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CBS, HBO over-the-top services pave way for new brand experiences

Announcements this week from HBO and CBS about direct-to-consumer, streaming services point to how mobile is accelerating over-the-top access and opening up the potential for new brand experiences. 

Being that fewer households are paying for cable television and more consumers are watching videos on their mobile devices, these moves could propose a challenge for other aggregated, branded services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. No matter which device consumers are watching videos, their priority is good content. 

?Mobile becomes a huge accelerator for over-the-top access where traditional cable companies have been slow to market and cumbersome with set-up and technology,? said David Hewitt, vice president of mobile at SapientNitro, Atlanta. ?The move opens up potential for brand new experiences around second-screen and rich brand extensions for producers and advertisers to capitalize on.?

Emerging competition
These moves by CBS and HBO offer something new through the mobile channel and could take the lead if content is deeply considered.

While Netflix and Amazon Prime maintain a larger selection of TV shows and movies, more is not always better.

?The market is still nascent, still lots of room for new offerings and therefore opportunity for growth,? said Janet Brown, CEO of FilmBuff, New York. ?As the market gets more crowded, consumers will need help finding great content and existing well-known brands like CBS and HBO obviously have a huge advantage there. 

?The advantages to going direct include having and gaining better knowledge of the end viewer, which informs content produced and increases the ability to monetize that viewer through direct upselling, bundling additional content, events, advertising, etc.,? she said.

Consumers are increasingly becoming frustrated from dealing with major cable providers, causing a complete abandoning those contracts and opting for something less structured.

These moves could garner a great response from consumers and in turn build up brand awareness for the networks. If The Good Wife fans sign up for CBS All Access, they are more likely to give other CBS shows a try.
 
?Thanks to a tipping point where roughly 10 percent of households are without cable, there is a strong business case for traditional networks to extend outside of legacy distribution channels and deliver unique content,? Mr. Hewitt said. ?Having binge-worthy franchises in your media book, like Game of Thrones, make the move a no-brainer. 

?HBO has also done a good job at shaping their programming for millennials such as Vice and John Oliver, which will play well into the model,? he said.

CBS? offerings
For $5.99 per month, CBS All Access delivers full seasons of current primetime shows, leading daytime and late night CBS programming, plus thousands of episodes from CBS? library of Classics.

This service offers live streaming of local CBS TV stations in 14 of the largest U.S. markets, and CBS promises more to come.

CBS All Access is available at CBS.com and on mobile devices through the CBS app for iOS and Android. In the coming months, CBS plans to introduce the service to other major connected devices.

The service will also offer full past seasons of eight major current series, including the Good Wife, Blue Bloods and Survivor. 

CBS Classics provided through the service include Star Trek, Cheers, MacGyver, Twin Peaks and CSI: Miami. Access to exclusive content for CBS TV?s biggest special events, such as the Grammy?s, the ACM?s and the Victoria?s Secret Fashion Show will also be included.

Next year will be the year that HBO launches a stand-alone version of HBO GO. It will be an online streaming service through paid subscription that will not require cable to attract more viewership given a prevalence of video consumption occurring on mobile devices.

?One constant throughout all the recent technology changes related to video distribution is that content is still king,? said Thiru Arunachalam, CEO and co-founder at Peel, San Francisco. ?Convenience is the emperor. 

?Whoever builds the simplest and easiest access for consumers will win,? he said. ?The TV networks don't want intermediaries to garner all the value from the new distribution channels. 

?Even though Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have a strong lead, and the cable providers are also eyeing the race, it?s natural that networks like CBS and HBO would want to enter the field so they don't get left too far behind.?

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York