Prior to Parks Associates’ 1st-annual Future of Video: OTT, Pay TV, and Digital Media conference, Steven Schachter, VP of Business Development and Distribution, Cannella Response Television shared insights with the analyst team to discuss the future of video entertainment.

Steven participated on The New Economics of Video panel on Tuesday, December 11, at 3:00 PM. The following panelists joined him on the session:

Kristen Finney, EVP, EMEA TVD, 20th Century Fox
Chad Harris, SVP New Media & Innovation, Crown Media Family Networks
Michael McCluskey, VP, Product Management, Espial
Colleen Moraghan, Senior Vice President, Data Solutions, 605

What is the greatest challenge facing the video industry over the next three years?
Measuring values and monetizing video in a continuous evolving and fragmenting marketplace across various devices and platforms. Consumers are also confused about the many different devices, platforms, services, etc. available to them to consume content.

What is driving growth in video entertainment today? How does that change over the next few years?
IP technology and more content being developed are two factors driving growth. Along with broadcast, cable, satellite & telco, add in CTV’s, streaming devices, and other OTT platforms consumers have more choice to access video. Anybody these can develop content and put it out there for anyone to see. However, the cream rises and content is still king.
Further media consolidation will enable the strong few to gain scale. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google are the wild cards as they dive deeper into “TV.” Will Netflix eventually open up to advertisers? YES, I think they will find a creative, non-disruptive way to do it.

What technology will have the biggest impact on your business in the next 18 months and why?
Continued evolution in advertising attribution (ROI) methods across multiple media platforms, along with the launch of 5G & ATSC 3.0. While this enables more choice for consumers, it will also provide additional outlets for advertiser engagement. Since our metric for success is on actual DTC sales, additional reach outlets will enhance and expand our opportunity for growth.

What is the top growth opportunity for content producers over the next few years? What about for cable networks?
The opportunity is for content producers to align with strong and scalable media partners. Cable Networks need strong marketing partners and platforms with heavy marketing for their content to ride on. There are over 5,000 “channels” on ROKU, but Joe Public only knows about 10 of them!

What is one thing that the pay-TV ecosystem needs to learn from the online giants in video (Google, Netflix, Facebook, and Amazon)?
Effective direct to consumer marketing; becoming a necessary destination for consumers to spend time.

What will pay TV services look like in five years?
Less players in the space. More consolidation between content providers and distribution outlets. The scale will come to those that harness upcoming 5G & ATSC 3.0 technologies and provide the consumers with the ease of accessing and consuming video. More convergence between cable, telco’s, TV manufacturers, and OTT players.

For more information on the Future of Video, visit: www.fov2018.com.