BroadcastPro ME December 2020 by CPI Trade Media

ISSUE 125 | DECEMBER 2020

Licensed by Dubai Development Authority

THE OTT PUNDITS Exploring ways to step up the streaming game

PROINTRO

GROUP Managing Director Raz Islam raz.islam@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5471 Managing Partner Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5472 EDITORIAL

Welcome

Editor Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 55 105 3787 Assistant Editor Shifa Naseer shifa.naseer@cpitrademedia.com +971 (4) 375 5478 Sub Editor Aelred Doyle ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Sandip Virk sandip.virk@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 50 929 1845 +44 (0) 773 444 2526

DESIGN Creative Director Simon Cobon Designer Percival Manalaysay CIRCULATION & PRODUCTION Production Manager Vipin V. Vijay vipin.vijay@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5713 Distribution Manager Phinson Mathew George phinson.george@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5476 DIGITAL SERVICES Abdul Baeis Sadiq Siddiqui FOUNDER Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

Personalisation and recommendation – we have been hearing these terms increasingly within the context of streaming entertainment, and while all of us know the basic theory behind them, I learnt to what great lengths technology can potentially be used to take that experience to a completely different level at the MENA OTT and Anti-Piracy Virtual Week that BroadcastPro ME hosted last month. For instance, it was interesting to note that some social media platforms like Facebook run at least 10,000 iterations concurrently of its home page with slight variations across different users and countries to gauge how a consumer interacts with the page and what causes them to click on something. There were questions about how that concept could potentially work within the world of streaming to the extent that a page had a certain common appeal but also carried a personal element that would touch a chord with each individual viewer. There were ideas about personas being the way forward, where streaming services start building experiences around different types of individuals based on some common characteristics. At the same time,

the frontrunners are exploring how to personalise those experiences even further for those who belong to a cohort and yet have some unique characteristics that separate them from the group. In another discussion, a panellist pointed out that OTT players have invested so much in original content that it is in their interest to move that content up the recommendation list while making it appear like it was part of the personalised experience. There were other dimensions to the personalisation component with one vendor using AI to figure out how to adjust the AB ladder to each consumer’s broadband speed to provide the most optimum experience to each user. Interesting conversations were also held on anti-piracy at the virtual week and we have summed up all those discussions in this month's edition for you. Happy reading as we move towards the Christmas season. Don't forget to get your nominations in for the ASBU BroadcastPro Awards.

Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director

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ISSUE 125 | DECEMBER 2020

Licensed by Dubai Development Authority

every effort to ensure the content is accurate on the date of publication. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the publisher and editor. The published material, adverts, editorials and all other content are published in good faith. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored

THE OTT PUNDITS Exploring ways to step up the streaming game

On this month's cover…

Let’s create a vibrant online broadcast community!

Speakers who participated in the OTT panel discussions at the MENA OTT and Anti-Piracy Virtual Week.

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or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publisher in writing. Publication licensed by Dubai Development Authority to CPI Trade Publishing FZ LLC. Printed by Printwell Printing Press LLC.

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Getting the Thrill Across. World Cups and countless other games. Global album launches streamed live over the web, major rock festivals brought to millions, classical performances in any venue. Lawo is where the thrill is. By appointment to the most talented people on the planet. All over IP, in cutting-edge quality.

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HYPERX ESPORTS ARENA, USA

RCN Win Sports+, Colombia

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PROCONTENTS

Inside this issue 05 NEWS Asharq News launches; Finyal Media releases Arabic podcast; Dubai Media City celebrates 20-year milestone; OSN to double investment in Arabic content; Viu partners with FOX+; Telfaz11 ties with Netflix; Orange Egypt signs deal with Deezer; Intigral launches Jawwy TV app in Egypt; UAE Pro League introduces virtual crowd noises; new appointments; and more

17 THE OTT JOURNEY:

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY Stakeholders explore how streaming models have evolved in recent months at the MENA OTT and AntiPiracy Virtual Week

December 2020 ASHARQ NEWS GOES LIVE IN MENA

EXPERTS TRACE THE OTT JOURNEY

17 HOW TO PROTECT YOUR CONTENT

STRATEGIES TO WIN THE OTT RACE

22 HOW TO WIN

THE OTT RACE Panellists debate on some core issues that could potentially make or break a streaming service

30 ADDRESSING PIRACY Industry professionals discuss how to tackle the ongoing challenges around piracy

22 CABSAT.VIRTUAL CONCLUDES

36 CABSAT.VIRTUAL

IS AVOD OTT'S NEXT SUCCESS STORY?

- IT'S A WRAP! The virtual edition brought together creative experts and technology suppliers to unveil the latest in consumption habits, digitisation efforts and nextgen revenue opportunities

40 OPINION AVOD could be the next best bet for the OTT market, according to Ariff Sidi of Verizon Media

40 December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 3

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PRONEWS

SRMG launches Asharq News, ties with Bloomberg on “business” component Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG) has launched Asharq News, a multi-platform Arabiclanguage news service that will provide 24/7 coverage with a focus on regional and global economic affairs. The TV channel started broadcasting last month from its 6,000sqm facility at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Asharq News, which was in the making for more than a year under GM Nabeel Al-Khatib, former Al Arabiya executive, boasts a full endto-end IP facility based on the SMPTE 2110 standard. Asharq News’ technical infrastructure includes advanced studio equipment and broadcast technology, the latest graphics systems,

At Asharq News channel's studio in DIFC.

and augmented and virtual reality systems for enhanced visual coverage. The DIFC facility currently employs more than 460 people at its Dubai centre, with more than 60% of its workforce being below the age of 35. “There are 18 news channels here and all of them target 40+ males,” Dr.

Al-Khatib told BroadcastPro ME. “We hope to reach out to not just males but young adults and female audiences too through our news. This is why we have invested heavily in young talent and have a big social media team. The new generation influences the decisions in many of the countries in the region today and it is important to speak

MBC Media Solutions announces new CEO

Ahmed Al Sahhaf.

Ahmed Al Sahhaf joins MBC Media Solutions (MMS) with more than 15 years of expertise in the regional advertising and communications market where

he was, until recently, the General Manager of STC’s Consumer Marketing Communication. MMS will offer services to MBC Group’s clients from 2021. The in-house commercial and advertising sales unit was launched in partnership with Engineer Holding Group (EHG). Waleed Al Ibrahim, Chairman of MBC Group said: “We have assembled a leadership team and put in place a governance framework to take our new venture MMS forward. We remain committed to offering integrated solutions across television, digital and OTT platforms. We look forward to launching MMS early next year.”

and engage with them.” Asharq News also has an exclusive content agreement with Bloomberg Media, that will power one of its key components titled Asharq Business with Bloomberg. The latter will draw on Bloomberg’s coverage from more than 2,700 journalists and analysts globally. The Asharq Business television and digital teams will have access to Bloomberg’s financial and economic content, analysis and market data, curating translated stories from Bloomberg for its platforms. Asharq News is headquartered in Riyadh, with central offices in DIFC, UAE, and Washington, DC. It has major hubs and studios in Cairo and Abu Dhabi.

Twofour54 announces new business licences Twofour54 Abu Dhabi and Media Zone Authority have launched a range of 57 new licence categories for gaming and esports companies and freelance creative professionals. The new licences will allow a range of companies to set up their business at twofour54. Michael Garin, CEO of twofour54, said:

“Twofour54 believes gaming and esports is the future for the media industry and will continue to be the champion for building the gaming ecosystem in Abu Dhabi. We look forward to welcoming more gaming companies to our impressive roster of SMEs and multinationals through the new range of business licences.”

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 5

PRONEWS

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed issues new decree to establish UAE media office The President of the UAE, HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, issued a decree last month to establish the Media Office of the UAE government, according to the recent Federal Official Gazette. The new office will be headquartered in the UAE with subsequent branches or offices inside and outside the country to be opened in time. The office will be within the Ministry of Cabinet

Affairs, and its structure shall be approved by a decision of the minister. The ministry’s legislation, regulations and policies shall apply to the new media office as well. The functions of the new UAE Media Office will be to propose and prepare public media policies, legislations and strategies for the state. The office shall have the legal capacity to conduct business and take actions necessary to implement its

Bahrain’s Baby Clay announces season two of Lantern’s Tales

Bahrain-based production house Baby Clay has announced that it will release season two of its production Lantern’s Tales in time for Ramadan 2021. Lantern’s Tales is a drama series of fun and informative stories about Arab civilisation produced for kids.

Directed by Enas Al-Yaqoub, who also helms Baby Clay, season two of Lantern’s Tales will be featured at the Dubai International Content Market (DICM) on December 7, 2021. Commenting on the new season of Lantern’s Tales, Al-Yaqoub said: “We have been careful to maintain a very high quality of production with groundbreaking motion graphics and production techniques while also ensuring that our stories enthrall Arab audiences around the world.”

6 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

functions. The Minister of Cabinet Affairs will also open and establish other branches or offices inside and outside the country, in accordance with the decree. It will also propose and review federal legislation related to the media sector in the state, as well as necessary amendments in cooperation with the authorities concerned with organising this sector; and unify and organise the media

discourse and messages of the UAE government, locally and internationally. The office will represent the country in the media at all regional and international levels, building close ties with international media organisations and institutions, managing the state’s media crises in coordination with the concerned authorities, and dealing with foreign and international media.

Arabic series The Platform begins production of season two in UAE UAE production house Film Gate Productions, in collaboration with Al Kalema Productions, is currently filming season two of The Platform series across various locations in Abu Dhabi. Season two was planned after the series had a successful global debut on Netflix in September.

The series, comprising 12 episodes, stars Syrian actor Maxim Khalil as Karam, who struggles to keep his dysfunctional family from disintegrating. The Platform was created and written by Hozan Akko alongside Mansoor AlYabhouni AlDhaheri.

Egyptian film wins Palme d’or at special edition of Cannes 2020 Egyptian film I Am Afraid To Forget Your Face, directed by Egyptian filmmaker Sameh Alaa, was named the unanimous winner of the Palme d’or at the special edition of Cannes film festival this year. In the wake of a new generation of compelling

young Egyptian filmmakers featuring in the Official Selection in recent years, this is the first time an Egyptian film has won the Palme d’or for Short Films at the Festival de Cannes. The 74th edition of the film festival will take place from May 11 to 22, 2021.

