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| Antonio Barreto: "Access to VOD and OTT Services Is a Natural Step" |
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DLA's CEO spoke to ttv at this year's ABTA and shared his outlook on the evolution of digital platforms and what the operators' next strategic moves ought to be.
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DLA is no stranger to Latin America's most dynamic pay TV industry: the company, devoted to producing, integrating and providing entertainment solutions for digital platforms was present at this year's ABTA (July 31-August 2, San Pablo, Brazil), where its main executives presented their latest projects and discussed the TV industry's future in the region.
Much was said at ABTA's many conferences and panels about how operators should act in light of the new digital platforms and developments. Antonio Barreto, CEO at DLA, spoke to ttv and stated that digital services are necessary to compete in today's market: "These services' benefit is they reduce churn and increase subscriber loyalty, which is very important in an increasingly competitive market where there's all kinds of providers."
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Subscribers are currently demanding access to non-lineal service without the added cost, in order to watch content on any device, at any time: "Operators know they must expand their service offer and see non-lineal services are necessary since the consumer is asking for them," Barreto said.
The executive stated the avalanche of new digital platforms is not a mere consequence of the companies' marketing strategies, and he explained the value of the services increases when subscribers can access content whenever and wherever they please. "Once this habit becomes the norm, the excellent profit opportunities will come about with a dynamic very similar to how cable TV works: entering with a basic package, selling other services, and then adding more and more services; that's a natural evolution."
Furthermore, he believes new generations will use entertainment services in a much more intuitive and flexible way: "We have the habit of waiting to get home to watch TV. Kids don't. Kids' networks are losing viewers in the US as kids continue to go online; internet solutions are excellent for them," he said.
Meanwhile, Barreto also stated major corporations such as Apple and Google might enter the scene as huge competitors: "No much was discussed about this, but it is important since the threat can come from companies with pretty great assets and catalogs."
Nowadays, adding a TV Everywhere service, OTT or VOD platform to a cable operator's offer is simple and fast, since non-lineal services are already popular: "It's not a thing of the future; platforms are already part of the market and can be added to anyone's offer in a pretty simple manner. For operators to provide access to VOD or OTT services is a natural step," he concluded.
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