This is the first real, I am trying not to work too much break – I have had in a long time.
Plan is to get a few books under my belt.
First up is – Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus.
So far so good.
Month: April 2016
Here we go …
It’s holiday time.
Short break between gigs.
To all the folks at HOOQ – kick some ass. I will be watching and cheering.
To the NWA crew – u know who you are, I love you guys/girls. Make me proud.
To everyone else. I will be doing something new. Starting over. Back to learning.
Formal announcements soon.
Peace. Out.
Let the bloodbath begin!
Banged this out yesterday – http://www.nokpis.com/2016/04/18/the-actual-state-of-ott-in-emerging-markets/
The idea being that the expansion of OTT across the planet will be a full scale war and that it won’t simply be handed over to Netflix on a silver platter.
Now we have Netflix with the okay quarter but with a shady forecast: http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/18/netflix-posts-a-mixed-q1-but-adds-6-74m-new-subscribers/
Don’t get me wrong here. Netflix is huge and growing but the cost of building out tech and a library for the globe won’t be cheap. They are also losing paid subscribers who can no longer VPN to get the good content. I am in Singapore and the size of the library sucks here. I can’t even get the latest season of many of the Netflix shows. Thankfully I still use my mom’s account so not like I am sweating the subscription.
However on top of dealing with all the regional players, Netflix has to now contend with Amazon.
I always assumed Amazon would do this at some point but didn’t expect it this soon. To be frank I had Prime for a bit so I could play with the video service but didn’t keep it due to not having enough content. With the service now being split out I may try it again but I have always found their tech and apps to suck in comparison to HBO and Netflix. Amazon always does just enough to get by versus build the best app ever. It shows with their video apps but maybe this breakout will force them to compete more. Time will tell.
One thing we do know is video is growing like mad – even in Asia. http://variety.com/2016/digital/asia/online-video-further-growth-in-asia-report-1201755475/
I think the market will split off into a few groups and that there will never be one dominant player for the globe or for the Asian regions.
But who the hell knows.
The actual state of OTT in emerging markets
Wrote this recently about the Quartz article, http://www.nokpis.com/2016/04/15/finally-met-up-with-josh/ .
One of the discussions that always comes up is how the players like us or iFlix compete with Netflix or how these services in general will survive.
I always remind people that the fight is not about HOOQ versus the competition but actually it is the notion of getting people to pay in the first place versus steal.
This tweet sums that up perfectly:
Finally met up with Josh
I didn’t get to attend the TIA conference but was able to catch up with lots of folks who were in town and went to a nice event by Sequoia.
Say what you will about our current times but Singapore is absolutely hopping right now and is the center of the startup universe for SEA region and India. Love it. So fortunate to be here at this time.
I have many Twitter friends that I sometimes get to meet and Josh would be one of those. We finally got to hang out and chat a bit.
As a writer, he of course decided to spring this on the Internet after we chatted.
Good stuff. As I always tell people – OTT in emerging markets is really just kicking off and has a long ways to go. I wouldn’t profess to know where it all might land, but it’s a crazy hot space regardless.
One comment – that last little quote by iFlix – we all know 1 million is just registered users. Paying subs will be some marginal single digit percentage point of that total number. As I always say – release real stats or none at all.
Good chatting with you Josh – I guess we will keep up the Twitter DM dialogue going till we meet again.
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