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PRONEWS

Finyal Media launches second series of Arabic podcast Juha in MENA Finyal Media has launched the second series of its Arabic podcast Juha. The new series offers listeners audio adaptations of classic Arabic folklore based around the wise fool known as Juha. The 15-episode series was launched across all popular podcast channels with the last one released on November 22. The first series of Juha, launched during Ramadan 2020, ranked number one on the Apple Podcast charts, garnering a loyal following across MENA. Series two was due to launch during Ramadan 2021, but after popular demand, Juha has been released earlier than anticipated.

From among the rich heritage of classic Arabic stories that are ripe for modern adaptation, Juha’s stories have been selected for their humour. Each 10 to 15-minute episode explores a fictional story of Juha told by a narrator. The show depicts stories of magic, secret tricks, kings and fortune-tellers with the charisma, humour and wit

that listeners have come to know and love about the character of Juha. Mshari Alonaizy, Cofounder and Chief Creative Officer at Finyal Media said: “At Finyal Media, we want to create audio stories which spark our audience’s imagination and take them to another world. Juha’s stories do just this and make sure listeners finish every single episode feeling positive and

inspired. Instead of waiting to release series two, we wanted to give listeners new stories and nostalgia for a muchneeded break from reality in the midst of a pandemic. We look forward to all Juha fans and listeners having the chance to hear more tales on such a loveable character.” The new series is now available across all popular podcast channels, as well as the Finyal Media website.

Dubai Media City celebrates 20-year milestone Dubai Media City celebrated its 20th anniversary last month. Launched on November 11, 2000, under the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Media City is home to 122 TV and radio channels for news and entertainment broadcasted to millions of people in dozens of languages, including Arabic, English, Chinese, German, Tagalog, Hindi and Urdu. Providing state-of-the-art infrastructure, a supportive

environment and services to improve the ease of doing business, Dubai Media City has attracted some of the leading companies to the UAE, including CNN, BBC, MBC and CNBC Arabia. It was the first of three media-focussed communities alongside Dubai Production City and Dubai Studio City and includes 3,000 companies and 30,000 professionals. Having established the UAE’s reputation as a destination for local and international media, Dubai Media City features training

8 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

institutions and academics focussed on preparing a new generation of media talent in the region. Commenting on the milestone, Majed Al Suwaidi, Managing Director of Dubai Media City, said: “Established as the cornerstone of Dubai’s ambitious strategy to become a global media hub, our community turned the UAE’s vision for knowledge and innovation-based economy into a reality. “We are the region’s largest media community. We have created a unique

platform to nurture local and international talent, as well as homegrown entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs. Talent is at the heart of this and we regularly launch initiatives and events to emphasise Dubai’s strategic role in elevating the industry. We have also continued to set new benchmarks in ease of doing business and believe there are tremendous opportunities in the ever-changing media and creative industries as we move forward following this great milestone.”

PRONEWS

Action Filmz invests in Fujinon lenses Dubai-based production equipment rental company Action Filmz has invested in the MENA region’s first Fujinon Premista largeformat zoom lens. The Fujinon Premista 28-100 T2.9 has been rented out on well over 30 productions over the past 10 months. This initial investment has now been expanded to include the Fujinon Premista 80-250 T2.9-3.5. The Fujinon Premista zoom lenses are designed for large-sensor cinema cameras such as the ARRI Alexa LF and Alexa Mini LF, Sony Venice and RED Monstro 8K cameras. The Premista zoom lenses have been used locally for commercials, especially beauty shoots where the Premista’s pleasing rendering of skin

Crispin Dominic (l) takes delivery of the Premista lens.

tones has been an important decision-making factor. Crispin Dominic, owner and MD of Action Filmz said: “The Fujinon Premista large-format zoom lenses have opened up opportunities for many productions to maximise the potential of new largesensor cameras such as the ARRI Alexa Mini LF. With

Netflix, Amazon Emirati short film obtain Turkish Athel wins at broadcast Calcutta film fest licences Emirati film Athel has Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have obtained licences in Turkey by complying with new online broadcasting rules. Ebubekir Sahin, the head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), said: “International platforms Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have fulfilled their obligations just like local streaming services and received a license from RTÜK.” The broadcast licenses are valid for 10 years.

won an award at the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival in India, qualifying to compete for the Golden Fox Awards at the annual live screening gala of CICFF in the City of Joy, which will be held in January 2021. Distributed by Mad Solutions, the film is produced by Toaster Productions and Anasy Media and directed by Alyazia Bint Nahyan. The film stars Egyptian actress Hala Shiha and Emirati artist Mansour Alfeeli.

a large-format camera, the use of other cine zoom lenses that are made for the smaller super 35mm format may not cover the larger sensor, and require an image crop which defeats the purpose of shooting with a larger sensor.” Dominic says he has served as DoP on beauty commercials that have

used the Premista zooms for “the pleasing skin tones”, choosing not to employ diffusion, where a glimmer glass or other filter would traditionally have been used. These lenses have also proven popular for car commercials. Action Filmz has plans to add the newly announced Fujinon Premista 19-45mm T2.9 as well to its gear. “Business is picking up again and productions require state-of-theart camera packages. This has included the ARRI Alexa Mini LF and lenses that cover the full large format sensor of this camera. Demand is expected to increase as more productions want the large-format look,” concluded Dominic.

Shahid VIP now in US and Canada Shahid VIP was launched in the US and Canada last month for viewers commercial-free and on any compatible device including Smart TVs, streaming media players, Android, iOS or desktops. Shahid VIP will charge $8.99 a month or $79.99 a year in the US and $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year in Canada.

You Will Die At Twenty to represent Sudan at Oscars 2021 Filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala’s You Will Die At Twenty has become the first-ever Sudanese film to be selected for the country’s Oscar’s submission. The film

has been submitted as Sudan’s official nomination for the Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming 2021 Academy Awards.

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 9

PRONEWS

OSN to double its investment in Arabic content through OSN Originals OSN is planning to double its investment into Arabic content in 2021 by launching OSN Originals, a new content umbrella dedicated to regionally produced content. OSN Originals will host season three of A’adet Regala, the reality TV show Yalla Neta’asha and the Syrian drama No Man’s Land in partnership with Fremantle. OSN has also added to its Originals portfolio, Egyptian film Curfew directed by Amir Ramses, which will be premiering at the Cairo International Film Festival in December. OSN’s vision for 2021 will focus on Arabic content, split between

Patrick Tillieux is CEO of OSN.

acquisition and Original production. By the end of 2021, Arabic and Original productions will represent 25% of all content on OSN. OSN Originals will support regional producers, screenwriters

El Gouna Film Festival announces winners of fourth edition

Prizes worth $224,000 were announced at the festival.

El Gouna Film Festival concluded its fourth edition with a closing ceremony on October 30 that was held at the Gouna Conference and Culture Center, in which the winning films of the festival’s prizes, worth $224,000, were announced. Egyptian actor Khaled El Sawy was awarded a Career Achievement

Award within the ceremony’s activities. Quo vadis, Aida? by Jasmila Žbanic received the El Gouna Golden Star for Narrative Film award and a cash prize of $50,000. The Man Who Sold His Skin by Kaouther Ben Hania won the El Gouna Star for Best Arab Narrative Film and a cash prize of $20,000.

10 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

and talent, providing opportunities to connect with audiences across OSN’s network in over 20 countries. Patrick Tillieux, CEO of OSN said: “As one of the largest players in the regional entertainment industry, we bear a responsibility to offer content that taps into their passions and aspirations. Audience demands have evolved, and OSN Originals was borne from the need to meet these demands.” Rolla Karam, Interim Chief Content Officer, OSN, remarked: “The guiding principle of our content strategy is to be inclusive enough to embrace the diversity of our audiences across the region."

Viu partners with FOX+ in MENA Viu has partnered with FOX+ to expand its tailored international content offering to MENA audiences from October. More than 300 Western titles will be available on Viu, with close to 100 hours of content being added each month. Audiences will have access to content from FOX+ including TV series, lifestyle shows, Hollywood blockbusters, and kids’ programmes.

SPI/FilmBox and Türksat/ KabloTV expand partnership The agreement offers Türksat/KabloTV subscribers continued access to eight channels from SPI’s portfolio for an additional three years, along with SPI’s streaming service, FilmBox Live. Additionally, the deal also makes SPI’s premium movie channel FilmBox Extra available to the subscribers in an add-on package.

Amir El-Masry named in BAFTA’s Breakthrough list British Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry is part of this year’s BAFTA Breakthrough which is the only talent initiative that showcases and supports the next generation of creative talent in film, games and TV.

PRONEWS

KSA group Telfaz11 inks deal with Netflix to produce eight new films Saudi Arabian production and financing group Telfaz11 has signed a partnership with Netflix to produce eight new films, with the first project coming to life in late 2021. This partnership comes after the success of Telfaz11 and Netflix’s collaboration, Six Windows in the Desert. Netflix is now investing in Telfaz11 to build stories that reflect the region’s cinematic culture. The partnership entails the production of eight new films, developed and produced by Telfaz11 and aiming for broad appeal across both Arab and global audiences. The projects will bring

5,500 illegal IPTV servers shut down across Europe More than 5,550 IPTV computer servers used to transmit TV broadcasts, live sports and films illegally, have been taken down in various parts of Europe. The operation took down over 200 servers to prevent the fraud from propagating. One person has been arrested. Computer equipment, communication tools as well as luxury cars, have been seized. The estimated profits totalled $12.6m.

