Protect Your

Revenue

When Going

Direct-to-Consumer

Protect Your

Revenue

When Going

Direct-to-Consumer

1Protect Your Revenue When Going Direct-to-Consumer

edia research company the Diffusion Group predicts that all major TV networks will introduce direct-to-consumer services by 2022. The firm also expects direct-to-consumer subscriptions to reach 50 million by then.

Already, large media companies have joined in the fray, targeting cord-cutters and cord-nevers, an increasingly growing group of viewers who forgo cable TV subscription services in favor of online direct-to-consumer content providers.

WWE has been touted as a successful direct-to-consumer content provider – shifting from traditional dependence on cable or satellite television networks to directly reaching out to an engaged global target audience.

Successful content can even prop up a single channel such as the popular Game of Thrones for HBO’s streaming app, HBO Now. Hundreds of thousands of new users download the app at the start of each season and 222,000 new users installed the app on the date of the new premiere.

However, media providers circumventing traditional multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD) and going the direct-to-consumer route now need to deal with new business issues.

Direct-to-consumer content has gone from buzzword to business strategy.

M

here are also huge subscriber acquisition costs to consider. The ease of downloading and viewing online means that customers now do not need to return equipment and set up an appointment with a technician to unsubscribe. As a result, the direct-to-consumer market is marked by short subscrip-tion periods and high expectations.

Research indicates that one in five viewers will abandon poor viewing experiences immediately and may never return to the service. In fact, many direct-to-content providers are reporting 100% subscriber churn – they need to replace all their customers just to maintain status quo.

Although the growth potential is attractive, the direct-to-consumer business offers a smaller and less certain revenue stream with low margins.

Superior viewing

experience critical

2Protect Your Revenue When Going Direct-to-Consumer

ouching heads, hearts and homes requires new capabilities and more risks. Direct-to-consumer content providers must deal with streaming rights, creating original and exclusive content, the technical and security infrastructure involved in streaming, app development and the business aspects in marketing, billing and fulfilment.

There is also greater competition as online streaming opens the field to new entrants. Companies like Sony now want a share of the direct-to-consumer pie and have re-launched their previous flagship products such as PlayStation to create “communities of interest” where people share “emotional values and experiences”

Touching heads,

hearts and homes

not easy

ne way to guarantee the quality of experience is to manage the content delivery process.

For example, Asia faces the problem of uneven infrastructure development even across one country. Direct-to-content providers may have to contend with a small urban potential with superior internet access but a larger rural market with very basic infrastructure. Viewing on mobile with frequent buffering may deter subscribers who already pay high data costs.

Outsourcing the content delivery network (CDN) can help ensure a secure and more reliable viewing experience on any device, in any location and regardless of network condition.

Control content delivery

kamai research found that 1 in 5 media organizations have had to deal with pirated content. Game of Thrones was the most pirated show ever, and HBO struggled with episodes leaking online ahead of schedule.

In 2017, a file with 1.4 billion hacked and leaked passwords – in plain text – was found on the dark web. Password sources include direct-to-consumer content pioneer Netflix.

Credential stuffing – where fraudsters can steal subscriber data such as user IDs and passwords and use a botnet to validate the list against an organization’s login page – already costs the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue. One employee’s credentials sold on the dark web can give a hacker access to the company’s main database.

Secure your

revenue stream

3Protect Your Revenue When Going Direct-to-Consumer

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4Protect Your Revenue When Going Direct-to-Consumer

The world’s biggest data breaches result in more than just stolen login information. Hundreds of millions of records can be swiped in a single breach, with each record including name, date of birth, social security number, address, phone number, email address or even banking information. Research by mobile identity company Telesign found that 73% of online accounts have duplicate passwords – rendering banking, online commerce and other subscription accounts vulnerable to one single hack attack.

Direct-to-consumer content providers will need to deal with these security issues that may cause revenue leakage in an environment with already thin margins.

There is a need for strong authentication controls, monitoring and control of bots interacting with your site. Traditional methods of IP blocking, rate limiting, JavaScript challenges and browser fingerprinting are no longer enough to stop these attacks as hackers grow in sophistication by the second.

Media companies going into the direct-to-consumer space will need to secure their web properties. While premium content and a superior viewing experience are cornerstones to a successful direct-to-consumer strategy, the revenue stream must be protected with strong security measures that go beyond implementing a single-point-in-time solution.

As the world’s largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and most secure digital experiences on any device, anytime, anywhere. Akamai’s massively distributed platform is unparalleled in scale, giving customers superior performance and threat protection. Akamai’s portfolio of web and mobile performance, cloud security, enterprise access, and video delivery solutions are supported by exceptional customer service and 24/7/365 monitoring. To learn why the top financial institutions, online retail leaders, media and entertainment providers, and government organizations trust Akamai, please visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter. Published 03/19.