5G Means More Challenges, More Opportunities for M&E

5G Means More Challenges, More Opportunities for M&E posted: 15/10/2019

by Andy Marken

Thats it. Chaos encapsulated. Thats all there is at the end. Just as it was at the beginning. - Management, The Zero Theorem,

If you can find it, if you try it, youll love it! What is it? Oh, come on ... its 5G. While its true that 5G is only available in a few isolated spots around the globe. From the attention the technology got at IBC, its already won the content production/delivery race and is totally reshaping the M&E industry.Everyone else can go home. The truth is no one in the ecosystem (content creators, pipe folks/suppliers) left the global broadcast, media technology event to enjoy the fruits of their labor because theres way too much work to be done to get great content from the creator to the viewer.

The one thing we were reminded of was a throw-away question Ciscos CTO Dave Ward asked at the Entertainment Technology 2019 (ET19) conference a few months ago, If you cant do it on the internet, is it worth doing?

The event marked the first time SMPTE (Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers) and AIS (Advanced Imaging Society) had joined forces. The combination was good for filmmakers and content owners/distributors to make sense out of what is going on and where were going to be in a few years ... maybe.

Netflix is still the worlds first - and largest - global TV channel.

In the US, there are more than 200 streaming services and probably 10X that are available worldwide.

There will be more than 777M global SVOD subscribers by 2023 (Deloitte).

5G service will be available to about 45 percent of the global population by 2024 (Ericsson).

There will be more than 600M homes worldwide with UHDTV by 2023 (ABI).

61 percent of 18-29-year olds in the US watch streaming content, 47 percent of folks 22-45 have abandoned traditional TV, even boomers have found the convenience of streaming (Pew Research).

Globally, consumer IP video traffic will be 84 percent of consumer IP traffic by 2022 (Cisco).

By 2024, three-quarters of global mobile data traffic will be video (Ericsson).

Video-on-the-Go - There are still a whole lot of movies/shows being streamed to the TV screen. However, its a little early for the streaming channels to rest on a sure thing when you realize the younger generation started with a mobile device

Oh yeah, the other fact is that the broadcast industry is a thing of the past.

Sinclair Broadcasts boss Chris Ripley said it in stronger terms, Were competing with the diversified media companies, were competing with the telecom operators, were competing with the Internet companies. Were all in each others spaces. Were all customers of each other. Were all competitors with each other.

Yep ... one big family.

No, we didnt say happy family because everyone wants a bigger chunk of the pie.

Thats probably why AT&T is telling folks theyre already the 5G winner with their 5G E (eventually) service. It feels an awful lot like 4G LTE (long-term evolution) which is actually pretty darn good streaming (little latency) without the 5G upcharge.

To double down, they dropped $85.4B for TimesWarner and told the HBO folks they needed to focus more on quantity of content than quality. To start getting some of their money back, theyre working on a variety of different streaming content pricing options and shareholders suggested they dump DirecTV.

AT&T has fewer options than viewers do though because consumers can choose from AVOD (ad), SVOD (subscription), TVOD (transaction) services from media companies (Disney +, CBS All Access) and tech companies (Apple TV +, Amazon Prime) as well as the vMVPD (virtual multi-video programming distributors).

One of the most intriguing vMVPD to us is YouTube.

YouTube already has more than 2B users, so all CEO Susan Wojcickis team has to do is convince a generation that is growing up on YouTube - regardless of the screen - that were the first place you go for your videos so stick around and get meaningful content for a few bucks more.

According to Bernstein Research, they were losing about $5 per subscriber for their expanding list of channels/shows but they can make that up - and a whole lot more - by capturing more of the digital ad budget.

In addition, theres so much great content streaming that folks have a hard time knowing where to start (49 percent, according to Hub Research) so they get recommendations from family/friends/strangers and then ... Google it.

The point is there is a massive demand for what content producers and owners have to offer around the globe and OTT services are moving quickly to capture more eyeballs.

The key to service providers capturing more subscribers means they have to constantly keep adding more original content to increase the value of their service.

The new diversified media companies will increasingly rely on AI (a topic that was a unifying theme across a number of the IBC sessions) to monitor and control their cloud-based content supply chain.

Everyones Ready - If the industry keeps promoting 5G as hard as they have been, the demand is going to be overwhelming by the time it gets here. And were going to need it as we sever our scheduled TV arrangements and watch more stuff wirelessly.

But 5G and Wi-Fi 6 will open the floodgates for content even at a slightly higher cost.

Ericsson projected there would be 1.9B 5G mobile broadband subscribers by the end of 2024.

Ready for Tomorrow - Even though 5G is only just being tested and rolled out in target locations around the globe, the potential is looking bright--especially when 4G LTE can fill the gap until 5G arrives.

The rest? Mostly 4G LTE and Wi-Fi but that will be acceptable for most people streaming content.

But the great takeaway from Wards presentation was that its not an all or nothing issue or streamed video at any cost.

While the cost

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