Direct-to-home (DTH) operators have successfully reached out to every nook and corner; be it rural India or sky scrapers in Delhi, with its easy setup, interactive services and competitive offerings.
There are in all 7* Indian DTH operators: Dish TV, Tata Sky, Airtel digital TV, Sun Direct, Videocon d2h, Reliance Digital TV, DD Free Dish serving over 78.74* million subscribers, offering services which are almost similar in nature. DTH operators have reached to a stage where price, picture quality, signal strength, HD or recording features & No. of TV channels offered are no more a differentiating factors. With new channels & technologies entering the market every day, DTH operators have to continuously evolve and offer new Values Added Services (VAS) to stay ahead in the competition and increase their subscriber base to gain Market Share.
There is a dire need on ground for DTH operators to realize their full potential and start exploring the new innovative offers and services they can provide to increase ARPU and retain customer loyalty. Below are few strategies which the operators can adapt:
- New innovative offerings: Explore areas to drive revenue growth by offering new attractive plans and services in the market such as TV & Broadband Combo Plans, Bundle packages, Social Media Plans, Video/Movie on Demand etc.
- Mobile Self Care App for customers: Provide the subscriber with interactive mobile app through which they can control and manager their account, subscribe to new services and plan, deactivate plans; raise service requests in Real Time. This will help operators to reduce call centre traffic cost and provide superior user experience resulting in a win-win situation for both the parties concerned.
- Multi Screen Subscriptions: Operators should allow customers to access channels and services on mobile apps to enhance their distribution beyond the set top box. This new channel will bridge the gap between operators and customers and bring in a new level of personalized channel for the operator. Customer will be able to view what they want at a time convenient to them on the move.
- The Broadband Opportunity: DTH operators can also offer broadband services for additional revenue. The existing cable going into the consumer home for digital cable TV is versatile enough to provide high speed broadband giving the companies massive operating leverage for quick deployment of broadband services. Moreover they already have huge contact database of their existing customers that they can use to pitch their broadband services.
- Over the Top (OTT): Partnering with OTT vendors is fast catching up and is likely to change the dynamics of digital media. Operator in partnership with OTT Vendors can offer new feature rich content and apps to its subscriber. For e.g. Shomi & Netflix in partnership with Broadcasters and Operators offer the viewer’s greater flexibility when it comes to what they watch and how they watch it.
