As I was listening to the APOS interview of our CEO André Kudelski, I found myself reflecting on 2020 and on how every single element of our life that we take for granted, were deeply and suddenly disrupted; from very basic needs such as sourcing food from disrupted global supply chains through to the more psychological ones that were accelerated by a lack of direct social interaction during those prolonged lockdown periods. Of course, self-fulfillment and entertainment habits were also heavily affected (who can remember the last time they went to the cinema?), and while we are gradually adapting or recovering on those first more basic needs the latter are certainly the ones that may never really be the same again.
If I look at our modern world and how digitalization has become a crucial part of it, there is no doubt that we still have to transform and reinvent the way we live our lives and entertain ourselves. In that spirit, NAGRA has a range of solutions that can play a key role in that transformation. One example of a disruptive solution is NAGRA TVkey Cloud that will, irrespective if your operator is traditional or pureplay OTT, greatly ease and facilitate access to content by providing subscribers with instant choice and access to the full range of an operator’s services directly on their new or existing TV sets - without the need for a set-top box to be dispatched.
With the gradual resumption of live sports taking place across the world albeit to severely reduced capacity crowds in the main, the way we consume and interact with sport is also seeing a fundamental change. With solutions, like NAGRA Sports-as-a-Service, enabling a less passive experience and a closer and more interactive online experience with our favorite sports and clubs, it paves the way for greater fan engagement even when we can all return to live events.
There’s been a lot of debate during the pandemic on the impact of churn on video service operators accelerated by both changing consumption and the way in which consumers interact with their entertainment providers. In a world where rules have been turned upside down and consumer behaviour more difficult to predict, operators will require new tools that can better help predicting consumer behavior and needs. This is where NAGRA Insight can deliver significant value to an operator thanks to its AI based approach in spotting behaviour patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed. Equally, such insight allows for an overall richer consumer experience.
Putting aside what we are all going through, I’m excited about the changes happening around our industry and how all the main actors are adapting or reinventing themselves. I trust that every tomorrow will have more and more to offer than what we had more than one year ago in terms of digital entertainment. While of course some of these changes will also benefit Pay-TV or Telco operators - allowing them to maybe propose more tailored services, reduce churn or increase revenue - ultimately it is you and me, the consumer, that will benefit the most from it with better and richer entertainment options.