Just the other day we completed an upgrade to last years IPTV Benchmark Study. This years edition was published in cooperation with Nokia Siemens networks and is focussing in particular on the gradually growing competition between open and managed IP platforms.

The following chapters were contributed by eyetag media engineers network:
- Web TV: Vertical disruption in times of Web 2.0
- Top-tier type of contents: Struggle over channel and platform control (including reference case “Anti-Tube”)
- Second-tier type of contents: Finding a viable business model
- Independent and prosumer content: Absorbing the trend and leveraging assets on the edge
plus snapshot chapters on Joost and Babelgum, Brightcove and Youtube.

Order your copy now. And buy one for your little sister, too..!

This is the title of my most recent study project, over which I just graduated to MBA in Media Management. Below I want to give a little impression of what the paper was about.

The paradigmatic changes of consumers’ value prop – all of which are regular subject to this blog and thus shall not be repeated here – affect a number of related industries and throw up a plethora of questions on the future distribution of filmed entertainment.

“We are searching for the new platform or the new channel that will drive the profits in the future, but there are so many unknowns . . . What we do know is that the entire model is up for grabs.”,

said Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group already in 2005, marking a change in executives’ mindsets that is almost common sense among industry leaders today.
The thesis focuses on processes, operations and questions of a strategic innovation management resulting from the tectonic shift filmed entertainment is undergoing these days. Extracts of data from all important segments are being collected, agnostic of platform or delivery method, since market segmentation in IP’s advent to TV needs to embrace a new scope of competition. Underlying core belief is that markets are substantially driven by customers’ sets of needs and attached value propositions and hence products can only be developed by careful exploration of those needs. Ratio of argumentation is that by building up excellence in meeting those needs, traces for exploiting customer base and benefit from such engagement can be found.

Core interest of the paper was to discover differentiation options by leveraging open network services and their multicast and participation capabilities in comparison to linear broadcast service offerings of the past. What drives users of mass market numbers now to the Internet and its myriads of communities and social networks?
What can managed network operators and content providers learn from this migration? How can they incorporate success factors into their own environments and drive market evolvement actively?

In order to reach to those findings, the opening chapter of the paper is concerned with a basic description of the platforms competition, their respective service propositions and fundamentals about the essence of value add.
Basic usage patterns and distinct user types in the fragmenting media landscape where examined in the next chapter. Seven key trends in digital individualization helped in the later course of the research at determining success factors and framing disruption to industry incumbents. Following up background information on changing motives and value capture within networked media was provided.

Chapter 3, Service Analysis, added more insights to the industry. It investigated more of the specific structure of each market and general industry independencies by analyzing value chains and business webs, generic payment models and exemplified offerings of digital TV (“Best of Breed”), IPTV (“The Pioneers”) and Broadband TV (“The Trials”). Basic assumptions for pre-requisites to success at on-demand content provision where drawn and lead to three key success factors. Content range, value add by functionality and achieving convenient media experiences. Broadband TV brings strong complementary capabilities to the area of broadcast, so in a summary to the service analysis chapter the evolutionary effects of broadband video to the industry where illustrated.
In Chapter 4 resource-based perspective was added to the examination. Variables for a successful differentiation where collected in here.
But what path towards achieving innovation advantage can be chosen? The essence of paradigmatic changes examined was subsumed in the last part and the findings are attached to three types of new aggregation services (Microplatforms, Aggregators and Reconstructors, following Umair’s classification).
Network effects occurring out of distributed economies of scale waited to be explored. Absorbing of users’ value propositions and inviting them to participatory engagement turns out to be a likely way to go. Analyzing incorporation potential requires to look distinctly to
barriers of technical, economical or other structural and cultural origin. Although broadcast and pay TV still yields by far the largest share of exploitation of TV contents, signs are for change. TV companies should use their strengths in building up relationships because of their high competence in creating emotion and involvement. In the course of the thesis its being demonstrated that they are lacking capabilities to develop thoroughly and sustainable better relationships to their audience. It is being recommended for them to increasingly acquire resources that are not only asset driven, but aim to support engagement in the relationship business element of networked media of the future. By improving customer relationship, the degree of control enforcement will loose its exclusive importance.
Arguable approaches are shown in the following depict.

This assessment frames two central dimensions of change being discovered in the thesis. Competency in relationship engagement with audiences on the y-axis and channel control or degree of customer ownership on x-axis. Those two dimensions shape basic occurrences of business approaches and draw the line between the traditional media model and the new, networked media environment. The arrow describes the evolvement of the business models and indicates market lifecycles from maturity (broadcast) to introduction (broadband TV).
In the paper it is suggested for media companies to incorporate “three pillars of the paradigm shift” (Business logics, Service Types and Business models) to their strategic agendas and thus to their innovation processes.

For mastering the manifold challenges of a networked, heavily Micromedia influenced and thus hyper competitive TV landscape, they will clearly need to perform better on the variables that determine industry disruption.

New entry on regular blog reading list is Personalize Media by Gary Hayes, Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Media Production. He answers the question of the actual change of corporate media´s mindset in a post today rather by the evolutionary modell than by the revolutionary one. Surely the right take on whats happening these days. As I wrote i my latest Paper to Disney´s evolutionary move in Spring this year

Just as this paper is being written Disney announced another major step towards the demise of the windowing system. From May 2006, Disney’s ABC network will make top TV programmes available free on the internet in a two-month trial offer on a revamped website. Available for download over a broadband internet connection following their network premieres, this is a serious offence against network affiliates and subscription services, which traditionally share the same revenue source of advertising. [...]
Overall one can say that there are right now dozens of formattings being tested and thought of. Digital Platforms give programmers all features at hand, one can imagine. What will stay after this first innovation period will be determined by the viewers will.

So further indications of that will are now given. As the Reuters report Gary is pointing to says

That compares with typical ad recall of about 40 percent for commercials viewed on television, industry sources said.
Disney said a survey showed that more than 50 percent gave positive ratings to the advertising experience, which required them to click through interactive ads to watch the shows.
The average age of the online audience for the ABC shows was 29, almost evenly split between men and women and more than half were college educated, the survey showed.
Most Web viewers tuned in from home and watched episodes on their desktop computers within 24 hours after they aired on television. The top reason given for viewing online was because users had missed the episode on TV, Disney said.

Those are the silent news that accompany any evolution.