As we reported last week, there are increasing concerns that the fragmentation in apps development environments is going to slow the progress of Connected TV. A growing number of commentators are calling for some standardisation to make it easier to publish an app and then use in more places. But even without rationalisation in Software Development Kits (SDKs), it is becoming easier (and therefore cheaper) for content providers to repurpose connected TV or even Pay TV apps for different platforms. This is because as apps development agencies or internal teams build for each new platform, they have a body of work to draw upon but also increasing experience about how to maximise re-use.
Bill Scott, Chief Operating & Commercial Officer at the apps development specialist easeltv, says that once his company has built and optimised an app for a platform, it can re-use up to 95% of the development work when building another app, with similar functionality, for the same platform. When it comes to taking that app to another platform, the amount of re-use depends on whether the company has already developed the ‘player’ for the new target platform. If it has, re-use can still be as high at 95%.
If easeltv needs to build a new player, but using similar technology to an existing player, the re-use can be in the 60-75% range, depending on how different the platform is. If the new platform requires a new player, and there is nothing similar to draw upon, then his company can re-use the app design but not the rest of the technology it draws upon. So in this case you have 20% re-use.
This is an excerpt from Videonet’s latest report: ‘Pay TV and apps: opening the doors’. This covers the challenges for Pay TV operators who want to become ‘apps’ on connected TV devices and also looks at how operators can make more online services available through the set-top box and increase ‘service velocity’, and the role of apps within that. It considers how the Pay TV industry can achieve scale for Pay TV apps development, considering the role of Android and HTML5. It includes insights from Virgin Media, Orange, Samsung, LG, Roku, NDS, NAGRA, Accedo, easeltv, Electronic Arts, IMS Research, Farncombe, CTOi Consulting, Futuresource Consulting, Parks Associates, EchoStar Europe, Humax and Broadcom.
