16 YOUR TAKE Live OTT
GETTING
RIGHT One driver for the increase in live OTT viewing the last two years is the huge rise of social broadcasting. Both Twitter and Facebook have been pushing their ‘live’ functionality, which is increasingly becoming the first place that many fans, especially younger ones, go to watch the action. Amazon Prime also entered the live arena securing both NFL Thursday Night Football games and ATP tennis rights for 2019. In addition, YouTube Live struck a deal to live-stream the UEFA Champions League finals in partnership with BT Sport. Combining live sports and social interaction makes a lot of sense. Social media plays a significant part in consumers’ lives, and sharing content and experiences is a natural part of a live TV viewing, especially for the younger generation.
Words by Per Lindgren, Co-Founder of Net Insight
The next frontier for OTT video is live streaming – but we need to iron out a few problems first
Hulu and Sling TV but also by giants such as Amazon, Facebook and Netflix. In addition, large content owners such as Disney, HBO and Formula 1 have announced new direct- to-consumer OTT strategies. Sports has long been the last bastion where people have continued to watch live content on their TVs. However, there is no doubt that OTT platforms are winning ground also for live and linear content, including sports. ABI Research forecasted in January 2017 that live linear OTT services would grow from $1 billion in 2016 to $7 billion in 2021, a CAGR of 46,7%, and Ovum stated that subscription OTT services that are driven by linear streaming, as opposed to library catalogues, are now the fastest growing segment of the online video market.
PER LINDGREN: Overcoming hurdles will clear the way for OTT video to tackle live- streaming of sports events
018 was a big sports event year with both the Winter Olympics and FIFA 2018, and this has helped further boost Live OTT viewing. OTT streaming is transforming traditional TV business models, but it is also starting to change the viewing experience and therefore the viewing behaviour. This will have a deep impact on the media business the coming years. The changes in the media market landscape have not escaped anyone. Traditional broadcasters are not only being challenged by new OTT players such as
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