"A good product needs a lot of attention"

MK Just before the «MK Trailblazer 2018» award ceremony on August 28, news broke that Tamedia was acquiring a majority stake in Zattoo. What does this mean for Zattoo’s future development?

BEA KNECHT This is not an investment, but rather a majority acquisition that was already agreed upon in 2015, when Tamedia joined Zattoo’s international business. Tamedia had previously held a minority stake in Zattoo Switzerland. In Switzerland, we work well with Tamedia, as well as with Ringier, AZ Medien, and NZZ. It will be exciting to see how Tamedia contributes to our business in Germany and in the B2B sector. We will shape the future of the company together.

MK The topics of recommendations, voice control, and dynamic ad insertion took center stage at a Zattoo media event on September 26. What can we expect?

KNECHT We’re showcasing the innovations we’ve already implemented and those still in the pipeline. A new recommendation feature that provides end customers with content suggestions is already partially in use. We’re using artificial intelligence for this. Unlike Amazon, which tends to recommend more of the same, we want to offer our customers more variety. At Zattoo, a device can be assigned to a specific customer on a one-to-one basis. That’s why we have high-quality data to make better recommendations. We’re close to our customers and can use testing to figure out what works. When it comes to product features—such as navigation—there’s plenty of room for improvement. It’s important that new offerings and improvements are intuitive for customers.

MK Digital streaming TV for consumers is widely known. However, Zattoo is also active in the B2B sector. How large are these two segments today? And what is their potential?

KNECHT No other provider worldwide has a system for streaming TV over the Internet like the one Zattoo has developed. We can offer telecommunications providers and cable network operators a fully cloud-based solution that costs one-tenth as much as the solutions currently in use. We are the first in the world to have an app on Apple TV that was rolled out by a telecommunications provider. This allows updates to be made without affecting end customers’ individual settings. We have B2B customers such as Salt in Switzerland, 1&1 in Germany, and many municipal cable network providers. In our consumer business, we have an average of two million unique visitors per month.

MK What developments do you expect to see in video advertising on TV and streaming TV?

KNECHT The current situation is a bit sobering for me. Billboards and radio have long been mass media for advertising. But it was television that turned audience measurement into a science. Nevertheless, targeted advertising is still limited to channel selection, program, time of day, and, to some extent, geography. This works so well that it’s difficult for Zattoo to convince the market of the value of our additional targeting capabilities. Otherwise, there’s now a broad understanding of targeting in online advertising. But we’re still hitting a brick wall, even though Zattoo is distributed via the internet. This won’t remain the case forever, though. After all, video consumption on the internet is constantly increasing—and with it, video advertising.

MK What are the targeting options available for Internet TV advertising?

KNECHT With Dynamic Ad Insertion, we have a great solution. It allows us to identify commercials within programs and replace them with ads tailored to the target audience. However, broadcasters must first adopt this technology before we can start reining in advertisers’ spending. On traditional TV today, 20 percent of ads are skipped. On time-shifted TV via the Internet, as much as 70 percent are skipped. That could change if viewers receive ads tailored to their needs.

MK Who do you consider to be role models, and what makes people role models?

KNECHT To me, role models are people who do something extraordinarily important. I don’t count myself among them. I admire people who can make quick decisions while still giving others’ perspectives a chance to be heard. I have respect for people who uphold institutions that are important to society. I admire entrepreneurs who put the product and the customer first and view profitability as a natural consequence of that. A product requires an incredible amount of attention to be made well. That’s why Apple has focused on a few great products.