A partnership between Sun International and video-on-demand (VOD) solutions provider Discover Digital will see the hospitality giant's most valued guests receive a discounted offering on Discover Digital's premium Digital Entertainment on Demand (DEOD) services.
The service offers a selection of rental and subscription video entertainment on-demand services, including news and sports Internet TV channels, direct to viewers' phones, tablets and laptops. The service went live in SA in May.
According to Rob Collins, Sun group chief strategy and operations officer, the international hospitality group's diamond tier guests will receive a free DEOD subscription, while others will be able to subscribe at a discounted rate based on their tier.
"They will also receive a free month's trial to DEOD premium."
Discover Digital MD Stephen Watson says the partnership is setting a different tone for loyalty and rewards programmes in the country.
"There are so many loyalty and rewards programmes today but very few have the ability to add real value to people's lives on a daily basis. Viewers today want freedom of choice. They want customisable, affordable access to shows wherever and whenever. If you are able to add convenience to their lives with your rewards products and services, then you have the potential to build strong ties."
Watson adds VOD in SA is still very much in the early adoption phase. "It will take time to reach mass adoption and become the norm for people. Access to affordable broadband data will continue to be a factor but, despite this, there is the habitual transformation from what was the norm (scheduled TV) to the market fully adopting VOD. Consumers want, and should have, control of their viewing preferences, which need to be affordable and convenient."
In comparison, Watson adds, the rest of the world is geared towards content, staying at the forefront of technology as well as improving consumer experience across multiple applications.
"Adoption of new streaming formats and more aggressive adaptive bitrate profiling in content encoding is starting to show robust results in the delivery of video content more efficiently and seamlessly (less broadband data is required for higher quality video delivery).
"In Africa and SA, convenient billing partnerships, micro-subscription packs and shorter subscription window options are trending. VOD adoption on monthly subscriptions with credit card payment options only, will limit uptake. Partnerships with telco operators, ISPs and FTTH players can assist with charge-to-bill options, mobile wallets and subsidised data."
The SA ICT Outlook 2017 study from Frost & Sullivan's IT Services and Applications Growth Partnership Service programme, released last month, indicated local telcos are bolstering their ICT services portfolios through Internet of things and VOD services, as well as m-commerce offerings. The study found that increasing demand for VOD services is a factor accelerating change in the South African ICT industry.
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