For this blog post we wanted to interview Jump’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and cofounder, Jesús Herrero, to get his perspective on the opportunities and challenges video service providers in Europe face today.
Jesús, in your opinion, what are the major challenges confronting European video service providers?
I think the biggest challenge they face is deciding what strategy to follow in order to compete with the big players in the United States: the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Google, and Disney.
Any video player who does not have a clear vision of their content offering, target customers, or the pricing strategies and promotional marketing they’re going to use, will find it tough-going to stay in the market and not hemorrhage customers to the behemoth OTT platforms.
Are opportunities emerging in the market?
There are numerous new opportunities emerging from this disruptive and highly competitive market. I particularly see opportunity in the area of niche content, which can now be offered globally with the highest quality product and service using an OTT platform. There are also opportunities in the world of lesser mainstream sports, where it is easier to secure broadcast rights and at the same time reach fans all over the world.
How do you see the video on demand market evolving over the next few years?
I think there will be consolidation among the big corporations: mergers, acquisitions, etc. (some have already happened, and some are in the works). At the same time thousands of more niche OTT platforms will be able to survive if they attract the minimum number of users to prove the viability of their business models.
There will also be a new wave of advertising-based video services. There had been a first wave that didn’t quite take off because advertising on those services wasn’t adequately monetized. Now, with the ability to target identified segments, to cater to an array of advertising formats, and to effectively measure the impact of advertisements, it seems the time has arrived for advertising-based model services.
What does Jump bring to the table?
We founded Jump based on the conviction that the video and entertainment industry had exponential potential for growth, that the competition was going to be fierce, and that data (and using it effectively and intelligently) would make or break the different players in the market. This is how we have spent the past three years: helping enterprise-sized corporations and niche players alike tackle their most pressing challenges. In addition to big data technologies, we take advantage of AI and ML in order to deliver predictive analytics, user “clusterization” (which is like segmentation on steroids), content recommendation, and other features required to make their businesses successful.
What benefits does Jump offer the major players in the European market?
We believe the best way for European players to compete with the major American companies is first and foremost to engage with current users, building their loyalty. To do so, you have to know your customers better than they know themselves so you can offer them personalized content and an optimized user experience; and, you have to be able to track user behavior across the entire user base in real time. Once you have identified those customers whose trust you have gained, your most loyal users, the challenge is to attract this same type of profile to your service, so your customers become evangelists of your service.
Within its portfolio of products, Jump offers tools and modules that specifically address these goals: new user acquisition; and personalization, engagement, and retention of existing customers. All this functionality is complemented by the ability to use customer data to measure the real impact of promotional activities so they can be assessed, and marketing tactics can be honed.
Jesús Hererro will be attending Connected TV World Summit 2020. Schedule a demo with him at the show here. and let us show you how to get the most out of the vast amount of data generated by your video service every day.