Telfaz11 will release their first project in 2021.

at Netflix said: “We are expanding our library of Saudi content and showcasing the beauty of Saudi storytelling by joining forces with its creators to produce authentic stories. We hope that Telfaz’s work will offer Netflix members around the world a chance to experience Saudi culture, humour and art.” Telfaz11 CEO and co-founder Alaa Fadan remarked: “These eight films will showcase for global audiences the incredible culture, locations and talent that exists within both our region and the Telfaz11 filmmaker network.”

together unconventional storytellers who are passionate about combining narratives drawn from Arab culture. Founded by Alaa Yousef Fadan, Ali Al Kalthami,

and Ibrahim Al Khairallah, Telfaz11 aims to meet Saudi Arabia’s and the wider region’s strong appetite for creative expression. Nuha El Tayeb, Director, Content Acquisitions, MENAT

RFC Jordan devises new cash rebate programmes

Orange Egypt signs exclusive content partnership with Deezer

The two new incentive schemes target Arab and Jordanian productions, whereby 10-15% cash rebate will be granted to eligible productions. Additionally, local productions or co-productions with Jordan can benefit from the Jordan Film Fund. Mohannad Al-Bakri, RFC’s MD said: “Jordanian cinema has come a long way in the past years despite financial challenges. It is our duty to develop new programmes that provide an enabling environment while helping the creative industry grow. All this comes in addition to other existing incentives.”

New users will get one month of Deezer Premium for free.

A new deal between Orange and Deezer allows the telco’s customers in Egypt to sign up for Deezer Premium. The agreement also offers new users one month of the service for free. Additionally, customers can secure a 50% discount till January 2021 for the first 100,000 customers. who subscribe to the service. Ahmed El-Abd, CCO at

Orange Egypt said: “We will offer a unique experience to our customers through the largest music platform, which includes a variety of Arabic and foreign content.” Tarek Mounir, Deezer’s CEO for MENAT remarked: “Orange is one of our closest partners in France and I’m genuinely excited to launch this partnership in Egypt.”

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 11

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PRONEWS

Cartoon Network Arabic plans to continue investment in local content Cartoon Network Arabic will continue to invest in local content, a senior WarnerMedia executive told BroadcastPro ME last month when the channel hit its 10-year milestone. “We will continue investing in and developing locally relevant shows which speak to the Arabic children,” Darine El Khatib, Senior Director, Creative Strategy and Brand Development for MENA and Turkey commented. This year, the channel launched new franchises such as Eliott from Earth and Mao Mao: Heroes

Cartoon Network Arabic collaborated with YouTubers from the region to produce CN Tubers.

of Pure Heart. For the MENA audience, the channel developed a digital-style production called Cartooners. El Khatib revealed: “For this show, we collaborated with local kids and created short-form content, which includes competition or magic. It was important

Intigral partners with telco to launch Jawwy TV app in Egypt

Intigral unveiled its Jawwy TV app in Egypt through a strategic collaboration with telco operator, Telecom Egypt “WE” in partnership

with Tpay Mobile, a digital payments platform. A 30-day free trial of Jawwy TV will be available exclusively to WE subscribers from the date of subscription. Markus Golder, CEO of Intigral, said: “Egypt is one of the biggest growth markets for OTT in MENA, and we are keen to seize this potential by presenting world-class digital entertainment offerings that represent Saudi excellence to audiences beyond the GCC region.”

because when kids see other kids who are relatable, it automatically becomes engaging.” Season two of Cartooners is currently in production. The channel launched another format in June called CN Tubers, where it collaborated with mega YouTubers from the

Netflix to host African Original series Kings of Jo’burg in December Kings of Jo’burg, which features six episodes, will begin streaming from December 4. The story follows the Masire brothers, who come face-to-face with a supernatural family curse while a web of betrayal threatens to destroy them. The series is produced by South African company Ferguson Films.

region for this show. “Every episode revolves around one of our key franchises. This show is hosted by a puppet YouTuber for Cartoon Network, who speaks in an Arabic dialect. Now, we are in the process of making season two,” El Khatib said. Cartoon Network also unveiled a rap song called Cartoon Network Right Now, and brought back classics such as Dexter, Codename Kids Next Door, Fosters Home for imaginary friends, Courage the Cowardly Dog and Camp Lazlo to mark its tenth birthday.

Roya TV starts broadcasting on Türksat satellites Jordan-based Roya TV (HD) has started broadcasting on Türksat communication satellites as of November 2. The TV channel’s HD broadcasts can now be watched on Türksat 3A satellite. In a statement, Turksat said: “Aspiring to include the Arabic-speaking audience in Turkey to its viewers, Roya TV, with its challenging content in the fields of News, Sports, Entertainment and Arts, will now meet with its viewers on Türksat satellites.” The satellite TV channel is based in Amman and owned by Sayegh Group.

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 13

PRONEWS

Spotify launches new initiative for emerging Arab female artists Spotify has launched Sawtik, an initiative to celebrate and amplify the voices of emerging unsigned female artists in MENA, following research that unveiled their deepening underrepresentation in the region’s music scene. With female artists comprising less than 13% of those signed by MENAbased labels in the past five years, Sawtik, which means “Your Voice”, will use Spotify’s reach to raise their visibility, while offering them education,

Arab superstar Latifa joins Spotify as the initiative's first-ever godmother.

Premier League scraps pay-perview model following backlash The Premier League has announced that fixtures until the new year, will be made available to watch live in the UK without the pay-per-view model. All matches will be shown via Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon and BBC services.

It comes as the league faced backlash for the pay-per-view model where viewers were asked to pay nearly $20 to watch games not selected for broadcast by Sky Sports or BT Sport in October.

Egyptian horror Ammar to premiere at Cairo Film Festival The film will premiere within The Midnight Screenings section at the 42nd Cairo International Film Festival scheduled to take place from December 2 to 10, 2020. Ammar is directed by Mahmoud Kamel.

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networking opportunities and marketing support. Sawtik debuts with a line-up of 16 talented voices from the region and Arab superstar Latifa joins as the initiative’s first-ever godmother. The 16 artists joining the initiative’s launch phase span the region from Morocco to Tunisia, Algeria, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE. Recognising the scarcity of female artists in the MENA music industry, Spotify conducted region-

wide research collecting insights from across the music ecosystem. With findings showing there is still a long way to go to level the gender playing field in the region’s music industry, Spotify saw the need to launch such an initiative. Claudius Boller, MD for MEA at Spotify said: “Sawtik is one of the many ways we are looking to amplify the voices of emerging female artists across the Middle East and North Africa and use Spotify’s global reach to further their careers.”

Riedel names Vincent Lambert as GM for Japan and South Korea Lambert takes the helm of a Tokyo-based operation that has grown significantly since its opening five years ago. Moving into his new role after serving for four years as Riedel’s head of global system consulting, Lambert will report to APAC Director Simon Roehrs.

Masstech appoints Will Pitt as Head of Sales for EMEA Pitt will head the EMEA sales team to drive growth and strengthen reseller network, and generate revenue streams made possible via Kumulate, Masstech’s hybrid cloud media and content management solutions. Pitt joins from Imagen, where he served as their Commercial Director for four and a half years.

PRONEWS

UAE Pro League enhances viewer experience with virtual crowd noises The UAE Pro League (UAEPL), which is well known for several broadcast firsts in the region, recently introduced virtual crowd cheering into its matches to ensure that fans on TV were able to experience the same excitement that they were accustomed to in a stadium. With lockdown measures forcing all UAE football matches to be held behind closed stadium doors, crowd cheering and fan noises, that are part of any match, were missing. The UAEPL addressed this by introducing virtual crowd noises as part of its TV coverage. The service is provided from the stadiums over international feeds and is part of the coverage on TV and digital platforms. Ammar Hina, Broadcast & TV Production Director, UAE Pro League, told BroadcastPro ME: “We organise more than 300 productions every year including the Arabian Gulf League. Since the pandemic began, the experience of football on TV has changed. Earlier, the audio and video for the matches relied on audience reactions live from the stands. The idea of broadcasting a football match without fans was a challenge. In March, we started working on the idea of including crowd noises in cooperation with a couple of companies.” As a result, the UAEPL team worked with US-based sports marketing and talent management company, Wasserman Media Group, which provided the equipment

The UAE Pro League incorporated virtual elements in the matches that were being broadcast.

for the audio effects in matches being broadcast live from the stadium. The Pro League is the first in the region to adopt this initiative, in order to enhance the match viewing experience. Malek Doughan, Marketing and Commercial Affairs Director, UAE Pro League, said: “We wanted to present viewers at home with an experience that was as close to how they were used to watching football matches before the pandemic.” The noises are embedded in the broadcast in real time right from the field via an OB van. Hina said: “We went through around 20 matches from past seasons and collected a bulk of audio clips including reactions, chanting and

screaming of the audience.” The UAEPL and Wasserman employed an audio specialist for mixing the audio in real time for each match. Hina said: “They are working directly from the field. They watch the match and the screens simultaneously. Whenever something happens on the pitch, they include the appropriate reactions to the broadcast.” Doughan added: “We’ve tested this technique with our partners because ultimately, we’re going live. It means we need to make sure there is no error.” The project was greenlit a week before the matches began earlier this year, when the world was under strict

lockdown due to Covid-19. “Everyone was working remotely across three continents to put the project together, from including the audio to editing as well as bringing the equipment from the UK to the UAE to set it up,” Doughan said. With the kit being flown in from the UK, the teams needed to abide by the protocols in place outside and inside the UAE. The Pro League trained local teams in the UAE on how to work with the equipment to minimise the number of people working remotely on the project. It also called on professional clubs to place awareness boards in their stadiums to support the initiative. The league, in parallel, worked closely with wTVision UAE to include virtual visual elements such as logos, statistics as well as virtual panels on the stands. “To get value for our broadcast, we wanted to make sure that all our initiatives for this season are concentrated on TV, from the graphics to the noises, from branding elements to the aesthetics around the stadium,” Doughan remarked. The league received such positive feedback for their initiatives that match commentators have now asked the Pro League to incorporate crowd noises into matches even after fans are allowed back into the stadiums, commented Hina.

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THE OTT JOURNEY – LEARNING FROM THE EXPERTS The recent lockdown served the OTT industry well with consumers flooding streaming platforms to watch new content. Not all streamers, however, had the ability to deal with the rising traffic on their platforms. The MENA OTT and Anti-Piracy Virtual Week, hosted by BroadcastPro ME last month, rounded up some of the stakeholders to explore how the narrative for OTT has evolved in recent months and how its future will be shaped

John Illingworth, Sales Director, Middle East & Africa, Bitmovin.

Rajesh Jagadish, Business Development Director, MEA, ATEME.

