You would have to have been living on another planet to have missed the news; the big players in the Telco world are making significant moves into the TV industry.

Last year, Vodafone UK announced that it will launch pay TV services in 2016; Vodafone’s operations in Spain have already scored great success with over one million TV subscribers signed up.  Likewise Orange, T-Mobile and Telefonica are all making moves in their respective key markets to offer quad play services and realise the power of the ‘the fantastic four’.  As existing service providers, it’s easy to see why Telcos are well placed (and keen) to enter the TV industry.

We are streaming more on demand TV series and programmes than ever before.  Ericsson’s ConsumerLab study in 2015 stated that consumers are now watching six hours of premium content a week on demand – this is an increase of 121% since 2011. Superfast broadband and 4G are providing consumers with access to content, regardless of device and location.

We also know from Ericsson ConsumerLab that 61% of consumers now watch video content on their mobile phones. If service providers are smart with their bundled propositions, this could prompt an ever increasing usage of data.  The end goal being to lower churn and obtain operating cost efficiencies.

So given there are synergies to be exploited, what should these service providers keep in mind as they move into the world of anywhere, anytime TV?

In this blog, we’ll look at the first major area of consideration – content discovery.

Finding content  

Providing the best possible user experience is an obvious and important objective.

Yet over half of consumers say that they can’t find anything to watch at least once a day (Ericsson ConsumerLab study, 2015). This figure goes up to 85% on a weekly basis. Given the huge amount of content now readily available at our fingertips, it’s clear that we have a real problem on our hands; there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.

Recent studies have shown that churn, in some cases, could actually have been prevented if consumers were able to discover content more easily. And fundamental to effective content discovery is enriched metadata.

So what do I mean when I say ‘metadata’?  Metadata is the fuel which powers the content discovery process. Imagine a world without detailed synopses, film or programme information, cast and crew details, images or trailers – our viewing experience would be brought back to the 1980s!

But the real challenge lies in getting a service provider who can source, format and deliver the deep, broad and rich datasets which are necessary to find and personalise the content which audiences are searching for. Telcos need to invest in the right quality of data and the richness of the information that they present.

With the power of social media, consumers’ voices can be readily heard. They aren’t afraid to ‘cut the cord’ if their experience does not live up to their expectations.  That’s why it’s so crucial to make sure that metadata is at the centre of your content discovery strategy.

Next week we’ll take a look at two other key areas of consideration for Telcos – accessibility and technology. So make sure you check back to read the next installment!

Jennifer Walker, Product Marketing Manager, Content Discovery and Access Services