How Consumer Psychology is Redefining IPTV in the UK and USA
How Consumer Psychology is Redefining IPTV in the UK and USA
Blog Article
1.Introduction to IPTV
IPTV, or Internet Protocol Television, is gaining increasing influence within the media industry. Unlike traditional TV broadcasting methods that use pricey and largely exclusive broadcasting technologies, IPTV is transmitted over broadband networks by using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that serves millions of PCs on the modern Internet. The concept that the same shift towards on-demand services lies ahead for the era of multiscreen TV consumption has already piqued the curiosity of key players read more in the technology convergence and future potential.
Viewers have now started to watch TV programs and other video entertainment in many different places and on multiple platforms such as mobile phones, computers, laptops, PDAs, and other similar devices, aside from using good old TV sets. IPTV is still in its early stages as a service. It is expanding rapidly, and numerous strategies are emerging that could foster its expansion.
Some argue that economical content creation will potentially be the first content production category to transition to smaller devices and explore long-tail strategies. Operating on the business side of the TV broadcasting pipeline, the current state of IPTV hosting and services, on the other hand, has several clear advantages over its rival broadcast technologies. They include high-definition TV, streaming content, personal digital video recorders, communication features, internet access, and instant professional customer support via alternate wireless communication paths such as cell phones, PDAs, global communication devices, etc.
For IPTV hosting to work efficiently, however, the networking edge devices, the core switch, and the IPTV server consisting of content converters and blade server setups have to work in unison. Multiple regional and national hosting facilities must be fully redundant or else the signal quality deteriorates, shows seem to get lost and fail to record, communication halts, the screen goes blank, the sound becomes discontinuous, and the shows and services will not work well.
This text will examine the competitive environment for IPTV services in the U.K. and the United States. Through such a side-by-side examination, a series of key regulatory themes across multiple focus areas can be revealed.
2.Regulatory Framework in the UK and the US
According to jurisprudence and corresponding theoretical debates, the regulatory strategy adopted and the details of the policy depend on how the market is perceived. The regulation of media involves rules on market competition, media ownership and control, consumer rights, and the safeguarding of at-risk populations.
Therefore, if market regulation is the objective, we have to understand what media markets look like. Whether it is about ownership restrictions, market competition assessments, consumer protection, or children’s related media, the governing body has to possess insight into these areas; which content markets are seeing significant growth, where we have market rivalry, integrated vertical operations, and ownership crossing media sectors, and which media markets are slow to compete and ready for innovative approaches of market players.
To summarize, the current media market environment has consistently shifted from static to dynamic, and only if we analyze regulatory actions can we identify future trends.
The growth of IPTV on a global scale accustoms us to its adoption. By combining traditional television offerings with cutting-edge services such as interactive IT-based services, IPTV has the potential to be a key part of increasing the local attractiveness of remote areas. If so, will this be sufficient for the regulator to adapt its strategy?
We have no evidence that IPTV has extra attractiveness to individuals outside traditional TV ecosystems. However, a number of recent changes have hindered IPTV expansion – and it is these developments that have led to reduced growth expectations for IPTV.
Meanwhile, the UK embraced a liberal regulation and a proactive consultation with industry stakeholders.
3.Market Leaders and Distribution
In the United Kingdom, BT is the dominant provider in the UK IPTV market with a market share of 1.18%, and YouView has a market share of 2.8%, which is the landscape of single and two-service bundles. BT is typically the leader in the UK as per reports, although it experiences minor shifts over time across the 7 to 9 percent bracket.
In the United Kingdom, Virgin Media was the pioneer in launching IPTV based on digital HFC networks, followed by BT. Netflix and Amazon Prime are the dominant streaming providers in the UK IPTV market. Amazon has its own streaming device service called Amazon Fire TV, comparable to Roku, and has just entered the UK. However, Netflix and Amazon are excluded from telco networks.
In the American market, AT&T leads the charts with a market share of 17.31%, surpassing Verizon’s FiOS at 16.88 percent. However, considering only DSL-based IPTV services, the leader is CenturyLink, trailing AT&T and Frontier, and Lumen.