The MENA OTT and Anti-Piracy conference concluded successfully last month with more than 1,900 total views over a period of three days. With the global OTT devices and services market size expected to reach USD 220.54bn by 2027, and predicted to expand at a CAGR of 18.6% from 2020 to 2027, according to Grand View Research, streaming services remains at the top of every media house’s agenda. The conference brought together a cross-section of vendors, solution providers, consultants, and end-users to better understand their respective points of view, their challenges, new trends and what to expect in 2021.

Joyce Lin, Global Sales Management, castLabs.

Danny Bates, CCO and co-founder, StarzPlay.

Key to the OTT discussions were some of the presentations by John Illingworth, Sales Director MEA at Bitmovin; Rajesh Jagadish, Director Business Development & Pre-Sales MEA at ATEME; and Joyce Lin, Global Sales Management at castLabs. Illingworth discussed how to reduce the cost of operations for scale, while maintaining a high quality of service and experience for the end consumer. He defined some of the best encoding practices and how they optimise operations for peak performance, while Jagadish described how ATEME helped transform a customer’s technological architecture through its Enterprise Model, which means the customer had

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Talented local competitors have set a high benchmark for global players in MENA, said Peter Riz, CTO of OSN.

the flexibility to grow and migrate their existing infrastructure to a futuristic, software-oriented model. Joyce Lin from castLabs talked about protecting valuable video assets across OTT platforms, and discussed how to quickly launch monetised services and adopt all leading DRM systems at once without worrying about how to meet content owner security requirements. Danny Bates, CCO of StarzPlay, shared some excellent numbers that showed how the UAE-based streaming service had given global streamers, who have entered the region, a run for their money. StarzPlay’s exceptional growth during the lockdown in 2020 was highlighted at the event. One of the highlights of the first day was the panel discussion with Peter Riz, CTO of OSN; Nauman Qureshi, VP of Product at StarzPlay; Salloum El Dahdaah, CTO of ITWorksMe; and Rick Cordeiro, Director – MEA of Brightcove Inc taking the virtual stage. Both Riz and Qureshi are new to the region but come from interesting backgrounds. Riz spent the last 10 years setting up HBO’s OTT service in Europe while Nauman Qureshi worked in Silicon Valley

with more than nine years in the media industry while Rick Cordeiro represents Brightcove, which boasts a comprehensive online video platform. Some of the key discussions centred around data analytics, creating personas, the role of CDNs and leveraging multi-tenant architectures to understand customer behaviour better.

“Data should give you an opportunity to customise your product − not just which content to present to the user, but also the UI, the functionality and the like” Peter Riz, CTO, OSN developing products at Microsoft and was later with several start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area. El Dahdaah from ITWorksME, by comparison, is a consultant and systems integrator

Once the baseline infrastructure is in place, services should focus on product features as that is where consumer engagement happens, the panellists agreed.

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The road to a robust streaming service The discussion kicked off with BroadcastPro ME’s Editor Vijaya Cherian asking the service providers how the MENA market was different to the markets they had worked in previously, and what new ideas they hoped to bring to the region’s OTT space to strengthen their respective platforms. Riz commented that while the technologies and the partner providers are pretty much the same, the similarities ended there. “The cost of the internet connections and CDNs is different, as is the status of net neutrality. I have to create a completely different strategy to manage the variable costs. The culture and the decision-making

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ethos is different. In addition, the global players here play a different pricing game to Europe and there are very talented local competitors who have set a good benchmark for everyone,” he commented. Qureshi expressed hope to bring some of the Silicon Valley ethos to this region. “All the big consumer companies like Facebook, Google, Netflix etc have a certain science to developing their products. There’s a qualitative and quantitative data that goes in to conceptualising new features and enhancements to the product. That mindset is unique to the valley and something anybody can tap into; it’s just a question of how to bring that culture here. “I think that’s where the root of tomorrow’s products is going to be because the consumer is king. The number of services a consumer can choose from and the content they will have access to is only going to increase. So, how you secure a consumer’s attention span is going to be the game. And to do that, you have to understand what the consumer wants to do on your service. Are they able to discover the content that they want to watch within a short time, and will they have other localised features? So those will play key roles in where we take the product in the future at StarzPlay.” Cordeiro pointed out that it was not just “about getting the content to the end users but reaching them reliably and at scale”, and these were equally important to building a technically and commercially robust streaming product. He cited a lot of new features that were being introduced to the market. “For example, just-in-time packaging allows for storage savings and increased delivery flexibility. Then, there’s content being repurposed for linear popup channels. There’s also context-aware encoding, where an AI/ML algorithm looks at each specific asset, decides

what the best resolutions and bit rates for that asset are and transcodes them. All this allows the service providers to save fortunes on the bandwidth side as well as the storage side. Then, there are features like content delivery rules, content security, geo and domain filtering, DRM, forensic watermarking or edge playback authorisation, where you're able to actually define that a specific link is only valid for a specific user for x period of time. A lot of our customers are also looking at direct carrier billing. The less friction there is on the purchasing process, the less customers will churn during the sign-up process,” Cordeiro said.

“The number of services a consumer can choose from and the content they will have access to is only going to increase. So, how you secure a consumer’s attention span is going to be the game” Nauman Qureshi, VP of Product, StarzPlay

El Dahdaah stepped in to add that he always tries to understand the vision a client is trying to achieve before making any recommendations on the technical path forward. “For instance, what is their end goal, what model are they looking at — AVOD, SVOD, hybrid, what audiences are they trying to reach and in which countries, as this will define how the platform should work technically. We then create wireframes to check if that journey fits with what the audience will want. A beta version is rolled out for some real measurement from the market. Once this analysis is done over three months with a huge number of people accessing it, we start fine-tuning and adding more features to the platform.” This led the team to discuss whether infrastructure or products were more important. Everyone agreed that if the baseline infrastructure was in place, it was time to focus on product features as this is where the engagement happens. Cordeiro went one step further to advocate a “full cloud approach”. “Service providers really should not have to worry about the security, the scalability or the reliability of those platforms because all that is built into the cloud providers’ infrastructure by default. At the same time, since you're using the cloud, you're only paying for what you use, ensuring that all your money is well spent. It effectively lowers the TCO and you can funnel those unused funds into your marketing and product organisations, which at the end of the day, is where you’re going to grow your subscriber base and your profits.” El Dahdaah pointed out that both are important as some platforms have failed because they only pay attention to the features and don’t have the necessary infrastructural support. Data Analytics – Where do we stand? With analytics being important to streamers, Cherian queried if anyone had made any headway with it.

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Riz agreed that analytics is “very important” but added that “we need to learn and understand how to use the data, what to collect and how to use it to make a decision that can, in turn, be validated by the data. “Data should give you an opportunity to customise your product - not just which content to present to the user, but also the UI, the functionality and the like. That data should be something that works in real time. So essentially, some algorithms analyse the data, and that feedback is looped back into your product to make necessary changes. It’s also very important for quality and cost management.” Qureshi agreed that data will “drive a lot of the understanding of what users need and what systems need in terms of scaling”. “It’s kind of like driving a car with your windshield all blacked out. The only thing you have is a rear-view mirror to look into and to see what the road looks like. At StarzPlay, we use analytics to understand a consumer before he signs up and once they sign up, we look at his consumption data – whether he’s a heavy user. We then try to find more users similar to that cohort.” StarzPlay is currently working with a company in San Francisco that is focussed on machine learning (ML) and AI models, to better understand where in the cycle a consumer may leave the service. “Those analytics will helps us predict when a consumer plans to leave a service and if there would be a strategy to keep that user on the platform by way of a discount or some other incentive. While data can teach you a lot; the flip side is that you may have too much of it collected in an unstructured manner. The best approach is to chew only as much as you can bite.” El Dahdaah commented that ITWorks eventually developed its own analytics platform as part of KWIKmotion Media Suite,

KWIKanalytics, as no vendors were able to offer consolidated information from both the CDN and the player. This information is quite pertinent based on what most OTT platforms wanted to achieve, he said. “Analytics should be able to give you a complete picture about your user, from what time of the day the user is watching and at what time of day, in what time zones, and the intersection between the genres they are watching and the actors, so you can make a more accurate recommendation. If you can’t offer your user content that they will want to watch at least twice a week on your platform, that’s a lost user. We worked with multiple providers for analytics, but none were able to gather data from both the

“We need to understand conversion rates of interest with our advertising spend, and link all that information with the subscriber user journey ” Rick Cordeiro, Director – MEA, Brightcove Inc

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CDN and the player. What is available in the market is data analytics from the player side, which is not enough. You need both because sometimes, there are discrepancies in the data recorded by the player and the CDN. So, whenever you combine both, you will get the bigger data picture.” Personas – The Vision When asked about creating specific personas, Qureshi admitted the industry is not there just yet. “Our goal is to try and understand the kind of user we’re targetting and build a whole experience around them all the way from the marketing material that you want to show to the consumer to get them to your service to sign up. For example, you could be targetting a young professional working in Dubai, with just enough time to watch something in the middle of the day at lunch hour, and then sometime in the night. So, the experience you build for that consumer will be different from what you would customise for a homemaker or a cab driver. We try to understand their usage patterns better to create these different distinct groups of personas of our users. “But again, consumers don’t come in a one-size-fits-all bracket. The challenge is to create this universal appeal and yet offer a personal approach to that experience, while also building an experience that is as close to certain personas in the region as possible.” Cordeiro added that advertising was also important to the user journey. “We need to understand conversion rates of interest with our advertising spend, and link all that information with the subscriber user journey. So, we need to understand which platforms they're subscribing to, which device they are subscribing through, or which specific ad struck the right nerve for them to subscribe, and what was the

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In Lebanon, we’re running five PoPs, which allows us to bring the content easily to the audience, Al Dahdaah said.

first thing the user searched for before they converted or after. As we gather more information about who is searching for what at which time, we can also start creating user journeys around exactly what those specific personas are looking for.” CDNs- Private, Public or Hybrid? The discussion then moved to CDNs, their role in different markets and the right models for the region. Everyone agreed that a multiCDN approach would be ideal but there were additional comments from each of the panellists. Riz said he is a big supporter of software-defined CDNs, “where you are able to switch between the CDNs on the back-end, so it’s not just based on technical metrics like quality, but also your cost”. He voted for a private CDN component within a multi-CDN portfolio, if the quality, cost and capacity demanded it. In Lebanon, El Dahdaah advocated a hybrid approach. “We are using multiple CDNs and ITWorksMe has several PoPs installed with different ISPs and IX. We’re doing a mix because when there is a

“Analytics should be able to give you a complete picture about your user … If you can’t offer your user content that they will want to watch at least twice a week on your platform, that’s a lost user” Salloum El Dahdaah, CTO, ITWorksMe huge peak, the CDN with a PoP in the UAE, for example, will probably throw you back to a node in Europe because they are out of capacity in that region.

