Will 2020 be the year of the OTT? IBC365 looks at the growing OTT market as part of next week’s OTT Week.

If 2019 was the dawn of the OTT era, then 2020 will be the rise of its dominance. Last year, the likes of Disney and Apple entered the VoD game, launching new platforms that instantly saw millions of sign-ups.

The industry is already preparing for more new launches, with NBCUniversal last week revealing pricing for its upcoming service Peacock, and Time Warner’s HBO Max also set to go live in the coming months.

For traditional broadcasters, this poses a significant threat: the likes of Netflix is already luring eyeballs away from linear channels and now some of the biggest brands in the media and entertainment industry will be using their scale and IP to fight for those same viewers.

Some have responded by launching their own OTT services - in the UK, broadcasters have partnered to expand BritBox in an attempt to compete with the new wave of OTTs.

Next week (week commencing 27 January), IBC365 will take a closer look at the OTT market.

Webinar - Broadcaster VOD: Delivering the next generation of catch-up viewing

The onslaught of global OTT players is facing stiff competition in Europe from broadcasters’ own catch-up VOD services (BVOD). 

Join IBC365 on Thursday 30 January at 2pm GMT to find out how broadcasters with limited budgets build platforms to compete with the global players.

Find out more about this IBC365 webinar and sign up here.

AVOD vs SVOD

With a number of new OTT services launching, most have opted to go down the SVOD route – the question is why?

Peacock is one of the few exceptions. Has NBCUniversal seen an untapped opportunity in AVOD?

IBC365 looks at the strategies involved in launching a new OTT service and why most media companies are picking SVOD over AVOD.

Video: OTT explainer

In the second of a new series of short explainer videos, IBC365 takes a look at OTT and VOD with Mireality founder and chief executive Maria Ingold.

Is OTT the saviour for the sports rights market?

Over the past 20 years, major sports have become increasingly reliant on the increasing costs of broadcast rights packages for revenues.

Take the Premier League, for example. The value of the Premier League’s overseas broadcasting rights for 2019-22 rose 35% to £4.35 billion, according to SportBusiness Media figures. When the league started in 1992, Sky paid just £304 million for rights alone.

But broadcasters are facing more financial pressures than ever before. This means increasing their bids is more challenging - opening the door for OTT providers to compete. But the question is, will they continue the escalation of sports rights? Or have the costs grown too high? IBC365 investigates.

OTT roundup

From Peacock to Quibi, in this series of articles, IBC365 looks at the new wave of OTTs that have landed - or are due to land - in 2019/20.

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