LAS VEGAS — Video services are becoming increasingly personalized as they veer closer to customized models, says Ted Middleton, Chief Product Officer at Verizon Digital Media Services, in an interview with Beet.TV. That trend is similar to what drove the shifts in the music industry in the last several years.
Consumers don’t want to subscribe to channels they pay for but don’t watch, he says. They want to pick channel affiliations or individual programs to watch, Middleton says. That’s why some video services are migrating to IP-based and over-the-top models. “What will consumer video subscriptions look like?” he asks. “Will they fragment with more studios coming out with content portals and content applications? Will we see micro-aggregators around special interest areas? Or personalized subscriptions?”
Verizon’s media services business has been formed recently with the acquisitions of CDN company Edgecast and uPlynk.
We spoke with Middleton at the NAB Show following his panel which was part of the Online Video Conference.