In Lebanon right now, we’re running five POPs, which allows us to bring the content easily to the audience in Lebanon and have a great quality of service for the audience there.” Riz commented at this point that a federation between the different CDNs is perhaps the future of the whole industry. “If we can build a federation between the different CDN nodes, that could be good for the entire industry and also for the users. But it’s not just a technical question. It is a commercial question and that’s why it’s difficult to crack,” he said. The panel concluded with Qureshi saying he was gunning for better churn predictions while also understanding what visuals would be more attractive to get customers to take action. Riz called for a better understanding within organisations of the variable costs associated with OTT. Cordeiro said customers may want to explore a combination of AVOD and SVOD models in the future while El Dahdaah advised companies to stay with an AVOD model if they did not have the budget or a good and regular flow of premium content.

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STRATEGIES TO WIN THE OTT RACE With a plethora of streaming services vying for eyeballs, each OTT platform is looking to improve their game by enhancing their user interface and fine tuning their personalisation and recommendation mechanisms. Panellists at the MENA OTT Conference debated on some core issues that could potentially make or break a streaming service

It is public knowledge that Covid-19 accelerated the adoption of streaming services in the last year amongst end users, thrusting OTT players overnight into the limelight with massive changes in the ecosystem to boot, taking both streamers and solution providers by surprise. As a result, there have been some interesting developments within streaming as everyone in the chain tries to identify the secret formula to winning the OTT race. John-Paul McKerlie, Chief Commercial Officer at Intigral; Remi Beaudouin, Chief Strategy Officer at ATEME; and Tim Pearson, Senior Product Marketing Director at Nagra explored with moderator Christophe Firth, Senior Principal at Kearney, the current status quo, new trends and evolving strategies in the OTT space. These included debates on AVOD versus SVOD, traditional licensing models, the personalisation and recommendation dilemma, piracy, pricing and the evolving role of set-top boxes. JP McKerlie from Intigral, which has two OTT products including Jawwy TV, an SVOD-based service at present, and Dawri Plus, an AVOD sports streaming service, summed up the situation perfectly, when he stated that “we are perpetually in start-up mode in this industry”. “It tends to shift quite rapidly with the expectations moving a lot faster than the innovation, and so you are constantly trying to catch up.” Adding to this already-charged atmosphere is the entry of sports, a high-value player, which will disrupt the OTT space even further, noted Tim Pearson. “OTT gives sports federations the opportunity to offer a whole raft of content that they didn’t previously have a route to market. These services give them a fresh avenue to engage with their fans.

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We will start to see a broader offering as part of that fan engagement throughout the year.” A parallel effect of that would be “how sports is licensed so the regular fan base has access to content throughout the year through the tools that OTT delivers”, he added. AVOD versus SVOD With the panellists all establishing that OTT brought new opportunities for content and rights owners, moderator Christophe Firth channelled the discussion to the AVOD versus SVOD debate. Remi Beaudouin from ATEME expressed confidence that there will be space for AVOD again although it has been impacted due to Covid-19. He presented two scenarios that will drive AVOD. Firstly, those who entered the market late will find it challenging to penetrate the SVOD market and will rely on AVOD. “This is a nice way to counter the over presence of SVOD,” he pointed out. Secondly, he believes that when hundreds of SVOD services become available, end users who can’t invest in all will turn to AVOD. “The content on one platform may well be on another platform in another country so financially, they won’t be able to stack so many platforms.” McKerlie, however, commented that it all depends on how the platform is skewed. Citing Intigral’s business model, he pointed out that the company currently has two products, an AVOD-based service that they are planning to move to an SVOD model like Jawwy TV. “A lot of it alludes back to whether you have a prime asset that you believe will be enough to pull an advertising

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JP McKerlie questioned if the value of one's assets will be negatively impacted if they are distributed through an advertising platform.

revenue stream towards it. Sports entities and sports properties can if they are in that tier 1 space with a high-demand audience. So, if you know you can generate the eye balls, you need to build an ecosystem to support the advertising around it.” Also responding to Beaudouin’s comment about stacking, McKerlie said Intigral recognised the consumers’ challenge in investing in multiple platforms early on, which is why it adopted a super aggregator approach. “Intigral has aggregated those aggregators. We have signed deals with B2B partners like StarzPlay, OSN, MBC, Wide Khaliji and so on. Our philosophy is to bring everything to one platform, and we moved away from the advertising approach when we did that.” But McKerlie also questioned if the value of one’s content assets will be negatively impacted if they are distributed through an advertising platform. “There is a concept that if you want to build a subscription model, you have to invest in something that someone has value for. In

“We invest heavily in original ... productions so it is in our interest to promote those titles and surface it early on into the customer’s experience ... because it then converts into consumption, which is a measure for us on ROI” JP McKerlie, Chief Commercial Officer, Intigral some parts of the world, the presence of a Netflix or Hollywood content on your platform may drive someone to

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subscribe to your platform. Now, if you take that asset and drop it into an advertising revenue stream, would that devalue the content that is published on that platform? “Also, will the content producer or distributor want to sell you assets that you then want to give away on an ad-driven platform? We ourselves have moved to the subscription service and generate revenue that way. The concept of not having ads is seen favourably here in this market.” However, he agreed that the choice to stick with AVOD or move into SVOD often varies by markets. “Unlike the GCC, if you look at the Levant, Iraq or Egypt — those are fundamentally different markets where your subscription value may not be enough to cover the cost of delivering that content so by virtue of that fact, you may be forced to explore other revenue and monetisation opportunities. He added that should Intigral move to an ad or freemium service, “it may be a market-specific circumstance and we may limit either the quality, the streams, the device access or the product

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access to ensure there is a clear path to subscription in the future.” Beaudouin concurred on the super aggregator model saying how “the great unbundling could lead to the great rebundling where people can have access to everything in one space”. Nagra’s Pearson, however, cautioned that it was important to get super aggregation right. “With super aggregation, you have to ensure deep linking so a customer can quickly get to his content of choice. If not, people will experience fatigue and not find the content they are looking for.” Personalisation and Recommendation This brought the discussion specifically to the all-important topic of personalisation and recommendation. McKerlie pointed out that recommendations were not just about personalising an experience for a digital native population based on their browsing profile and viewing habits, but also served an underlying objective for streamers. “We invest heavily in original content productions so it is in our interest to promote those titles and surface it early on into the customer’s experience with us because it then converts into consumption, which is a measure for us on ROI,” McKerlie elaborated. “So how do you enable and customise that on a platform while also installing some intelligence to bring forward the recommendations you want, so you can manage the viewer’s expectations? Essentially, we want to be able to shape the way they view as much as you want the recommendation engine to recommend it. That level of personalised functionality for a user balanced with the acquisition content spend against the recommendation and intelligence

is the holy grail of that exercise.” Remi also concurred on the digital native theory but predicted that a reverse culture may also be underway, where people go back to a passive entertainment experience after tediously scrolling through piles of content. “We all see the limits of the recommendation of the current

“OTT gives sports federations the opportunity to offer a raft of content that they didn’t previously have a route to market. These services give them a fresh avenue to engage with their fans. We will start to see a broader offering as part of that fan engagement throughout the year” Tim Pearson, Senior Product Marketing Director, Nagra

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engine. You can suggest content but if you add an advert kind of recommendation to that, it involves a lot of painful scrolling through content. We are heading to a point where we will get back to the roots of television, which is a passive experience where you consume TV to be entertained and take rest. What you can have is a recommended channel, which has a mix and match of the programmes that you are likely to have but you combine it with a passive experience.” Pearson added to this that the flaws around recommendation remain because of the disconnect between man and machine. “The challenge for recommendation engines is that as human beings, we behave very differently on a Sunday as opposed to a Thursday. It is interesting that the tech is there, but we need better consumer understanding because no one wants the fatigue of being recommended a hundred things that you don’t want to watch.” The discussion then turned to rights management and all participants agreed that the current licensing mechanism poses a huge challenge on several fronts. For instance, Pearson pointed out that sports federations will start to rethink rights when they see how OTT will help them go direct to the customer (D2C) and lower the barrier to entry. McKerlie explained challenges within an SVOD scenario, where “you don’t have the rights to take the asset and create a channel with them”. “You can’t keep an auto player on and run the next title that you recommend. You don’t have those rights. So, at a content producer level, a time will come to restructure the way those rights are won or bought. And in that, you will be effectively disrupting the

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ATEME has integrated AI into its solutions to adjust the streams, the bit rate and the resolution being delivered to each viewer, commented Beaudouin.

broadcaster’s linear distribution models because you will be buying those channels and curating them based on that interest. We will eventually get there, and it will be a combination of whatever you want and will be customised to each person from different genres.” Beaudouin seconded this, adding that this is going to be a major hurdle for the industry because it has to be addressed at the rights level first. “To enable advertising power with a broadcaster going OTT with full customisation as well, that has to first happen at the rights level.” Will the set-top box survive or is the future all cloud? With so many streaming services in the market and primary dependence on software, which is more costeffective, Firth questioned if set-top boxes served any purpose at all. All participants agreed that STBs would be around at least another five to six years. McKerlie stated that a discussion at IBC a year ago had centred around ensuring “that your device is connected to the OTT environment and through this, you have a level of control over the engagement”. “If you are an operator, there are a few things you can do in terms of partnerships to monetise multiple subscriptions across the device or you can integrate your experiences into the box. For instance, do you up sell the speed of the network that you are connected on through the same device that the platforms are connected with? So, there’s definitely an angle from an operator perspective to have that hardware in the home.” However, everyone agreed that the future lay with smart TVs. With most providers upgrading services via software and more apps including large screen clients on their footprint, to ensure better engagement, STBs roles are

“Based on which content is consumed where and the complexity of that content, we can adjust the bit rate and the ABR ladders, and the number of profiles delivered to a viewer” Remi Beaudouin, Chief Strategy Officer, ATEME

diminishing. In addition, STBs are also becoming cheaper as a lot of the smart aspects of the box have now been shifted to the cloud. Pearson agreed that smart TV was the way forward. “We have partnered with Samsung to ensure security is part of the TV and allows the client to virtualise the box within the TV with the same level of security. Smart TV allows the operators to get a whole new set of acquisition channels as well so they can sell direct to the consumer as they buy the TV. It’s an emerging story there on how that will add to the acquisition value chain for the operators and the interplay of how the future may play out,” he said. The discussion then turned to AI, and Beaudouin explained some interesting ways in which ATEME was integrating AI into their solutions primarily to adjust the streams, the bit rate and the resolution that is being delivered to each viewer.

