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from the industry

OTT video set to energise and transform Indian television market

Over the next five years, competition will intensify and new strategic partnerships and business models will emerge, finds Frost & Sullivan’s Digital Media team. The nascent Over-The- Top (OTT) video market in India is growing as smartphone penetration and 3G and 4G subscribers continue to increase rapidly. The recent launch of Reliance Jio's affordable data services and initiatives, such as Bharat Net, will continue to drive down data service prices, boosting video consumption over fixed and mobile broadband. “It will be critical for market participants to gauge viewership trends, price sensitivity and technical requirements while offering their video services,” said Frost & Sullivan digital media director, Vidya S Nath. “Pricing, data analytics, personalisation and video quality will be crucial in defining the market leader in the next five years.” The ‘Over the Top (OTT) Video Market Update, India, 2016’ analysis is part of Frost & Sullivan’s Digital Media Growth Partnership Service programme. India has over 300 million

Internet users and about a billion smartphone users. Millennials and Gen Y comprise about a third of the population and are driving viewership trends towards personalised content. The country’s fragmented demography offers more than 20 types of audiences by major languages, creating tremendous opportunity for content creators and producers. The market is already crowded with about 25 market participants that include telecom operators, Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV providers, broadcasters and individual OTT providers. The number of participants will grow further over the next two years. “Even though the return on investment for OTT services providers is slow and does not justify the business proposition in the short- run, competition will spur all broadcasters to consider the OTT business,” noted Research Analyst Aafia Bathool. “Exclusive content at a competitive price with a sophisticated, user-friendly interface is the way forward. To achieve this, the market will see increasing strategic alliances among ecosystem players.”

For further details, see www.frost.com

Improving speed of wireless data transmission

As consumer need intensifies for access to faster Wi-Fi, an article published in the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Electronics Letters journal reports how researchers from Japan have increased the speed of Wi-Fi data transmission by

10 times the current rate, achieving a record 34Gbit/second at a 500GHz range. This falls within the terahertz range, which is approximately between 300GHz and 3THz.

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Vol. 38 No. 4 - November 2016 Issue