Norigin Media wraps up 2023 by listing the trends that shaped the year that was, and which will no doubt determine the year to come:
1. AI and its Growing Impact for Streaming TV: With many digital platforms and social media apps already adopting machine learning and Artificial Intelligence to improve consumer experiences, there has been a lot of progress in 2023. Whether it’s Sports streaming apps or D2C OTT apps from broadcasters, AI is not only helping create some great UI & UX, but also introducing a whole new era of Search & Recommendation which actually works and increases retention. AI has also helped new use cases including interactivity for Audience Engagement on CTVs and Streaming Apps.
2. FAST Channels: We think of FAST channels as Linear TV 2.0, in other words a refresh of conventional Linear TV, where setting up a channel has far less investment that helps to generate greater ROI. As with Linear TV, FAST channels help content discovery and conversion to VoD consumption. FAST also provides an opportunity for niche content creators to create TV channels with scheduled content that allows them to be available on larger platforms and CTVs like Samsung TV Plus and Roku channels – all of whom have growing audiences that consume FAST channels, a great source of Ad-revenue.
3. Fragmented CTVs: The race for the living room is only heating up more than 10 years after the launch of the first Smart TVs in 2012. While Samsung and LG seem to have global dominance with their individual and unique operating systems, they are not yielding to the dominance of the Android OS on CTVs. We have seen Hisense and Philips starting to diverge from the Android OS too, to their unique choices which further fragments the CTV space. While Android remains the largest App store, only the strongest will survive, as we have seen with Samsung Tizen cross over 50 million households in Europe in 2023. Companies like Roku, Amazon and Vizio are spending most of their efforts in the USA, we can only assume they will expand their markets or we anticipate large announcements in 2024. We have had a taste of this already now in 2023, with the highly anticipated launch of the Vega OS from Amazon / Fire TV.
At Norigin Media, we strive to meet current and anticipate future trends set by device manufacturers, while also basing our investments on consumer trends that develop as a result of manufacturers’ decisions. Only tIme will tell which trends win out and we look forward to a hearty 2024.