Set-top boxes are being replaced by smart TVs as providers upgrade their services via software.

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PROCOVER Christophe Firth, Senior Principal at Kearney led this panel, raising pertinent questions around AVOD models, the role of AI and the power of UX among others.

“We use AI to actually mix and match the data coming from the field, the available bandwidth and the type of content. Based on which content is consumed where and the complexity of that content, we can adjust the bit rate and the ABR ladders and the number of profiles delivered to a viewer. This helps ease consumption on the end user side. This is how we mix AI and ML into video encoders and CDNs.” As a service provider, McKerlie said he looks at the role of AI slightly differently. “How do you use a trigger-based piece of data to make a better decision, because this is where AI gets interesting. We are not there yet with our experience.” Pearson commented that Nagra is using AI in its solution mix as part of its data science solution “to work with operators to understand the nuances in consumer behaviour, so as to try and predict churn”. “We are also using AI increasingly on the anti-piracy side and within

OTT, there are some interesting use cases on how to reduce the total cost of ownership and bitrate switching.” 2021 – What Lies Ahead! In conclusion, the panel looked at what’s in store for 2021. McKerlie said he is keen to see how OTT will change the game for sports delivery once the issues around latency are addressed within

The panellists were aligned on the high potential of sports content in the streaming market, and how it will further transform the OTT industry.

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streaming with major sports properties likely to consider DTC. “Favourite goals, commentary about it, flipping paths … that will become available.” Pearson also expressed excitement on how sports entertainment will see great traction within OTT. “We are starting to see sports federations come to the party and provide that total fan engagement from stadium to screen, and OTT has a massive role to play there.” He also said he hoped more would be done around recommendations and deep linking. Remi agreed on all of the above. He also added that he expects to see further consolidation between the platforms. “Behind the scenes, we also expect to see the video end of the business and CDNs continue to evolve and merge. Essentially, everything you can do inside the network will evolve to streamline and fast track the delivery.”

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PIRACY – UNRAVELLING THE MAZE

OTT and pay-TV companies are reported to have lost around $9.1bn in revenue due to piracy and account sharing in 2019 alone. Those numbers spiked in 2020 with the increasing demand for entertainment during the Covid-19 outbreak when people were compelled to spend long hours indoors. Experts convened on November 5 for a virtual meet to discuss how to tackle the ongoing challenges around piracy The evolution of video services over the past years has changed content consumption patterns as well as the dynamics of content and piracy. Account and credential sharing, and illegal live streaming have all ushered in a new era of digital piracy giving rise to the need for new policy, and a change in strategy on multiple fronts from end users, solution providers, distributors, law enforcers and other stakeholders in the chain. The panel discussion at the MENA Anti-Piracy virtual conference attempted to understand some of the recent trends in piracy, and how solution providers and end users are collaborating to address this, both regionally and globally. Panel participants included Hanif Khan, Director of Anti-Piracy and Content Security, OSN; Hashim Ossaily, Regional Sales Director, Synamedia; and Kieron Sharp, CEO of UK-based content protection consultant FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) with BroadcastPro ME Editor Vijaya Cherian moderating the panel. With the rising demand for entertainment during the lockdown and the proportionate spike in illegal streaming, Vijaya questioned how piracy has evolved in recent times, especially within the OTT space and what measures were being taken by the industry to address this in different markets. Taking the Pirates to Book Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT, which has several sports and broadcast entities in the UK and globally among its

clients, pointed out that “technology has especially made it easy for pirates to make content available illegally”. Although it takes two to tango with both pirates and consumers participating in piracy, Sharp said FACT’s efforts primarily centred around “targetting those who make it available”. Hanif Khan, who has been with OSN for the last 15 years, agreed that like FACT, the pay-TV network goes after the pirates. He also advocated strict enforcement and agreed that awareness amongst consumers played a critical role in containing piracy. “At OSN, we take a two-fold approach to fighting piracy. One is the on-ground enforcement actions that we undertake with the local authorities. We are present in all our core markets. How this works is, we gather information on piracy sellers and users, and plan enforcement action on them through local authorities. This action can either be administrative or criminal, conducted by the local authority. The objective is to ensure that piracy is minimised, and its distribution and supply reduced.” The pay-TV network has invested heavily, in recent years, to guard its premium content, which includes films, drama series and other entertainment programmes. In fact, it probably has one of the region’s most comprehensive anti-piracy strategies in place, including a strong monitoring and legal team, a well-designed in-house tool, collaborations with MENA stakeholders and close links with law enforcement agencies to ensure swift action is taken.

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com |

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Between January and September 2020, OSN had 241,000 Arabic infringements removed for 102 exclusive titles, Hanif Khan said.

Sports piracy One of the most pirated assets, however, across the world is sports content. Hashim Ossaily shared findings from a recent report released by Synamedia on the piracy of sports content. The report revealed that 83% of viewers that watch sports regularly on a weekly basis access illegal pirate streams while 71% of the frequent users that were accessing illegal content were actually learning how to access these pirate services from YouTube videos. “There are a number of factors that lead to piracy among consumers,” Ossaily pointed out, listing economic factors, lack of support on devices, unavailability of content in specific markets or apps and the convenience that pirate sites offer as some of them. “Some people just don’t want to pay for premium content. But there are others, who may have subscribed to a specific service that does not have the rights to a football match they want to watch, or their app may

not work on some devices. Then, they look for alternatives. The ease of usability of pirate streams is also becoming a big problem. They make it easy to connect to the content with a simple link and although there are some pop-up ads, you can still access that content. With a legal provider, you may need to contact them and either seek support for your device or buy a set-top box or subscribe.”

“We try and ensure our assets are not shown anywhere else other than the legitimate distribution platforms. Once the piracy is detected, we have a process of sending out Infringement Notices” Hanif Khan, Director of Anti-Piracy and Content Security, OSN

Anti-piracy operations update

Source: OSN

Raids conducted - January to September 2020 Market 2020

Total raids

Total STBs confiscated

Egypt

3491

UAE

310

KSA

870

Total

4671

Website blocking by local authorities Country

Authority

Sites blocked (2018)

Sites blocked (2019)

UAE

TRA

Kuwait

CITRA

KSA

CITC

Total

32 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

Strategies to counter piracy This led the team to discuss some of the strategies global and regional players are undertaking to address piracy. Sharp remarked that FACT has resorted to law enforcement on occasion, working with the police and other entities to try and prevent the illegal distribution of content. FACT has also helped prevent access by strategically blocking servers, for instance, for two hours and making it impossible for illegal viewers to watch an illegal stream. “The ultimate sanction of criminal prosecution can be very effective and acts as a deterrent for offenders and in some cases, two-year sentences have been handed down. Likewise, blocking servers has also been very effective in preventing illegal streaming,” Sharp confirmed. OSN has an in-house Platform Security Information System (PSIS) tool, with which “we crawl and monitor all our premium assets, to detect whether they are being pirated across all forums over the internet,” explained Khan. “We try and ensure our assets are not shown anywhere else other than the legitimate distribution platforms. Once the piracy is detected, we have a process of sending out Infringement Notices. Once the reporting is done, we have a thorough follow-up process to make sure those hosting companies or ISPs take down that content.” He added that OSN has been actively pursuing content pirates and

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Content security - January to September 2020 results

Source: OSN

Arabic/Western infringements reported/removed 241,000 Arabic infringements removed for 192 titles 362,000 Western infringements removed for 307 titles ISD/APP disruption

Live streaming removed

50+ ISD monitored, 16 disrupted

5,000 OSN live streaming

50+ APP monitored, 15 disrupted

11,000 IPTV subscriptions and playlist detected over internet

IPTV

E-commerce adverts removed

FTA infringements

14,300 adverts removed from top global e-commerce services, social media

235 Arabic infringements reported 1,600 Western infringements reported

has helped police and administrative authorities to conduct raids in such markets where they operate. Between January and September 2020, OSN worked with local authorities to help conduct a total of 50 raids across Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Around 4,600 boxes were confiscated, thereby, ensuring that the number of pirated boxes were in low supply in the market during the early months of the Covid-19 outbreak. “During the same period this year, we had 241,000 Arabic infringements removed for 102 titles that are exclusive to OSN. There is a success rate of 90-92%. On the Western content side, 362,000 infringements were reported for 307 titles OSN had exclusive access to. Here, the success rate in removing the infringements is around 65%,” Khan said. Apart from that, OSN had success getting 5,000 hours of live streams removed, and 11,000 free IPTV subscriptions and playlists detected over the internet. When asked why the pay-TV operator preferred to keep its anti-piracy efforts in-house instead of outsourcing it, Khan defended the decision saying international vendors may not have the market intelligence that OSN has gathered over the years about specific

“The ultimate sanction of criminal prosecution can be very effective and acts as a deterrent for offenders and in some cases, two-year sentences have been handed down” Kieron Sharp, CEO, FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft)

MENA markets. More importantly, the operator has a greater ability to monitor its Arabic premium content internally, he added. However, he clarified that OSN does work with suppliers where required, citing Synamedia as its CAS provider. Synamedia, as a vendor, has a three-pillar strategy to address piracy for its clients, commented Ossaily. “Those three pillars include monitoring, detecting and analysing and then, creating an action plan along with our customers to create disruption,” he said, adding that Synamedia has robust OTT security solutions in place. “Many of the components of our portfolio are based on the challenges that we’ve seen in the market. We have an active defence solution, an interesting credential sharing solution as well as OTT security solutions that are focussed on content protection DRM, device security, STB security and so on,” he added. Cutting off their revenue supply One effective way to counter pirates has been to cut off their funding and permit zero visibility on legal platforms. FACT, for instance, worked with the ad industry as part of a multi-agency initiative called

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 33

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Synamedia follows a three-pillar strategy that includes monitoring, detecting and analysing to address piracy, Hashim Ossaily said.

