TV manufacturers: become content distributors or risk losing differentiation

The TV still offers the best home experience for video content, but the way we watch it is changing. More people are watching TV streaming, whether this is free or pay TV, which has implications for how advertisers allocate their budget. Some content distributors, such as Roku, have successfully capitalised on this opportunity by providing free ad-supported content over their own set-top boxes or smart TVs (pre-installed with the content distributor’s operating system). For TV manufacturers, becoming content distributors will give them more revenue to further drive R&D investment for innovation in TV features – a key differentiator at risk of being lost to players such as Roku, Google (Android TV) and Amazon (Fire TV).