The digital television industry is growing and changing rapidly. If you are interested in the growth of digital television, let’s explore 4 new development trends in the global digital television industry with Thu Do Multimedia!

The Importance of Digital Television in the Age of Technology

Digital television is playing an increasingly important role in the context of rapidly developing technology, especially in the digital era. The transition from analog television to digital television not only brings many technical benefits but also changes the way television content is produced, distributed and consumed.

High resolution, sharp images and vivid sound have enhanced the viewer experience, especially with content such as sports, movies and entertainment programs. This meets the increasing demand of consumers for quality and diversity in entertainment content.

Definition and Benefits of Digital Television

Digital Television (DTV) uses digital signals to transmit and receive images and sound, providing higher quality than analog television.

It allows for the transmission of multiple channels in the same frequency band, saving spectrum space and providing new services such as multiplexing, electronic program guides (EPGs), and additional languages.

Multi-Platform Television Trends

The development of technology has promoted the multi-platform television model, allowing content to be accessed through many different devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and smart TVs. This model not only helps viewers watch content on demand but also creates opportunities for content producers to interact with viewers more effectively.

Convenience: Viewers can watch their favorite shows anytime and anywhere.

Interaction: Platforms like Facebook and YouTube allow audiences to interact directly with content, helping to build a loyal audience.

Digital Television Trends that have been growing in recent years and will continue to “break the ice” in the near future

1. Growth of OTT Television

The over-the-top market size is estimated to reach USD 0.58 trillion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 1.99 trillion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 28.19% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

Over-the-top OTT Market Analysis

Over the top (OTT) is a film and television content platform that is delivered over a high-speed internet connection instead of a cable or satellite provider-based platform.

The adoption of OTT has significantly supported the video, music, podcast and audio streaming categories. The increased adoption can be attributed to its narrow genre selection, packaging flexibility, wider device availability, internet penetration and lower costs.

Mordor Intelligence report, The constant shift towards commoditization of sports and entertainment services, along with competition from OTT providers, is expected to drive the OTT industry forward. Traditionally, sports and entertainment channels have been subscribed to cable and satellite TV. However, the development of OTT platforms is disrupting this model by providing a variety of sporting events, live broadcasts, and entertainment content directly to consumers.

The growth of smart devices and the development of the internet are the main factors driving the growth of OTT platforms. The penetration of smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs has brought more avenues to access OTT. These devices connect to the internet, allowing customers to watch their favorite movies and music easily.

Moreover, the availability of high-speed internet connections along with 4G/5G broadband mobile networks provide a smooth experience for customers when accessing OTT platforms.

The combination of smart devices and high-speed internet also helps increase convenience and personalization for users. OTT platforms will recommend and analyze user data to make suggestions about different movie playlists, singers, trends, etc. for each person.

These factors have promoted the development of OTT, attracting many subscribers and boosting revenue from subscription fees and advertising. Therefore, television companies and television stations have realized the importance of OTT and launched their own streaming services or cooperated with existing OTT platforms to develop in this open industry.

Along with development, there are always problems to solve

Online video piracy is an important issue affecting the OTT market. Piracy is the theft of digital content and its illegal distribution and consumption on the internet. This problem directly affects the revenue of production enterprises and official distributors. The revenue loss is huge. It undermines the business models of OTT providers, who rely on subscription fees or advertising revenue to stay in business.

2. Real-Time Interaction Trends in Digital Television

In digital television, real-time interactivity is becoming an important trend. Modern platforms allow audiences to directly participate in the program through activities such as voting, discussion and sharing opinions on social media channels or related applications.

For example, reality TV shows such as “The Voice” or major sporting events often integrate online voting features, allowing viewers to participate in deciding the results or interact with the host.

The impact of this trend on the viewer experience is very positive, as it creates a sense of connection and direct participation in the content they are watching. Interactivity helps make TV content more engaging, while also providing a sense of intimacy and personalization, making the audience feel like they are part of the program, rather than just passive observers.

Specific Figures on the Increase in Viewership in Interactive Television Programs

Audience Growth

The programs “Happy Lunch” on VTV6 and “Healthy Living Every Day” on VTV2 have recorded a significant increase in the number of viewers participating in interactions, showing the appeal of these programs to the public.

Popular interactive features

Features such as Time Shift and content storage allow viewers to not miss their favorite programs, thereby increasing audience participation. For example, Viettel TV service allows users to store content for 7 days and rewind 2 hours before.

Audience participation increases

Globally, many TV channels such as BBC, CNN, and NBC have also applied the interactive TV model through mobile applications and online platforms, allowing viewers to participate in polls, votes, and discussions on hot issues.

