Seven trends from CABSAT 2016

Seven trends from CABSAT 2016CABSAT 2016 is one of the biggest dates in the Pay-TV industry calendar, with some of the most influential names in the industry taking to the stage to share their insights.

As you may have seen from our blog post earlier in the week, our team have been in Dubai sharing their insights from the ground and during the event it became very evident to us that there were a number of key themes being discussed by the key speakers. Here's our round-up of the seven biggest trends from CABSAT 2016:

Trend 1 Content is king, but brand and experience are the QueensThe concept of the Pay-TV Battleground' was referenced by a number of speakers at CABSAT, and it's something that Paywizard has been studying in detail in recent months.

Providers are having to work harder to keep customers, as the market is increasingly saturated and ultra competitive.

Customers simply aren't loyal to one provider, and it has generally been accepted that it is content that drives them to sign up for services. However Christophe Firth, an analyst at AT Kearney, highlighted that in today's battleground Content is King but brand and experience are the Queens'.

Christophe describes this concept as a triangle. Providers focus on content to drive customers to sign up, yet building a good brand and customer experience for those engaging with the content are now hugely important too. Those are the three critical angles and you need each one to achieve success.

Trend 2 The traditional linear TV model isn't deadWithin the media industry many consider the emergence of global pay TV to be the death of traditional TV, but during CABSAT it became very clear that this isn't the case.

Dreamworks' Eric Ellenbogen and David Butorac, CEO of pay TV operator OSN, both commented that traditional TV channels will still have a huge role to play, even in the age of video on demand.

They argued that linear networks are far from finished, with Ellenbogen referring to the launch of the 24-hour Dreamworks channel as an indication of how much they believe in it, and he stated that one technology does not actually change or replace another, they just have a new role in the world. Traditional channels won't disappear because they'll become the cornerstone of content discovery.

This view was echoed in a State of the Industry report from Frost & Sullivan Although the Pay TV market is ready for disruption across MENA, the 1,000 free to air channels in the region are still going strong and this in turn is weakening paid penetration levels.

TV then both paid and free to air has a significant role to play. As Ellenbogen summarised, it is still going strong and has credibility.

Trend 3 Pay TV providers need to adapt subscription modelsIn our previous CABSAT round-up, we described how Frost & Sullivan reaffirmed the opportunities in the MENA region, while identifying that operators are facing challenges breaking into the markets.

Supporting this, on day two Netflix described in detail the difficulties they are experiencing, citing low credit card penetration across the region as one of their biggest commercial issues. Put simply, they can't accept customer payments because the technology isn't there.

It's a perfect case study for Frost and Sullivan's report, which predicted that 40 per cent of global consumption will be OTT by 2020, but with a strong caveat that we will need the technology to work. This includes payment infrastructures where subscription models can adapt to the infrastructure and technology available ensuring that customers, no matter their location, experience a seamless service. There's plenty of work to be done, it seems.

Trend 4 Pricing plays an important role in breaking into MENAAnother insight from the Frost and Sullivan report was the idea that in MENA free to air channels are highly competitive, unlike other markets such as the USA where such rivalry rarely exists.

Their study concluded that there are 1,000 free to air channels in the region, the vast majority of which are strongly supported. This in turn is weakening paid TV penetration levels. It demonstrates how important the cost of TV is in the MENA market. With so many free options, pricing is key to ensuring services are accessible to everyone.

Trend 5 Netflix is here to stayFollowing Netflix's global rollout announcement at CES earlier in the year, it came as no surprise that the company was at the centre of a lot of discussion at CABSAT as the poster child of global Pay-TV providers.

They lead the way for many providers and as Frost and Sullivan's report stated, everyone constantly refers back to Netflix for content and pricing direction. The company has been facing content licensing issues in MENA and has cracked down on VPN users.

The implications of their growth on the wider industry was a topic was a hot topic at CABSAT but as David Amodio from Channel 4 disclosed, we shouldn't assume that Netflix will go away, and we certainly shouldn't run away from it either. As part of his address he announced that Channel 4 will collaborate with Netflix for content in future.

As the old adage goes, If you can't beat them, join them , and it seems as though some traditional operators have already accepted that they can use Netflix and VOD to add value for their audience.

Trend 6 Children's content is driving non linear TVThroughout the event, younger audiences were a common theme and Butorac was one of the many speakers who stated that there is huge potential for growth from young content'.

The statistics speak for themselves, as around 38 per cent of the MENA population is aged 15-34, and operators are now consciously tailoring services for a younger audience in a bid to increase revenues.

Ellenbogen explained how kids have par

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