Media 3.0

The pay-TV industry is changing as technological advances have altered media viewing habits forever. At Irdeto we see this transformation in three distinct phases.

The first phase, Media 1.0, can be characterized by content owners and distributors making digital assets available to consumers through a linear subscription model. The rapid adoption of the internet along with the increased penetration and demand for broadband produced a rise in the creation and distribution of dynamic content and ushered in the Media 2.0 phase.

Media 2.0, consumers came to expect convenience and flexibility in their everyday media consumption as operators started offering on-demand services like pay-per-view movies, video-on-demand (VOD) and personal video recorders (PVR). This flexibility liberated consumers from watching programs at scheduled times, yet it still wasn’t enough to satisfy advanced consumers whose expectations were now being heavily influenced by the Internet.

Welcome to Media 3.0

Media 3.0 provides consumers the ability to view and interact with the content they want, when they want it. Taking customization to an entirely new level, Media 3.0 consumers have even more control over the content they consume. Setting parameters based on preferences, habits, and social networks, consumers are no longer a mass market of viewers.

To reach this consumer, content providers need to offer a highly personalized user experience on myriad devices including PCs and Macs, connected TVs, mobile phones, portable music and video players, and gaming consoles. With the advent of Social TV uniting televisions with connected devices such as the iPad to create personal TV channels based on consumer habits, preferences and online social networks. Content providers and distributors should expect to support the continued rise in home networking that distributes content to a variety of connected devices. Thosethat can’t meet consumer requirements will miss the tremendous opportunities Media 3.0 presents.

Irdeto has been deeply entrenched in protecting digital content since before the era of Media 1.0 and is poised to enable content providers to seize the market opportunities presented by Media 3.0. Industry leaders including Netflix, Adobe and Logitech are able to expand their offerings and create new revenue streams by utilizing Irdeto’s technology to secure content and devices in the Media 3.0 realm.