Not Anticipating Emerging Standards
Technology platforms emerge and some become industry standards. The future is not clear in terms of which technologies will be embraced and become the industry standards for digital content distribution. Having standards will present the content distributor with the enormous opportunity to present one media across all mediums. Content distributors need to start planning for the day in the near future where one encoded file can be published and optimized for viewing on any device whether it is a mobile phone or device, a personal computer or through a set top box to a television.
Content distributors can be preparing for this day now by working with partners who have demonstrated expertise in servicing multiple technology platforms and have proven that they can adapt to changing technologies and have a track record of successful deployment.
Market Inflexibility
Business models are still emerging in new media markets. The distributors who will win will be those who take an approach to market that allows them to experiment and determine their most effective model. It may be subscription, pay-per-view, or advertising supported, or it could very well be a combination of all three. Billing and authentication systems must be flexible enough to support a wide variety of promotional offers; buy-one-get-one-free, first month free, discounted rates for loyal customers, send coupons to friends, are all examples of promotions that may need to be tested to determine the ideal combination of pricing and packaging.
It is more important than ever for content providers to focus on long-term planning in order to get in the content distribution game today without making decisions that will come back to haunt them in the coming months and years. If media companies make myopic decisions about digital content, such as not considering every possible channel for distribution or not adequately securing digital assets, they stand to lose millions of dollars in the next few years. Companies must invest in technology solutions that will future-proof them in every way. Inadequate technologies introduced now into the new media distribution pipeline, may be a thorn for years to come.
Jan Steenkamp is Chief Executive Officer of Entriq and an acknowledged expert in the area of pay media. As CEO, Steenkamp brings to the company his extensive experience in pay television operations, gained from a range of management positions within MIH Limited (MIHL) since 1985.
With 20 years of experience operating in the traditional pay media world, Entriq provides a full, end-to-end solution to secure and monetize audio and video content for broadband, mobile and IPTV consumers worldwide. Entriq's products and services give content and service providers the complete tools needed to manage and protect valuable media assets they wish to track and/or sell. Entriq clients include some of the world's largest content, network and service providers in the pay media industry, including MTV Networks, WWE, NBC Universal, Inc., NPG (Prince's lifestyle Web site), UFC and the International Olympic Committee. Entriq provides DRM agnostic solution on a modular platform that is highly scaleable. In March of this year, Entriq delivered over 33 million downloads for MTV Overdrive alone. Entriq is based in San Diego, CA and is a division of MIH Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Naspers (NASDAQ: NPSN). For more information visit http://www.entriq.com.