Operation Creative to prevent advertisements going on websites involved in digital piracy. OSN has also successfully taken down 14,500 ads from global e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, e-bay and Haraj as well as social media platforms. Collaboration and Consumer Awareness is Key Ossaily called for collaboration between broadcasters, vendors, and service providers to ensure a full-throttle attack against piracy. “Everyone must work together, and it starts with understanding the pirate’s motives,” he said. One of the key loopholes that pirates exploit is working across different countries that have different jurisdictions and laws on piracy, making it tougher to catch them. “In the Netherlands, for instance, piracy is considered a civil offence,” commented Sharp. “In Germany, they have very different laws to other parts of Europe. It is a matter of adapting our processes and our enforcement activity to the laws of those

“Some people just don’t want to pay for premium content. But there are others, who may have subscribed to a specific service that does not have the rights to a football match they want to watch, or their app may not work on some devices. Then, they look for alternatives” Hashim Ossaily, Regional Sales Director, Synamedia

Piracy in figures

83%

countries. And even in the UK, the laws in Scotland will be different from the rest of the UK,” Sharp said. The MENA region is also a complex labyrinth to navigate. For example, operators like OSN have to deal with 23 different jurisdictions, commented Khan. The panellists agreed that, equally, awareness was critical to moving consumers back to legitimate services. Khan said: “In most of the cases, customers are not even aware that they are accessing pirated content because, nowadays, pirated services also operate on a subscription-based model.” He pointed out that OSN carries out numerous awareness campaigns and workshops on multiple platforms to educate consumers on the seriousness of the crime, the cultural and financial implications as well as how the data and identity of the end-user can potentially be stolen through hidden malware on these pirate services. The Dangers of Account Sharing Account sharing has opened a new avenue for pirates to exploit

Source: Synamedia

47%

65%

of sports fans (watching sports at least weekly) access illegal pirate streams weekly

of the lowest-income fans used illegal services because they did not want to pay anything to watch a sports event

of those who lend otherwise-legitimate pay TV account credentials to others also access pirate sites at least weekly

10%

66%

71%

of all sports fans are watching illegal services every week yet not paying for a legal service

of the youngest fans claim they first started using illegal services because legitimate access was too expensive

34 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

of the heaviest users of illegal content find out how to access pirate services from YouTube videos

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content, the panellists agreed. A Cordcutting study showed that Netflix loses $2.3bn in revenue each year in the US while Amazon Prime Video is estimated to be losing at least $540m while Hulu loses $480m. Another study from Hub Entertainment Research suggests that 31% of all streamers have shared their passwords with people they live with. This number more than doubles for streamers between the ages of 13 and 24 and reaches a whopping 64%. Explaining why account sharing is a concern, Khan said: “If I am a legitimate customer, I can access three to five devices with one user credential. If someone has access to my user credentials, it could potentially be used for streaming the content illegally by a pirate. So that’s the threat.” OSN has seen a couple of cases, where legitimate accounts have been misused inadvertently, Khan said. This primarily happens when consumers start using unlicensed content or apps on their devices, making them vulnerable to data theft. The panellists also highlighted that piracy was rampant on the IPTV front. Sharp agreed that “this is the most prevalent means of streaming illegal content in the present time as it covers all of the devices that are used to access the content on the internet”. Ossaily concurred, commenting that IPTV is a big concern as most of Synamedia’s customers “have bigger IPTV platforms than OTT platforms”.

SILVER SPONSOR

Contagion most pirated title this year In a separate presentation, Christopher Elkins, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at MUSO, also took us through some impressive data on how Contagion, a 2011 American production, suddenly became one of the most pirated titles during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic not just globally but also

in MENA, with Egypt, the UAE and Iran topping the piracy list. He also shared some interesting stats on piracy trends from January to September 2020 in MENA, where surprisingly, the traditional spike in piracy that is expected during Ramadan actually took place prior to the Holy Month this year, coinciding with the lockdown.

The Need for Human Intervention When queried if AI and blockchain technologies could potentially serve a purpose to counter piracy, all the panellists concurred that while technology brings big benefits, human intervention remains critical to stopping pirate networks. “Pirates have their own circles and continue to evolve just as we do. So, a lot of human intervention is required

today. While we are trying our best and using all the knowledge that we’ve gathered over the decades to try and put in more automation, artificial intelligence and other elements to reduce the manual work to ensure solutions remain effective, the role of humans continues to remain important. This is why we have an extensive R&D department,” Ossaily said. Sharp gave two reasons for backing manual intervention. “One, pirates are real people working in cyberspace. And we want to find those real people. Second, it is important to have some form of manual checking of what you do to prevent false positives i.e., going after the wrong people, just because of the way something has been constructed.” In the case of OSN’s monitoring system, though most of the crawling is automated, there remains a manual intervention phase to always verify and validate the information/data for errors, added Khan. Key takeaways from the discussion were the need to be unrelenting in the fight against piracy and to collaborate with all the stakeholders. “You have to keep on doing it. People have said that some of the actions we take feel like whack-amole. But it does have an effect. So, whatever your action is, whatever you’ve decided to do, your end goal is to be relentless and competitive. Fighting piracy is not a one-off solution,” Sharp concluded.

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SILVER SPONSOR

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 35

PROCABSAT

INDUSTRY EXPERTS CONVENE TO DISCUSS CONTENT JOURNEY AT CABSAT VIRTUAL The Middle East and North Africa’s first-ever virtual event for the broadcast, satellite and content communities, which hosted attendees from 113 countries, concluded last month. CABSAT Virtual created an opportunity for the industry to meet influential buyers, network with decision-makers and pitch businesses from anywhere in the world

One of the big highlights of CABSAT Virtual was its two-day conference, headlined by Majed Al Suwaidi, MD of Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City, and Dubai Production City. Al Suwaidi kicked off the conference by discussing how Dubai is driving media excellence in the region. In the keynote, he lauded how Dubai’s creative industries “demonstrated readiness and resilience to support the UAE and wider region during these exceptional times”. “By challenging misinformation, reporting the facts and keeping millions of people informed and entertained,

36 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

the media industry highlighted its importance as a sector of social and economic importance. Our three media communities – Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City and Dubai Production City – have played a major role in creating a comprehensive ecosystem in line with the vision of our leaders for knowledge and innovation-based economy. “We have attracted major Hollywood blockbusters such as Vanguard, Star Trek Beyond and Mission: Impossible Ghost – Protocol to Dubai. Our startup incubator in5 has helped entrepreneurs raise record-breaking investment this year.”

PROCABSAT

Twitch series Artificial has been designed in a way that allows audiences to interact with the show’s AI character.

With Africa’s cultural yield having tremendous potential economic and social impact, CABSAT Virtual heard expert insight on ways to forge regional alliances while developing localised content strategies, from Aduku Armstrong Idachaba, Director General, National Broadcasting Commission of Nigeria. Idachaba said: “Africa perhaps remains the biggest hub of creative content globally. Nigeria’s songs, dances and drama show narratives and renditions which have become globalised and have helped to sell a central African identity point. We believe the world is beginning to recognise Africa for its content. It is not surprising that Nigeria has been the biggest cultural melting point in Africa. Many global musical icons are from Nigeria, while Nollywood has been gaining audiences across Europe and America – and the world. TV and radio are also growing exponentially, giving traction to our culture. I implore CABSAT visitors to forge alliances with Africa.” Three-time Emmy awardwinning digital series creator Bernie Su explored new ways to engage audiences through story experiences. He discussed his Twitch series Artificial, which follows the development of an AI ‘being’ and is the only scripted original on the platform. Su said: “The series is complex and incredibly challenging to produce, but we aim to make it feel seamless. It is designed specifically for the technology on Twitch. It’s interactive because the viewer has two touchpoints – Twitch Chat where they can interact with the show’s AI being a character. They can also interact through polls, where the audience is ‘consequential’ – where there are direct consequences of audience decisions. At any given moment, the characters may not be responding but the audience can influence the story’s outcomes.” CABSAT Virtual also heard from

“The series is complex and incredibly challenging to produce, but we aim to make it feel seamless. It is designed specifically for the technology on Twitch” Bernie Su, digital series creator a panel of experts on how OTT services can retain subscribers following a surge in engagement and new subscriptions since the start of the pandemic. “The pandemic took us from a healthy growth situation to turbocharged growth,” said Luis Duran, Chief Commercial Officer, Shahid. “In a way, the virus accelerated certain behaviours, like the willingness to pay for content. A lot of people got used to paying for our services. We’re trying to stay at the level of the new normal – subscribers are staying. Now, they have two or three services. In terms of engagement, you can’t expect people to stay in front of the TV for five hours, but I believe we will sustain similar levels.” Zahra Zayat, SVP-Digital, OTT & Telco of OSN remarked on how the pay-TV operator saw an opportunity with the launch of the OSN Streaming app to also bring Disney+ into the region. “We’ve seen an increase in engagement and new subscribers … We’ve brought in content at a similar time to the theatrical releases. It requires huge activity to keep audiences on the platform and to keep them engaged.” Nadine Samra, Chief Business Officer, Weyyak, Zee Entertainment, said: “Users have consumed more content and average viewing times have increased. A

lot of our focus is on the advertising side. Subscriber churn has been low for us … we have a big library of content that Arabic audiences really like, and all of our content is only available on Weyyak.” Geet Lulla, MD, India, Middle East and South-East Asia, Gracenote lauded the power of metadata. In a separate presentation, Rami Zeidan, Head of Video and Creative, TikTok, discussed the rise of short-form video content, and how to engage Arab audiences and inspire creativity. He spoke about how cultivating creative expression helps creators develop authentic short-form video content. “It’s more of a video editing tool than anything else. It is no longer about how many followers you have – anybody with good talent can become a popular creator. We are merging the best of the social media and the streaming world. We say the only rule is abiding by TikTok’s safety rules, but beyond that, there are no rules for what you can do,” Zeidan noted. Moon Baz, Strategic Partner Manager, Facebook MENA and Jason Monteiro, Director Brand and Communications, Shahid explored the role of social media during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the potential for partnerships between social media platforms and content producers in another panel. “The kind of content broadcasters provide can often go viral and help to engage people. It sparks interest for people to go back to TV channels to watch more of a show. We’re

