APOs Summit Gathers Global Key Industry Leaders To Focus On Future Growth Of Video Content Creation And Distribution

Asia’s premier event for media, telecoms and entertainment industry APOS (Asia Pacific Pay-TV Operators Summit) recently gathered leaders from established companies and fast growing new businesses fostering discussions on the video sector and the ecosystem of creating, distributing and monetizing content.

APOS 2016, held at Bali Indonesia last April 26 to April 28, focused on the video industry, including TV and digital video. A fast growing $105 billion business, leaders sought to explore its exponential growth with the rapid evolution of consumer behavior and choices. Its key themes were centered on exploring opportunities and facing challenges that come with it.

Among the top themes for APOS 2016 include the future of content creation and distribution, video streaming, content packaging and pricing in broadband, social video curation and sports in digital platforms, among others.

With hundreds of participants from telco to entertainment companies, the summit saw 60 of the most innovative company leaders share their expertise and points of view on the various themes. Globe Telecom President and CEO Ernest Cu participated in a discussion on Game Changers and Disruptors, sharing how the company continues to prosper in a high-growth but increasingly aggressive market. Cu touched on its play in strengthening its digital content franchises giving it a competitive advantage. Moderating this Q&A with Cu is Media Partners Asia (MPA) Executive Director Vivek Couto.

As Cu shared, “The cutthroat telco industry in the Philippines coupled with the rapid changing consumer behavior demands for us to always be several steps ahead. Maintaining competitive edge is dependent on the content we offer to our customers. Alongside that is the convenience of getting them to enjoy it on their device or broadband plans. This is why we’ve designed and continue to improve on our plans and bundles so that our customers can easily subscribe to whatever content we make available to them.”

Globe started building its content portfolio and offers in 2013 with the launch of its partnership with top music streaming platform, Spotify. Recognizing that music is an integral part of the lives of its customers, Globe started offering Spotify bundled with its consumable data promo, GoSURF. Since then, the company has established itself as the purveyor of the digital lifestyle in the Philippines and has acquired more global partners that allow it to offer over 54 million of its customers with a wide variety of content from games, sports, to movies. Its other partners include video-on-demand service, HOOQ, the NBA, and Walt Disney Southeast Asia.

APOS also served as the venue for Globe to announce its latest content partner Astro Malaysia Holding Berhad (Astro) through a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to offer Tribe over-the-top (OTT) video services to Filipino customers. The agreement also reflects the strategic intent of both parties to collaborate on content opportunities that will be distributed on Tribe and other platforms across the region.

Cu continued that, “Astro, through its OTT service Tribe, will strengthen our portfolio given the potential content we will be able to offer through this partnership. This collaboration with Astro will also be the first time Globe will play an active role in co-curating content.”

Tribe is an OTT service for ASEAN video consumers, which was recently launched in Indonesia offering live and on demand content comprising live sports, Asian movies, and TV series. The partnership will potentially see Tribe widening its reach into Southeast Asia as well as enabling more Filipinos to watch video content across multiple genres on their devices.

Launched in 2011, APOS is hosted and organized by Media Partners Asia (MPA), the leading provider of advisory, consulting and research services, focused on media and telecommunications industries across Asia Pacific.