The most crucial part of any OTT service, is also the biggest challenge, namely securely delivering content to both managed and unmanaged devices without multiplying your efforts and cost.
The TV market in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest growing in the world, with increased connectivity driving demand for content.
According to a recent report from IDATE, more than 80 per cent of households in North Africa/the Middle East (MENA) receive TV via satellite, compared with about 40 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to the high proportion of satellite viewers in the region, a separate report from Digital TV Research predicts that OTT revenues in sub-Saharan Africa will reach US$640 million by 2022, up from $52 million in 2016.
Alongside this regional growth, there’s no doubt that the global media industry has been undergoing unprecedented change. This is largely driven by technological innovation, giants such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix entering this space, and ecosystem fragmentation.
While the on-going evolution in the pay-media industry is certain, the exact future is much harder to predict. However, as demand for OTT continues to grow rapidly in Africa, there are consumer demands and trends that will continue to emerge which cannot be ignored by operators. These can be identified as:
- Consumers want OTT services on devices of their choosing
- Consumers will continually expect more value for their money
- Consumers want customised experiences
For operators in Africa, where in many areas there is a heavy reliance on satellite or broadcast operations, the move to OTT can be challenging. The most crucial part of any OTT service, is also the biggest challenge, namely securely delivering content to both managed and unmanaged devices without multiplying your efforts and cost. This is also a challenge faced by operators across the globe and, to make the transition even harder, Hollywood studios and sports rights holders have raised security requirements for premium content, such as 4K UHD. Defining a solid hybrid strategy that meets both security requirements and your business needs is therefore critical to make the transition as painless and risk-free as possible.
Evolving security in tandem with OTT growth
As demand for OTT grows, there are three key objectives that operators must put at the forefront of their hybrid strategy:
- Support for the widest range of unmanaged devices to reach consumers:
In most countries, this means operators must support multiple DRMs to cover the popular web browsers and consumer devices. This creates tremendous operational and expertise challenges, especially when different packaging and encryption technologies are required for the devices. - Access to premium content to offer the most desired content in each market:
To get premium content such as 4K UHD sports and early release box office movies, operators must be able to meet the increasingly stringent security requirements. MovieLabs’ Enhanced Content Protection (ECP) specification sets the new bar for what operators must do to get premium content. It ranges from ensuring renewability in CA and DRM, to locking down consumer devices, to end-to-end breach response and watermarking. Meeting these requirements can take a long time and cost a lot of money if operators don’t have experienced security partners on their side. - Flexible policy management across broadcast and OTT services:
OTT services are still evolving. Market leaders are constantly changing their policies and pricing options to explore the optimal business models in each market. Operators need to ensure their hybrid offer is equally flexible and consistent on both broadcast and OTT devices to compete. To enable this capability, operators must look for an integrated head-end system that allows them easily set subscriber entitlement rules, without worrying about what device, CA or DRM is in use.
Premium security to help drive growth
The revenue opportunity is clear for operators in the African market, as significant growth in the SVOD subscriber base is also predicted by the report from Digital TV Research. The report estimates that there will be 10.12 million SVOD subscribers by 2022 in Sub Saharan Africa, with South Africa leading the market with 2.7 million SVOD subscribers. However, the secure delivery of high quality content will be crucial for operators in the region to capitalise on the SVOD and OTT opportunity.
Not only this, but with the rapidly increasing smartphone penetration in the region, operators must be able to deliver their OTT services to consumers on any device and offer a great user experience. Security should be robust, but also act as an enabler for great OTT service delivery. Software-based security will allow this, while providing an easily renewable solution to stay ahead of piracy without hardware dependencies. Premium security today means 360-degree protection trusted by content owners, from protecting broadcast and OTT services, to end-to-end piracy control and watermarking. It is this premium security that will allow operators in Africa and across the globe to capitalise on the OTT opportunity and subsequently grow their business.
By Steeve Huin, vice president of Strategic Partnerships, Irdeto
