When I was growing up, I remember overseas friends and relatives always using a familiar line when they visited a pre-1994 South Africa reeling from the effects of sanctions. "This country is 10 years behind the rest of the world," they would exclaim, referring, of course, to the Western World.
SA today, with its almost 55 million-strong population and BRICS status, has emerged as a fully-fledged member of the global economic community. Whether it's an iPhone 6s or locally-delivered streaming Internet content, it gets here pretty fast these days, and that includes video-on-demand (VOD) content.
Besides speedy availability, what else can local viewers expect from VOD and other alternative viewing providers?
Device familiarity means young viewers will increasingly opt for Internet TV
Global research indicates viewers across all age groups, except one, still primarily use the Web for seeking out information rather than for entertainment. Tellingly, this group is the 15-24-year-old 'future spender' segment.
Because they've grown up surrounded by a plethora of hardware devices such as tablets, PCs and smartphones - all of which can access alternative TV platforms - they're comfortable seeing the Internet as a provider of entertainment. As such, they're likely to give VOD services a whirl while their parents wait for their regular scheduled programming on the box.
Regular TVs becoming background noise, like radio
Isn't it true that most people will switch on the radio in the hope that, now and again, their favourite song will be played? Phenomenal radio content is not expected all the time.
The general decline in TV's programming quality, coupled with the ubiquitous nature of the television set, have combined strangely to reduce traditional TV to the status of the background-playing radio that will - sometimes - rise to the occasion.
For those young people mentioned above, who are so au fait with several categories of VOD-playing devices, watching TV is now a secondary activity demanding substantially less of their attention.
Conversely, entertainment delivered via streaming Internet is a high-engagement, primary activity and perhaps that has something to do with the fact that a VOD device, quite literally, sits in the palm of your hand.
VOD and social media are made for each other
Moving ever further into the great viewing unknown, one thing has becoming crystal clear - media consumption today is characterised by multitasking. Not only do viewers have the 'television-set-as-background' scenario outlined above, where they are viewing several media platforms at the same time, but they're consuming media in parallel with other activities. And the most common activity when consuming VOD entertainment appears to be social networking.
Media consumption today is characterised by multitasking.
Viewing VOD content, possibly because it's often taking place on the same device, perfectly lends itself to simultaneous interaction with multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.
VOD will outlast, outplay
One leading industry commentator hit the nail on the head recently when he noted that VOD has a better chance of surviving in a South African entertainment sector characterised by viewing options that require a plethora of expensive hardware devices just for the viewer to get into the starting blocks.
In a lacklustre economy, who can afford to buy yet another device just to watch video? The entertainment services that will win out are those that enable added functionality with existing devices.
Entertainment will become highly personalised
VOD services are already able to offer a relatively personalised viewing experience, thanks to unscheduled programming and a variety of customised filters and search functions. However, the personalised approach to entertainment is set to move to the next level, as targeted commercial video content based on household profiles and TV viewing behaviour makes its appearance.
The phenomena mentioned above all highlight the need to communicate with audiences across multiple platforms, as well as the importance of radically enhancing the viewing experience in order to ensure a particular medium is always front and centre, and not relegated to the status of the 'new radio'.
Share