films and series this year, starting with the action genre. With the launch of CANAL+ Action, we aim to offer viewers high-quality action programming with minimal advertising interruptions within a single program.”

Berk Uziyel, CEO of SPI International (owned by the CANAL+ Group), comments: “We’re thrilled to collaborate with all of our partners and Ladislav Řeháček to introduce CANAL+ Action to new markets. Our mutual goal is to continuously improve the value we provide to our partners and customers while delivering top-notch entertainment across the board.”

Whole sessions are devoted to answering these questions, and others explore how broadcasters can increase their share of digital viewing time, and what the expansion of SAVOD (Subscription with Advertising VOD, exemplified by Netflix Basic with Ads) and FAST means for the TV advertising market. Early confirmed speakers across the agenda include:

• Pedro Bandeira, Vice President Product and New Business, Europe, Deutsche Telekom
• Aušra Sidaravičienė, Group Chief Technical Officer, TV3 Group
• John Jelley, Senior Vice President, Product and UX, Peacock & International, D2C at NBCUniversal Media
• Ken Morse, Director of Application Delivery, Sky
• Pierre-Adrian Irlé, Head of Play Suisse, SRG SSR
• Jason Briggs, President and General Manager, RDK
• Mehmet Eroglu, Chief Commercial Officer, Foxxum
• Gary Woolf, EVP Strategic Development, All3Media International
• Marcos Milanez, EU General Manager, Rakuten TV
• Ivars Lubāns, Head of Product, Go3, TV3 Group
• Akhila Khanna, VP, Partnerships and Business Development, UK, Paramount.

You can see an up-to-date list of publicly announced speakers here.

There is a session titled ‘Driving D2C and SVOD growth’, focusing on how channel groups, studios and SVOD providers maximise their potential audience reach, convert app availability into paying customers, maintain attention in an increasingly competitive marketplace, guarantee win-win relationships with CE/OS/STB device platform providers, and expand market share during a cost-of-living crisis.

As part of a four-session advertising stream on Tuesday March 21, leaders who are driving the advanced advertising transformation will explore how we maximise the value of free connected TV, and how we make TV a better product for advertisers (spanning the latest thinking on making cross-platform buying easier, improving cross-platform measurement, and attributing TV exposure to business outcomes, among other things.

A session is devoted to ‘Preparing for a larger addressable TV universe’, exploring the challenges (as well as opportunities) as the number of addressable-enabled platforms and homes increases – acknowledging the fact that free-to-air platforms are increasingly ready to join the party, adding to Pay TV and streaming footprints.

The ‘Win-wins in the Television OS marketplace’ session focuses on how TV-OS providers, television set OEMs and content owners work together to increase total household reach, audience engagement and ongoing revenue opportunities for streaming TV. This includes  a look at the Pay TV operator Smart TV model (pioneered by Sky Glass), the role of independent OS/UX providers, and how global OS/UX providers in the CTV/Smart TV space differentiate themselves.

Connected TV World Summit is renowned for delivering smart new thinking and research, and many of the world’s leading analysts are gathering to explore these mission-critical issues:

• ‘The subscription economy in an inflationary era’ – Tim Mulligan, Executive Vice President and Research Director, MIDiA Research
• ‘Content and windowing strategies in the D2C market’ – Jack Davison, Executive Vice President, 3Vision
• ‘The impact of Netflix and TikTok in video advertising’ – Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Director, Media and Entertainment, Omdia
• ‘How broadcasters increase their share-of-time in digital’ – Lottie Towler, Research Manager, Ampere Analysis
• ‘The future of free-to-air aggregation’ – Richard Broughton, Executive Director, Ampere Analysis
• ‘Decarbonising TMT’ – Alice Enders, Director of Research, Enders Analysis
• ‘Technology choices shaping the sports experience of the future’ – Tom Morrod, Research Director & Co-Founder, Caretta Research
• ‘Media & Entertainment opportunities in the metaverse’ – Joseph Teasdale, Head of Tech, Enders Analysis.

‘Delivering an experience: STB & Operator App’ is a session that explores two parallel and closely entwined technology roadmaps: the next-generation TV experience delivered via a set-top box, and operator/aggregator services enabled directly on a television without an STB, whether in the form of ‘Operator as an App’ on a third-party television brand or embedded into an operator-produced television set (as with the pioneering Sky Glass model).

In ‘Cementing the consumer love affair with TV’, 90 minutes are devoted to best practice and global innovation in content discovery. Ampere Analysis is leading a special session dedicated to the future of televised sport, focusing on rights and distribution strategy, while there are parallel sessions devoted to beating the sports streaming pirates and building the sports streaming networks of the future.

Connected TV World Summit has moved to a new venue: Convene, 22 Bishopsgate – London’s second tallest building, next to the Gherkin and minutes from Tower 42. For the first time, the organisers (disclaimer – Videonet is owned by Adwanted Group, which produces Connected TV World Summit) are hosting some Masterclasses, making use of ultra-modern networking and meeting spaces to dig deeper into narrow-focus topics, led by experts in the field.

Nathalie Lethbridge, Founder and Principal Advisor, Atonik Digital, leads the FAST Masterclass, and the consulting/research firm MTM leads the Customer Retention and Acquisition Masterclass. There is a special breakfast devoted to how we decarbonise the television value-chain while ensuring the industry ends the process as large as it started.

The organisers are predicting 100+ senior-level speakers and 600+ (unique) delegates over the two days.

You can find more details about Connected TV World Summit 2023, here.

The registration for this event can be found here.

Connected TV World Summit is produced by Adwanted Events (formerly called Mediatel Events). Adwanted Events also delivers The Future of TV Advertising Global (also with Sydney and Canada editions), The Future of Media, The Future of Brands and The Future of Audio, among others.

Under the deal, seven DAZN exclusive Serie A (Italy’s top football league) TIM matches per round will be broadcast on the ZONA DAZN channel (complementary to three broadcasts on Sky channels) – which Sky subscribers will be able to access at a special rate via the Sky decoder. The channel will also include a playlist of in-depth programmes and DAZN Original content.

Sky customers who are not subscribed to the sports streamer can sign up to DAZN Standard or DAZN Plus offers through a dedicated website and add the option to view ZONA DAZN.

Andrea Duilio, CEO of Sky Italy, said: “Sky has always supported the Italian passion for football and love for sport. This agreement with DAZN will provide fans with even more opportunities to enjoy Serie A. In addition to the 3 Serie A matches per round broadcast on Sky channels, the DAZN app will be available on Sky Q, together with all the best content and streaming apps, all in one place.

“The option of linear channels via satellite or digital terrestrial will also be available with the DAZN offer. This is a big step forward for consumers – Serie A can now be enjoyed on more platforms and it will receive greater visibility.”

Stefano Azzi, CEO of DAZN Italy, said: “The diversification of our distribution partnerships in Italy represents both our focus on bringing the best sport to serve all fans, and  is also an important strategic moment in the growth of our business.

“The innovative new commercial agreement with Sky that we are announcing today is one of the most important collaborations signed in view of the 2022/2023 season, with the aim of offering live and on-demand sports content to an ever-increasing number of fans and thus increasing the visibility of the competitions we broadcast. This agreement is also in line with our successful partnership with Sky in Germany.”