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The Big Opportunity for Communications Service Providers in a Streaming World

Kamal Bhadada

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With most people staying at home during the past year, television and film production companies have rushed to fill consumers’ screens with streaming video content they enjoy. And enjoyed, they have.

But consumers are now bewildered by the many streaming choices they have, as I explain in my TCS Perspectives article (“How to Be the Streaming Consumer’s Best Friend: The Big Platform Opportunity for Communications Service Providers”). This confusion presents telecom companies, cable TV service providers, internet broadband providers and other communications service providers (CSPs) with a big opportunity: to help consumers sort through the vast array of options.

As I mention in the article, the burgeoning streaming market has become a global phenomenon. The largest services--including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu in the U.S. saw their subscriptions spike by 50% last year over 2019. In fact, the average U.S. streaming customer now uses seven streaming services.

The result: mass confusion over what to watch. But this, I believe, is a great opportunity for CSPs. Put simply, it’s to help their streaming customers sort out the complex array of streaming choices – to become the trusted guide that simplifies the streaming experience and, thus, become the CSP of choice.

As I describe in my article, it’s about building an app that answers the question: “What should we watch tonight?” Such an app must be a highly intelligent discovery engine that curates personalized content mixes. It will have to be a kind of ‘smart TV for me’ app that returns reliably relevant choices that go beyond platform-specific recommendations. It must consider all the multiple content sources accessible to the viewer.

For CSP leaders, achieving this level of customer centricity requires investing in technology capabilities and committing to cultural change. To know more about how to become the streaming consumers’ guide to the universe, you’ll want to read my Perspectives article.

About the author

Kamal Bhadada
Kamal leads the Communications, Media & Information Services Business Group at TCS, which serves clients in industry segments such as Communication Service Providers (Wireless, Wireline and Video Service Providers); Media and Entertainment (Films, TV, Gaming, Radio, TV Broadcast, Publishing and Education, Advertising, Online Media), and Business to Business Information Service Providers. With three decades of relevant technology and industry experience, Kamal helps create and build new businesses and drive key strategic initiatives for TCS. He has served as a business advisor and innovation enabler for some of the world’s preeminent companies. Kamal has made significant contributions to innovations that are disrupting the Communications and Media Industry, by co-authoring several patents in the area of streaming video, interactive advertising, and second screen experience. As a career professional at TCS, Kamal has been instrumental in creating and building new businesses as well as driving key strategic initiatives for TCS. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India.

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