Reports: traditional tv companies

The digital revolution has created an increasingly fragmented TV landscape. Traditional Pay TV still clings to its old business model whilst Netflix and Amazon hammer on its door, wooing audiences and tempting both cord cutters and cord nevers with its headline grabbing content budgets and original commissioning.

Since reinventing itself as an online video subscription platform Netflix has transformed the paid video market. By delivering its online offering into consumers’ living rooms through connected TVs it removed the barrier between the TV and the internet.

Online TV viewing in the UK is now a mainstream consumer activity. This has been facilitated by near universal levels of internet connectivity and smartphone adoption and driven by the unique role played by national broadcaster the BBC. However while the UK is in the vanguard of video viewing, the dominant position of BBC’s iPlayer ad-free OTT (Over The Top) programming complicates the environment for SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand) services.

The United States is fast approaching the point where online TV viewing becomes a mainstream consumer activity. This has been facilitated by near universal levels of internet connectivity and smartphone adoption. Leading the charge on its home turf is Netflix, experiencing double digit growth since 2010.