Cable TV has the majority hold of the American market, with AT&T successfully attracting an impressive 16.5 million users, primarily through its U-verse service and DirecTV service, which also functions in South America. The US market is, therefore, segmented between the main traditional telephone companies offering IPTV services and new internet companies.
In Western markets, leading companies use a converged service offering or a loyal customer strategy for the majority of their marketing, promoting multi-play options. In the United States, AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen depend on their proprietary infrastructure or traditional telephone infrastructure to deliver IPTV solutions, albeit on a smaller scale.
4.IPTV Content and Plans
There are variations in the media options in the UK and US IPTV markets. The potential selection of content includes live broadcasts from national and regional networks, on-demand programs and episodes, recorded programming, and original shows like TV shows or movies exclusive to the platform that aren’t sold as videos or seen on television outside of the service.
The UK services feature classic channel lineups similar to the UK cable platforms. They also offer mid-size packages that include the key pay TV set of channels. Content is categorized not just by genre, but by platform: terrestrial, satellite, Freeview, and BT Vision VOD.
The key differences for the IPTV market are the plan types in the form of static plans versus the more adaptable à la carte model. UK IPTV subscribers can select add-on subscription packages as their viewing tastes change, while these channels come pre-bundled in the US, in line with a user’s initial preset contract.
Content alliances underline the different legal regimes for media markets in the US and UK. The trend of reduced exclusivity periods and the shifts in the sector has significant implications, the most direct being the business standing of the UK’s leading IPTV provider.
Although a late entrant to the busy and contested UK TV sector, Setanta is poised to capture a broad audience through its innovative image and securing top-tier international rights. The strength of the brands plays an essential role, alongside a product that has a cost-effective pricing and provides the influential UK club football fans with an appealing supplementary option.
5.Technological Advancements and Future Trends
5G networks, combined with millions of IoT devices, have stirred IPTV evolution with the implementation of AI and machine learning. Cloud computing is greatly enhancing AI systems to unlock novel functionalities. Proprietary AI recommendation systems are being widely adopted by content service providers to capture audience interest with their own unique benefits. The video industry has been enhanced with a new technological edge.
A larger video bitrate, via better resolution or improved frame rates, has been a main objective in enhancing viewer engagement and attracting subscribers. The advancements in recent years were driven by new standards crafted by industry stakeholders.
Several proprietary software stacks with a compact size are close to deployment. Rather than focusing on feature additions, such software stacks would allow streaming platforms to optimize performance to further enhance user experience. This paradigm, similar to earlier approaches, depended on consumer attitudes and their expectation of worth.
In the near future, as the technology adoption frenzy creates a uniform market landscape in audience engagement and industry growth levels out, we foresee a focus shift towards service-driven technology to keep elderly income groups interested.
We emphasize two key points below for the UK and US IPTV markets.
1. All the major stakeholders may play a role in shaping the future in media engagement by making static content dynamic and engaging.
2. We see virtual and augmented reality as the main catalysts behind the rising trends for these domains.
The constantly changing audience mindset puts analytics at the center stage for every stakeholder. Legal boundaries would obstruct easy access to consumers' personal data; hence, data privacy and protection laws would hesitate to embrace new technologies that may risk consumer security. However, the existing VOD ecosystem indicates a different trend.
The digital security benchmark is presently at an all-time low. Technological progress have made security intrusions more remote than manual efforts, thereby advantaging digital fraudsters at a higher level than manual hackers.
With the advent of headend services, demand for IPTV has been on the rise. Depending on customer preferences, these developments in technology are set to revolutionize IPTV.
References:Bae, H. W. and Kim, D. H. "A Study of Factors affecting subscription to IPTV Service." JBE (2023). kibme.org
Baea, H. W. and Kima, D. H. "A Study about Moderating Effect of Age on The IPTV Service Subscription Intention." JBE (2024). kibme.org
Cho, T., Cho, T., and Zhang, H. "The Relationship between the Service Quality of IPTV Home Training and Consumers' Exercise Satisfaction and Continuous Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic." Businesses (2023). mdpi.com
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