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 37

PROCABSAT

From left: Moderator Laura Buckwell; Luis Duran, Chief Commercial Officer of Shahid; Nadine Samra, Chief Business Officer at Weyyak; and Zahra Zayat, SVP-Digital, OTT & Telco at OSN.

looking to expand across MENA with other publishers and are looking for exclusive content,” Baz said. On the other hand, Monteiro remarked: “No matter how big your audience is, you will always be limited, and social media platforms provide an extension of what you are able to achieve. We see it as a way to improve our platform. We want to reach new geographies and age groups that we haven’t reached yet. Our primary advantage is that we are the broadest and deepest home of Arabic content in the MENA region. More consumption is moving to digital – if you don’t evolve and make it one of your primary tools, you will miss out on new viewers.” On the second day of CABSAT Virtual, experts discussed the potential for new hybrid broadcasting solutions and the extent to which DTT projects are being rolled out across the region. “The MENA region is one of the fastest growers in terms of content consumption,” commented Suresh Kumar Nair, Director of Technology at Sky News Arabia. “We have focussed specifically on North African news, and adapted our way of presenting to new formats, and to a hybrid model of programming and presentation.” Naser Refaat, CTO, Rotana TV, remarked: “The society landscape is

“We’ve brought in content at a similar time to the theatrical releases. It requires huge activity to keep audiences on the platform and to keep them engaged” Zahra Zayat, SVP-Digital, OTT & Telco, OSN changing but people want a consistent experience and intelligent metadata tagging. We’ve found that there is a lot of pressure on broadcast networks due to limited streams of ad revenue – there are roughly 1,000+ Arabic channels with a total of $1bn of ad revenue, and 60% of this goes to two networks.” Majed Al Suwaidi, who is also the head of in5, discussed how Dubai is working to create a best-in-class platform for entrepreneurs and startups. Al Suwaidi said: “Startups at in5 raised a record-breaking AED 65m ($17.6m) in funding during the first six months of the year. We grew and attracted dozens of new companies and saw the importance of enabling local and international entrepreneurs. We looked at how we could serve them best, how we could help navigate these exceptional times, and how to bring their ideas to fruition. We’ve created an infrastructure that caters for all sectors within Dubai’s dynamic media ecosystem. Production-focussed startups

38 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

require space, specialised facilities, digital talent and technical skills.” Raffaele Annecchino, President of ViacomCBS Networks EMEA and Digital Mobile Strategy, discussed how significant growth in on-demand content consumption has opened up a variety of opportunities for media companies, while innovations brought on by 5G technology are poised to impact the entertainment industry. With advertising sales revenue plummeting, piracy rampant and streaming services gathering pace, experts discussed the potential and need for new business models in broadcast media. Sanjay Raina, Media & Entertainment Professional remarked: “Is there a perfect model? It’s too early to say. There won’t be a perfect model worldwide – it will be specific to each country and region. OTT players may decide they want to try advertising – who knows. There was a time when there was $2bn or $3bn in TV advertising in the Arab world – that’s probably now around $500m to $600m. That money has gone into digital advertising because it directly reaches the consumer. They think they’ll have a direct relationship with the consumer on the OTT platform.” Naser Refaat, CTO of Rotana TV noted: “With online video, there is

PROCABSAT

At one of the CABSAT Virtual panels, experts discussed the need for new business models in broadcast media.

no one size that fits all. There are changes in regulations about what qualifies for monetisation. I believe there is a perfect model – based on geolocation, territory and the OTT owner. The biggest challenge we have had so far is the platform itself, and to find something that creates media metadata tagging, advertising personalisation and context around consumer usage patterns. Another important aspect is the delivery optimisation algorithm.” Manoj Mathew, Territory Head, Middle East & North Africa, Zee Network, added: “A lot of OTT platforms came into certain markets and tried what they’d traditionally done. Advertising isn’t quite yet the way we saw it as in linear. We use the word ‘disruption’ and say OTT disrupted linear, but if we all pull back, we’re all in the business of content. The medium of distribution is just that, a medium. We need to evolve our ways of monetising that medium.” Khulud Abu Homos, Founder and CEO of Art Format Lab, praised the filmmaking talent in the Middle East, saying that many people in the industry needed to be given adequate opportunities to showcase their talent. “We can’t say there’s no talent in the Middle East – we’re not Hollywood but there is talent waiting

“We use the word ‘disruption’ and say OTT disrupted linear, but if we all pull back, we’re all in the business of content. The medium of distribution is just that, a medium” Manoj Mathew, Territory Head, MENA, Zee Network for long-term investment and belief,” she said. “We started the company in 2016 and the idea came from the fact that we need to bring formats that have a proven record of success and to give our local talent a benchmark to work with international experts. Our mission is to create premium content that focusses on the talent we have, which started with our film development experience. Investment in talent isn’t just about money – it’s also about trust and belief.” Saurabh Verma, Director Middle East, ICT and Digital Transformation,

Dubai Media City has created an infrastructure that caters for all sectors within Dubai’s dynamic media ecosystem, says Majed Al Suwaidi.

Frost & Sullivan, discussed the huge potential of esports which, he said, combined with gaming could be worth $300bn by 2025. “Esports is a booming, industry, with a lot of growth potential. GCC countries have realised the potential of the esports and gaming industry. Some countries are producing the games while others are consuming them, but from a consumption point of view, there’s a lot they can do. Esports sponsorship revenue is expected to be close to $1bn by the end of 2020 and that tells a story.” Jack Horry, Product Specialist, Automation and Control, Ross Video, rounded off the day with a discussion on their move to a studio production automation solution. Katherine Gumeniuk, Senior Director at Sky Sports, said: “The important thing for us was to continue providing a service to our customers. Keeping our staff safe while running the service was essential to our operation.” Jack Carter, Technical Specialist, Sky, said: “Sky News realised people were getting sick of Brexit so we created a pop-up channel which showed everything other than Brexit. It was great that we could use the same coding we’d built for the same channel and automate it.” Thomas Loffler, AVP, Exhibitions and Show Director at CABSAT, concluded the event by thanking virtual attendees and promised to be back with a physical edition from May 24 to 26, 2021, at Dubai World Trade Centre.

December 2020 | www.broadcastprome.com | 39

PROGUEST

“As the streaming market becomes more crowded and audiences flit between services, we will likely see combinations of both subscription and ad-supported models”

AVOD: The best model for OTT success? The global growth of Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) services has transformed the media and entertainment market by providing consumers premium programming with flexible subscriptions at a fraction of the cost of traditional pay-TV plans. Netflix was an early SVOD service provider and successfully used the model to become one of the most recognised media brands in the world, growing to over 160m subscribers worldwide and deeply embedding itself in popular culture. Many are trying to replicate and challenge Netflix’s success, from major players like Apple, Amazon, and Disney to regional players like iflix in APAC. Despite global SVOD subscriptions being expected to grow by 519m between 2019 and 2025, consumers experience subscription fatigue and feel both frustrated and overwhelmed by the number of streaming services available. The reality is that despite having more time to watch content, consumers have a limited amount of money to spend on streaming services and are showing a reticence to spend more than $20 a month on subscriptions. New services face an uphill battle if they want consumers to add yet another exclusively paid-for subscription service or replace one they already know and love. Providers must consider multiple avenues to reach consumers and monetise content. For example, SVOD market saturation and subscription fatigue has provided fertile ground for

advertising-supported video streaming businesses, like Pluto TV and Tubi, to flourish. There is also an opportunity for providers to think about their offering in a more fluid and less binary way. As the streaming market becomes more crowded and audiences flit between services, we will likely see combinations of both subscription and ad-supported models as providers work to maximise both reach and revenues. These hybrid models will be particularly attractive to consumers who desire flexibility and control over how much they spend on a streaming service and the number of ads they see. Most subscription services attract new users with limited-time free trials, but there is always the risk that the users will unsubscribe once the trial period has ended. One of the benefits of providing an ad-supported option is that providers can reduce new customer cancellations. By offering ad-supported plans, streaming providers can switch their monetisation over to an indirect solution supported by advertising. Although consumers don’t have a monthly bill to worry about, providers still need to consider how to best increase consumer engagement. Offering consumers the capability to opt-out of advertising for a fee then provides consumers with greater pricing flexibility. This model has been successful in the music industry, where Spotify’s paid subscriptions make up almost 50% of its account base. Similarly, Hulu also operates with a hybrid model and has grown to become a leading digital MVPD.

40 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2020

Additionally, providing an ad-supported or hybrid model can help reduce churn by offering consumers an option to switch to a less costly plan instead of entirely cancelling a subscription. Consumers often subscribe to a service to access content that is exclusive to that platform. They then take advantage of the flexibility offered by many services to binge-watch and then unsubscribe. By offering viewers an ad-based subscription as part of the service’s customer retention processes, churn reduction is possible. To maximise ad-supported services’ success, streaming providers will want to incorporate the most innovative advertising technologies into their video workflows. Premium OTT content is highly attractive to advertisers because of the engaged, addressable audiences especially on connected TV (CTV) platforms. Streaming providers need the tools to ensure that both advertisers can reach their desired audience, and viewers are receiving personalised, relevant ads. The streaming market has become crowded and competitive, and some services will realise they cannot solely rely on one form of monetisation if they want to be successful. The companies that will be the most successful will be the ones that adapt most quickly to customer demands by providing flexibility while simultaneously diversifying their revenue mix, increasing reach, and mitigating the risks inherent to any one business model. Ariff Sidi is General Manager and Chief Product Officer, Media Platform, Verizon Media.

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