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This article completely missed the forest for the trees - the battle for TV is not just a battle for content, it’s a battle for the delivery medium itself! Thi

This article completely missed the forest for the trees - the battle for TV is not just a battle for content, it’s a battle for the delivery medium itself! Think about it - how was TV delivered to you before? There are over the air broadcast, satellite, cable/settop, and what’s been called OTT. Except, more and more settop boxes are Rokus, Android TV-based and even some Apple TVs (Verizon 5G was offering those in test markets). So now you have a convergence of what was OTT/cord-cutter audience with the settop box. And who owns these platforms? Hint, it’s not the cable company. So now the battle ground for those as dollars looks very different - why bother produce content when you can own the entire ecosystem where that content is delivered? Amazon doing an amazing job with this - their FireTVs include ability to target based on your purchases and search/other activity within Amazon. That’s insanely powerful for brands and where brand dollars will definitely be spent. Not all of the dollars, but enough to matter.

Jarbooski 8y ago
As you say, the delivery method changes and no one cares. At the end of the day, nothing matters but the content. Look at Disney muscling providers around.
petra 8y ago
This is true. The problem, for Google, is they lose market share in the platform market: https://i2.wp.com/www.cordcuttersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Streaming-Player-Report.jpg?w=500&ssl=1 https://i2.wp.com/www.cordcuttersnews.com/wp-content/uploads... And my guess is that Amazon will win this, because like you say, it's better. But also - Since Amazon controls all the buyer's journey, it can make more money per each ad. Which equals better content. And in any case, FireTv is a loss leader for Amazon. Hard to compete against those.
- pbalau 8y ago
  Here is a question to ponder about: is Google loosing market share or is the market expanding?
  - sologoub 8y ago
    I suspect it’s growing more than google losing, but this chart is almost useless as each stack is not labeled. Sony - is this PS4 or Sony smart TV (which is android as well)?
- sologoub 8y ago
  Amazon is only truly dominant in US. In EU there is much more of a mixed bag and APAC is a completely different story. They also do not white label as far as I know, so partnerships with cable operators are still mostly for Roku and Google. I’m purposefully discounting TiVo from the future list, as I have not seen them to be a strong OTT platform player in the last few years.

Jarbooski 8y ago

As you say, the delivery method changes and no one cares. At the end of the day, nothing matters but the content. Look at Disney muscling providers around.

petra 8y ago

This is true. The problem, for Google, is they lose market share in the platform market: https://i2.wp.com/www.cordcuttersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Streaming-Player-Report.jpg?w=500&ssl=1 https://i2.wp.com/www.cordcuttersnews.com/wp-content/uploads... And my guess is that Amazon will win this, because like you say, it's better. But also - Since Amazon controls all the buyer's journey, it can make more money per each ad. Which equals better content. And in any case, FireTv is a loss leader for Amazon. Hard to compete against those.

pbalau 8y ago
Here is a question to ponder about: is Google loosing market share or is the market expanding?
- sologoub 8y ago
  I suspect it’s growing more than google losing, but this chart is almost useless as each stack is not labeled. Sony - is this PS4 or Sony smart TV (which is android as well)?
sologoub 8y ago
Amazon is only truly dominant in US. In EU there is much more of a mixed bag and APAC is a completely different story. They also do not white label as far as I know, so partnerships with cable operators are still mostly for Roku and Google. I’m purposefully discounting TiVo from the future list, as I have not seen them to be a strong OTT platform player in the last few years.