Convergence Plus spoke with Mr. Alan Dishington, General Manager, NDS, India, to discuss the entry of NDS Dynamic into India, against the backdrop of a changing world of advertising.

CP: How is NDS Dynamic expected to impact the world of advertising?

AD: TV advertisers and media buyers are looking for a change. They want more accountability, more addressability and more interactivity. They are looking to boost TV’s emotional impact by creating an attachment between their brand and the right consumers. NDS DynamicTM is a suite of advanced advertising solutions from NDS, which enables this. NDS DynamicTM includes Audience Measurement for collecting precise audience and measurement data from set-top-boxes (STBs), Addressable Advertising for delivering the right ads to the right households and Interactive Advertising, which enables viewers to engage with brands via the TV.

An advertiser’s opportunities will increase with the ability to introduce addressability to today’s broadcast video ads. Digital video recorder DVRs in consumer homes can be used as a powerful engine for household level ad insertion without impairing the viewer experience. Statistics show that viewers are much less prone to tune away from addressable ads than from non-addressable ones (by a margin of 38% in one trial) improving their own viewing experience while being exposed to tailored marketing messages. From the media buying, planning and selling perspective, addressable advertising enables the audience of a single broadcast spot to be segmented into multiple household groups, which enhances the efficiency of the spot by reducing wastage and improving inventory utilization for the buyer.

STB level audience measurement supplements traditional TV measurement with critical information not available anywhere else such as: how much time people spend in the electronic programme guide (EPG) and interactive services, how do they use these services and which are the most popular. STB measurement has changed the way advertisers plan their TV campaigns in more mature digital TV markets like the US and the UK.

CP: How effective is advertising through the EPG?

AD: Display ads on the EPG have proved to be more effective for advertisers than some traditional media platforms like print. Once addressability is added, display ads in the EPG become even more effective. Addressability will allow advertisers to present different messages to different geographic, demographic or other groups. It will enable local advertisers to deliver messages only to the digital TV homes they want to or national brands to offer different ads to various home profiles of interest, such as families with kids, (subscribed to the kids package) and sports fans, (subscribed to the sports package).

CP: Is the market for 'NDS Dynamic' faring as per the expectations? What has the response to the product been so far, as compared to other markets?

AD: The interest and response from advertisers and operators to NDS DynamicTM has been enthusiastic. Advertisers and media buyers are very interested because they feel the need to make their ad spend more effective and TV operators and programmers are interested since they see the huge revenue potential behind it. NDS DynamicTM based Audience Measurement has already been deployed on a number of digital TV platforms in the UK and the US for a number of years. In fact, it has changed the way advertisers plan their TV campaigns in those markets.

CP: Tell us about the R&D facility in Bangalore.

NDS plans to continue to invest in R&D with more than 75% of our workforce dedicated to the development of new and better solutions for pay-TV operators. To maintain our position as a world leader, we invest almost 26% of our revenues into research and development. We are continually evaluating market trends and translating these into new technologies for increasingly technology aware consumers. Bangalore will continue to expand its R&D operations to meet the needs of our customers and their subscribers. NDS will continue its commitment to evaluate local markets and invest in localisation leading to further expansion in the coming years.

NDS has invested more than US$130m in the Indian market so far and plans to invest another US$150 million in the next three years. NDS is committed to a strong presence in India now and in the future and as the Indian pay-TV market expands, NDS will continue to be a market leader in supplying world-class, innovative solutions to the market

CP: What are the future prospects for NDS in the Indian market?

AD: India is a dynamic and exciting market place for digital pay-TV solutions. To cater for the dramatic growth projections in the local market, NDS has put significant expansion plans in place.

In a study conducted by TAM Media Research, India, over the last year the number of cable & satellite homes in India rose by 15.2% to reach 103 million, out of which almost 49 million are in the rural areas. At the same time the number of digital TV homes has also gone up from 15 million to 20 million, demonstrating an increase of 28%. An MPA forecast suggests that by 2015 the total number of digital TV homes in India will shoot up to 62 million. This shows the huge growth potential in the digitization of the Indian cable TV industry. In response, NDS has developed local, low cost, scalable and end-to-end solutions to facilitate the digital migration of the diverse cable TV operator industry in India.

CP: How does ‘NDS’ plan to tap the bigger chunks of Indian digital Pay-TV market?

We are committed to the Indian market and are ramping up the headcount to in excess of 1,500 across our R&D facility in Bangalore and offices in Gurgaon and Mumbai. This will allow NDS to increase local support capabilities to service the growing needs of our customers and the Indian pay-TV market. We have also recently appointed a new Sales Director for NDS India to spearhead the business development activities in the region.

NDS has a strong track record helping Indian broadcasters successfully launch digital services easily and cost-effectively. NDS solutions have been deployed by Tata Sky, Bharti Airtel, Digital Entertainment Network (DEN), Hathway and GTPL. We plan to increase our coverage and market share by winning new platforms in the digital cable, DTH, IPTV and mobile TV space, and continue working with our existing leading DTH and Digital Cable TV customers to implement new services for India such as advanced advertising.