Making Customers Thrive

Dave Stubenvoll, CEO, Wowza Media Systems

What significant changes did ‘Media & Entertainment’ segment witness in 2013? What did these changes mean to vendors and customers?

The second screen became real. It’s more than responding to email or browsing Facebook while watching TV.

Content related apps are driving media and in new directions. With 40 percent of viewers engaging with a TV show’s second screen app last year, 2013 is the year that the second screen became a primary opportunity.

What are some of the changes you had anticipated would happen in 2013 but did not happen?

MPEG-DASH did not materialize. Players are not readily available and the buzz died down a bit. It’s not dead. Simply a reflection of how hard it is to make changes in an industry with such far-flung and sometimes divergent interests.

Can you paint us the picture of how the landscape for this industry segment will change in 2014? What are some of the broader trends you are closely watching?

OTT will look more like “real TV.” Video on demand will continue on OTT, but linear programing will become the norm.

As OTT begins to dominate the big screen in the home, services like Areo and Syncbak will generate more and more demand.

While consumers want “local TV” to be delivered, new “OTT channels” that take advantage of both linear and VOD will become the new normal for watching TV.

How would customer spends change in 2014 (for Media & Entertainment)? What makes you think customers will be buying more/ less?

Media and Entertainment companies will invest in direct to consumer.

The traditional middlemen (TV stations, cable companies) in their traditional roles become less important in delivering content to consumers.

New opportunities for content discovery, advertising and engaging consumer interest will create new types of middlemen that will add unique value.

What's in store for your company in 2014?

Growth. Wowza is driven to deliver customer thrivation—making our customers thrive. Video is still hard for most and Wowza continues to meet the demands of Media and Entertainment companies for robust, flexible and customizable video delivery infrastructure.