New York – A panel of top technology executives stressed Wednesday that the success of TV Everywhere will largely depend on n attractive and functional user experience as well as a strong content lineup.
“Let’s not lose sight of the TV in TV Everywhere,” said Synacor senior vice president and GM of TV Everywhere Michael Bishara at a NYC TV Week panel here. “When you turn on the TV, everything is there – live TV, SVOD, VOD, DVR. When you look at TV Everywhere, there is still a ways to go.”
Rentrak corporate president Cathy Hetzel added that increased consumer education could help drive adoption of TV Everywhere, citing a recent CTAM study that showed that 59% of TV viewers were not aware of the product or were very low users. She likened it to the early days of video on demand, when consumers were afraid to push the VOD button on their remotes for fear it would cost them additional money.
Hetzel noted that there were 9 billion VOD transactions last year and that with TV Everywhere, distributors have the “opportunity to do it better and faster.”
And there is still opportunity to make money on the product. Ooyala senior vice president of business development Chris Wong pointed to ESPN, which recently said that t average 326 million TV Everywhere plays per month with its Watch ESPN apps. He added that ESPN’s product is extremely ad driven, which should be encouraging for other content providers.
