There are no two ways about it, there are more people stuck at home now than ever before. With the recent Covid-19 outbreak and the need for voluntary isolation, people are turning to technology in order to satisfy their need for connection. While most operators offer a quite complete set of entertainment choices, some are better equipped than others to offer diversity and keep things fresh during a decisive time when it comes to customer retention.
Android TV-based operators might have an advantage over their competitors when it comes to this, but study results can fool you into thinking otherwise. If you look at overall usage, Android TV may not be the most popular operating environment for a cable or satellite service, but it would be a mistake to discard it as a force to be reckoned with based on the data we have today.
Internet and TV services, in the midst of a crisis, are the special way to reach out to family and friends.
People are not going to change their internet or TV services in the midst of a crisis, especially one that prevents them from reaching out to their family and friends. Can you imagine risking not to have any of these commodities at your disposal for the time it takes to migrate? Yes, big surprise there, right? Most service transitions aren’t as seamless as they should be, kind of like a power struggle in a divorce, where the child, in this case, the customer is left crying while the parents fight it out.
This goes to say that the true value of Android TV can’t be measured in studies, but rather by satisfied customers who will rave about the service and unsatisfied ones, who will definitely know what their current service is lacking and will find it on Android TV when the dust settles.
Android TV is all about offering and having it readily available to create a better user experience. Every cable or TV operator should be proud of their own content, as well as the deals made to get them where they are today, but should they be as stubborn as to only provide that option? The answer is no, but the resistance is understandable. Third-party content can be seen as a loss of identity, as well as a loss of power over your service, but that is far from true.
Android TV is all about the offering, and having it readily available to create a better user experience.
When we look at operators using Android TV as their operating system, you see very little of Google’s imprint, instead, you see a fully branded service with that company’s logo, its colors, and even its content, right there on the first screen. What will happen is that, by having Google’s content at the user’s disposal, he will perceive that content as being from the operator, increasing its value and facilitating retention.
As you can imagine, a customer with access to thousands of apps, an ever-growing list of VOD titles and hundreds of games he can play directly from his set-top box will be much more satisfied than a customer stuck to the limitations of a self-contained operator. These service differences will be much more noticeable in a post-Coronavirus world, especially when a big number of the population is being forced to go digital for the first time in their lives, or at least having a more hands-on interaction with those means.
This means, operators will not only have a bigger playground in which to sell their product, but they will also need to step up their game in a much more demanding environment.
Make no mistake, this is a turning point in cable/satellite operator services and some companies, like WeTek, have been ahead of the curve, successfully developing these solutions. Customers will become more aware of their pains, their needs and will increasingly add to their expectations. In turn, operators will need to respond accordingly and be ready for this new reality, a reality that may be perfect to give Android TV a try.