Demand for high quality

Today’s audiences not only want to watch but also want to interact with content. This leads to producers having to invest in richer and more diverse content to meet this demand.

In short, the increase in viewers of interactive TV programs not only reflects changes in content consumption habits but also shows that audiences increasingly want to participate and influence the content they watch. The above statistics prove that interactive TV is becoming an important trend in the modern media industry.

OTT Applications Integrating with SmartTVs to Increase Interaction

In the context of increasingly developing digital TV, many OTT (Over-The-Top) applications have been integrated into SmartTVs to enhance user experience and increase high interactivity.

1. VTV Plus
   This application allows users to connect to the Internet to watch a variety of high-quality copyrighted TV content. VTV Plus supports multi-screen interaction, allowing viewers to participate in activities such as voting and sending feedback directly during programs.
2. FPT Play
   FPT Play not only provides live TV channels but also allows users to review broadcast programs. The application integrates many interactive features, including commenting and sharing content on social networks.
3. Netflix
   Although primarily a video-on-demand service, Netflix also offers interactive programs such as “Bandersnatch”, where viewers can choose the direction of the story. This creates a unique and personalized experience for the audience.
4. YouTube
   The platform allows users to watch videos and participate in livestreams with the ability to comment directly. YouTube also integrates the Super Chat feature, allowing viewers to send paid messages during live broadcasts.

The real-time interaction in digital television feature has been widely applied in domestic and foreign television platforms. However, in the future, this feature will be further upgraded, bringing a more “classy” interaction to viewers.

3. Blockchain Technology in Digital Television Copyright Protection

Along with the development of the OTT platform is the increasing problem of copyright infringement. Therefore, DRM service providers always enhance the strongest copyright protection feature for producers.

New discovery, Blockchain technology has emerged as an effective solution to protect content copyright in the digital television field.

According to a report by Grand View Research, the global blockchain market reached 5.92 billion USD in 2021 and is expected to increase to 163.83 billion USD in 2029. This growth reflects the potential for widespread application of blockchain technology in many fields, including television.

Mr. Han said: “If you don’t know about the Internet, you are standing outside the current situation. However, in about 10 years, if you don’t know about blockchain, we will be like people who have not used the Internet for the past 20 years”.

How Blockchain Can Prevent Digital TV Piracy

Content Authentication and Protection

Blockchain allows for the recording of information about the author, creation date, publication date, and ownership of digital television content. This helps authenticate the integrity of the content and prevent unauthorized changes after broadcasting, thereby protecting the rights of producers and authors.

Ownership Management

With blockchain, managers can easily manage intellectual property rights on a distributed database. Allowing for secure, transparent storage and limiting copyright disputes.

Creating NFTs for Exclusive Content

Blockchain technology also allows for the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to represent television works. Each NFT will ensure the uniqueness of the work, helping to protect intellectual property rights and prevent unauthorized copying. Producers can issue NFTs as “tickets” for online events or exclusive content, creating a new business model.

Blockchain technology offers many benefits in protecting digital television copyright, from content authentication to ownership management and transaction automation. With the continuous development of this technology, it promises to become an important tool in protecting intellectual property in the television industry in the future.

Read more: Thu Do Multimedia speaks about Blockchain technology

4. Personalizing Customer Experience on Digital Television Platforms

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly being chosen and widely applied in digital television. Bringing many benefits, performance and breakthrough new features in the future.

Inevitable trend

According to Master Nguyen Truong Giang, Director of the Television Technical Center, the application of AI in digital television is not only feasible but also an inevitable trend. AI can be applied in all stages from content ideation to program production techniques.

Improving content quality – Automation

AI helps automate many tasks in content production, such as converting speech to text, automatically creating metadata, and analyzing big data. This not only saves time but also improves accuracy in the production process.

Analyzing user data – Audience and content
AI supports the collection and analysis of user behavior data on platforms such as VTVGo and VTV.vn. This helps producers better understand audience preferences, thereby developing more appropriate and effective content.

Creating virtual MCs

Vietnam Television has applied AI to create virtual MCs, simulating the intonation, voice and expression of real editors. This helps save time and costs in program production.

Many major TV stations in the world such as in the US, India, and Korea have started using AI MCs for their programs since 2022, showing the popularity of this technology globally.

The application of AI in television is expected to continue to grow strongly in the coming years, with the ability to improve user experience and increase production efficiency.

Leading the digital television trend – Thu Do Multimedia

The above 4 future development trends of the digital television industry are trends that have been and are being strongly applied in 2024, but are still predicted to continue to grow and make further breakthroughs in the future 2025 – 2029.

