M+E Connections

Cord-cutting is among the key trends that are “revolutionizing” the video content delivery sector, along with the growth of streaming subscription services, Serge Kassardjian, global head of Android/Google Play Media Apps, said in a keynote at Streaming Media East on May 10.

In the last three years, Google has seen an “incredible amount of acceleration” for online video streaming, with usage climbing by 25% across cord-cutters, he said. “We’re seeing a lot of things move online” now, he said, pointing to Netflix recently winning Emmy awards for its TV content, something that would have been considered “insane” only five years ago. Cord-cutting is especially popular among millennial audiences, he said. These viewers “prefer to stream” and are going to have “more money in their pockets” from what they save on traditional TV service subscriptions, so they will increasingly look to streaming subscription services, he said.

Netflix and YouTube continue to be the most popular streaming services, he said. But HBO Go and HBO Now are growing in popularity and newcomers keep appearing, including Crunchyroll and DramaFever, he said.

There are three other key trends that are changing the industry, he said. For one thing, app developers are “penetrating new form factors” of devices and expanding internationally to reach new users, he said, citing Netflix as one obvious example of a company that is reaching more users outside the U.S. than ever before. Netflix said at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that it expanded to be in more than 130 new countries.

Another significant trend is that content owners are developing divergent engagement strategies. “Everyone is doing something a little bit different and trying to differentiate themselves,” said Kassardjian. Content owners are also concerned about the loss of brand attribution as their content is being increasingly viewed outside of the traditional linear TV broadcast, he said. A “direct reaction” to that trend was ABC recently negotiating with Netflix for the network’s branding logo to appear on streams of the show “How to Get Away with Murder,” he said, predicting we’ll be seeing that to a greater degree in the future.

“Second-screen screening” of video content is “becoming the norm,” he added. Meanwhile, more than 110 million U.S. adults are now watching video content through connected TVs, he said. Global smart TV shipments were projected to reach 191 million units by the end of 2015, and that represents a “huge opportunity” for Google, he said. Its Android TV platform is being incorporated in a growing number of smart TVs from manufacturers, including Sony.

There are now more than 200 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) developing content for Android devices across all form factors, he added. In addition: Google has 80% of global smartphone market share with Android; more than 1.5 million Android devices ship each day; and more than 1 billion Android devices have shipped globally, he said.