A Case Study of HBO's Digital Content Distribution

Maintaining the Premium Edge A Case Study of HBO’s Digital Content Distribution

Sushil Kambampati Digital Media Strategist http://www.linkedin.com/in/SushilKambampati

Digital Media Asia 2011

Thursday, November 24, 11 Disclaimer

The following is solely the presenter’s personal views of HBO’s digital distribution strategy based on information openly available online. It does not represent HBOs ofﬁcial strategy nor does it reveal any conﬁdential, proprietary information.

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 What is Premium?

Deﬁnition: Superior in quality; higher in price or value.

Source: wiktionary.org

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Premium TV in the US

• First-run theatricals, edgy original programming, sports • Consumers must pay an additional subscription price, up to 25% of their basic cable bill.* • Generally, no commercials.

*Price estimate based on Comcast packages offered in New Haven, CT (https://www.comcast.com/shop/buyﬂow2/products.cspx)

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Some Premium TV Brands in the US

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 The Largest Premium Network is HBO

Source: SNL Kagan

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 History of HBO in the US

• Started broadcasting as HBO in November 1972. • Began satellite distribution in 1975. • Offered multiplex channels in 1991. • Started digital transmission in 1993. • Pioneered OnDemand in 2002. • Introduced HD for all linear channels in 2008. • Launched HD On Demand in 2009. • Distributed HBO GO with 600 hours in 2010; 1400 hours in 2011

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 What do HBO subscribers get?

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Quality Original Programming

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 And...

Theatrical Blockbusters HBO Films Documentaries Championship Boxing

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 HBO Content is on Multiple Portals

Xﬁnity.com dishonline.com charter.net/tv verizon.com/OnDemand

uverseonline.att.net directv.com/entertainment/watch_online suddenlink.net/tv Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 How Does HBO Maintain a Premium Edge Online?

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 HBO’s Premium Edge

• High Technical Quality • Brand Identiﬁcation • Exclusivity

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Ensuring Technical Quality

• Using best-of-breed encoding tools • Testing intermediate and consumer video with distributor • Quality check of every ﬁle that is delivered • Monitoring video availability, image and text correctness on every platform

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Monitoring is Essential

Wrong network Missing Artwork

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Protecting Brand Identiﬁcation

• Using distinctive animated “open” before video • Displaying HBO logo in the page • Title branding

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Thursday, November 24, 11 Branding Examples

Page and Title Branding Page Branding No Branding

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Maintaining exclusivity

• Only available to subscribers • No third-party advertisements • No disaggregation of content • To date, no deal with Netﬂix

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Relevance to Newspapers

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Video Entertainment vs. Text News Different Issues • Entertainment has a longer shelf life • Text is easier to distribute • Possibly multiple sources for a given news story • Regional and language boundaries

Common challenge is Ensuring Quality, Preserving Brand Identiﬁcation and Maintaining Exclusivity.

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Online News Environment

• Plethora of news aggregators on multiple platforms • Content from multiple sources is intermingled • Lack of curation

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Multiple News Aggregators

• Web based: Google Reader, Yahoo News • Tablet: Pulse, Flipboard • Desktop: RSSOwl, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, many more.

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Content is Intermingled

How are sources ordered? Is a competitor being promoted?

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Lack of Curation

Important stories can get lost

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Lack of Curation May Lead to Loss of Quality

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Challenges to Being Exclusive

• Disaggregated content • Third party advertisements • Lack of a subscription model

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Summary

• If you are a premium content provider, you can charge for your content, but make sure consumers know what they are getting in return. • In the HBO example, the elements of maintaining the premium edge are Ensuring Quality, Preserving Brand Identiﬁcation and Maintaining Exclusivity.

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11 Thank You!

Digital Media Asia 2011 Maintaining the Premium Edge Sushil Kambampati Thursday, November 24, 11