Foreseeing these trends, Thu Do Multimedia has pioneered in technology and led the trend to have smart solutions to support digital content production businesses to develop strongly when applied to businesses and organizations.

Comprehensive OTT solution for digital television

We provide television producers and publishers with a comprehensive OTT solution, allowing businesses to not spend a lot of time searching for different technologies from many suppliers. Key elements of Thu Do Multimedia’s OTT solution include:

Multi-platform content distribution: Sigma OTT allows streaming on multiple devices such as phones, tablets, smart TVs, making it easy for producers to reach all audiences

High security with Sigma DRM: Digital rights management (DRM) technology helps protect content from copyright infringement while keeping content quality unaffected during broadcast. This is especially important for content providers with strict security requirements.

Dynamic ad insertion (DAI): Sigma OTT supports inserting ads based on users or the content they are viewing, effectively generating ad revenue without interrupting the user experience.

User interaction with Sigma Interactive: helps enhance the user experience by creating direct interactions during broadcast, thereby creating a sense of participation and increasing engagement with content.

Optimize delivery with Sigma Multi CDN: This solution optimizes content delivery across multiple CDN networks, ensuring content is delivered in the highest quality even under unstable network conditions.

Thanks to these solutions, Thu Do Multimedia not only provides an efficient streaming platform but also helps content and television producers optimize costs, enhance user experience, and comprehensively protect content copyright.

Details about Sigma DRM applying Blockchain in the digital television industry

According to Mr. Han – CEO of Thu Do Multimedia, by combining Sigma DRM to protect copyright and blockchain – helping to instantly record the remuneration of parties involved in creating works, it will help solve the painful problem of copyright infringement and transparency of remuneration in the online environment.

Copyright infringement in the digital environment (digital television) often occurs because these are intangible goods that are characterized by being cross-border and easy to share. Therefore, it is very easy to create a copy with unchanged content quality through peer-to-peer sharing with zero marginal cost.

“Content creators and publishers have almost no control over how their products are shared online,” said Mr. Han.

According to the CEO of Thu Do Multimedia, with the application of blockchain, each time digital content is shared, it will be recorded by the system. The use of content is done by smart contracts with a certain network fee, so the marginal cost will increase.

Blockchain technology will not only be applied to copyright protection of television but also music content, electronic publications or more broadly, all industries related to creativity.

Digital content copyright protection: Sigma DRM is designed to protect copyright for television services and digital content. This solution has been certified to meet international security standards of Cartesian and is applied to many television services in Vietnam such as VTVcab On, TV360, Gojapan, and Nexta.

Violation Detection: Sigma DRM uses AI technology to detect and warn of device tampering or security vulnerability exploitation within 1/1000 of a second, helping to protect content quickly and effectively

“Blockchain can also create new business models by allowing users to transfer or charge for copyrighted content they own after using it. This is completely possible when Thu Do Multimedia’s Sigma DRM digital content copyright protection solution is integrated with blockchain technology,” said Mr. Han.

Previously, Thu Do Multimedia has also successfully applied blockchain to Fado Go – an e-commerce platform co-founded by this company. In the case of Fado.vn, blockchain is applied to accumulate points (Loyalty Points) for customers and record the frequency of using the utilities to buy and transport goods from Fado. Customers will have complete peace of mind, because Blockchain will help prevent anyone from illegally using their reward points other than them.

Multi-dimensional – multi-platform interaction with Sigma Interactive

Sigma Interactive, part of the OTT solution ecosystem of Thu Do Multimedia, is a powerful tool that helps enhance multi-dimensional and multi-platform interaction between content producers and audiences. This solution not only enhances user experience but also expands the accessibility of digital content on different devices.

This is a new trend in digital television, we have a prominent feature compared to competitors which is a diverse interaction model. Regardless of what content producer or publisher you are, we can easily meet this feature for your business. Whether it is sports, movies, online learning, etc., Sigma Interactive can be easily integrated into the system.

Thu Do Multimedia’s experts have extensive experience in developing interactive applications, helping to ensure product quality and their popularity with end users.

Conclusion:

The digital television industry is changing dramatically thanks to four leading trends: OTT, Blockchain, interactive television, and artificial intelligence (AI). The application of these technologies not only helps businesses optimize user experience but also enhances security, personalizes content, and develops more effective advertising methods.

Thu Do Multimedia, with a comprehensive OTT solution set such as Sigma DRM and Sigma Interactive, is a reputable partner supporting businesses in the digital television industry to constantly innovate and develop. By combining these advanced solutions, businesses will be able to meet market needs and expand their reach in the future.

Contact us today to get your questions answered.