Dubai: Cutting the cable TV cord? It’s certainly not happening in the Middle East and North Africa.
The number of households with pay-TV subscriptions could end up touching 21.3 million by the end of the decade, based on estimates by Digital TV. If that happens, it would mean a doubling from what they were in 2010. And the number of households with a TV would be around 116 million by 2019.
It is with these estimates that Raffaele Annecchino counters any suggestion that the dominance of TV — and pay-TV for that matter — is getting over and being replaced by anytime TV (or web TV).
“IPTV is making some progress in certain markets where suitable infrastructure is in place, but network upgrades and compelling content are needed to give it a greater chance of success,” said Annecchino, Executive Vice-President and Managing Director of Viacom International Media Networks for South Europe, Middle East and Africa. “TV remains the king of media in most of the world … and not just (in) the US.
“According to the fourth edition of Digital TV Middle East & North Africa Forecasts, 18 per cent of TV households legitimately paid for TV signals by end-2014. This proportion will climb to 24 per cent by 2020. Qatar will reach 72 per cent in pay-TV penetration by 2020.
“Our research showed that TV remains the king of media, and that the average time spent watching TV worldwide is high — 3.17 hours. This is +1 minute compared to the previous year.
“TV consumption is different region by region, but what I can tell you is that we’re not only the leader in most of the European regions, a few months ago we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our business in Africa.
“In 10 years we have become the leading media company on the continent based on number of brands and channels. My intention is to do the same in the Middle East.”
The entry of web-TV providers Netflix and Starz and regional entities such as icflix at monthly rates lower than those on pay-TV or cable TV packages can set off an intense fight for subscribers. This is already happening in the US and has had cable TV providers starting to offer highly customised TV channel packages than the earlier pricey one-for-all offers.
A similar trend could show up here as well. But for that to happen web-TV providers will have to convince enough viewers that it is economical to catch up on TV on their mobile screens. And that they won’t use up heavy chunks of their data packages while doing so. Some of the web-TV operators have been quick to align with regional telcos in a bid to grab another viewer platform.
None of this means Viacom — which owns content platforms such as Nickelodeon and Comedy Central among others — will not be hedging its bets on where its programming will be viewed.
“Today, when we speak about content, we should speak about content for TV, non-linear distribution, digital products and services and social media,” said Annecchino. “We want our content to be available wherever our audiences want to find it.
“TV is still the main media, but it’s also true that audiences, especially the new generations who are one of our key demographic targets, are seizing upon new ways to consume content.
“Think about the data we have every day. In most of the cases, this is still tied only to TV consumption when we know that non-linear consumption is rapidly increasing (in particular on mobile). And we can’t speak about the success of a show without considering the impact on social media.
“We should review the rules of what ‘success’ is in terms of media content, keeping in mind the new multiplatform environment we work in. This obviously varies region by region, but it is part of our job to satisfy consumers’ needs.”
Rumours of TV’s demise are exaggerated
While the global average time spend on TV is 3.17 hours a day, that in Saudi Arabia is 6.42 hours, up 1 minutes from the year before. In the US, it is 4:53 hours a day, while for Europe it totals 3:55 hours. “Time spent watching TV is on the rise,” said Raffaele Annecchino of Viacom.
