Quadruple play – Is personalisation the key to success?



With a myriad of quadruple play packages now hitting the market, in this blog we take a look at their success to date, and how CSP’s need to adapt to be truly successful with a ‘bundle’ approach.

 

The days of buying separate services from multiple suppliers are a thing of the past. Over the past few years many households have adopted triple-play packages, and this trend is set to continue. By combining broadband, fixed line telephony and TV, consumers can save a pretty penny – Ofcom have shown that in 2013 the standard price of a triple-play bundle in the UK was £32.12 pcm compared to a whopping £56.16 pcm for the standalone equivalent.

 

What are the barriers to quadruple play uptake?

If quadruple play is the next logical step, why hasn’t it taken off as much as expected? One school of thought suggests that a triple figure bill from one supplier is just too off-putting for consumers. The cost of a mobile contract can be the same, if not more than TV, fixed and broadband put together. So the leap from triple play to quadruple play is a significant one. Some believe that the quadruple play packages on the market are too rigid, and do not cater to the needs of everyone. Another school of thought is that people simply do not understand if a quadruple play package actually delivers any benefit to them or not.

 

What does the quadruple play market look like today?

Reports have shown that mainland Europe is leading the way in quadruple play offerings, with Portugal and Spain reporting up to 30% of broadband connections now being purchased as part of a quadruple play package. The USA, in contrast has only achieved an uptake of 1.5% after offering quadruple play packages for almost 10 years.

In the UK, Virgin Media was one of the first to go to market with quadruple play. BT have also recently followed suit, with Vodafone rumored to also be launching a quadruple play offering over the coming months.

 

Are CSP’s successful with quadruple play?

Orange France has reported a reduction in churn of 3% amongst its quadruple play customers. Virgin Media has also announced outstanding results, with quadruple play customers 50% less likely to churn when compared to triple play customers.

However there has been a notable trend in some subscribers moving away from quad-play after only short contract periods. This has been attributed primarily to poor billing clarity, with everything being lumped into one. Some reports have also suggested that younger subscribers prefer a ‘pick and mix’ approach, opting for OTT providers for their TV needs such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

 

Could personalisation be the answer to quadruple play success?

To overcome some of the barriers operators are facing with quadruple play, personalisation could be the answer. Operators can use big data to enrich their customer profiles. This can range from broadband usage monitoring, to utilising probe data to fully understand how customers are using their services and devices. By doing this, CSPs can build up a more detailed profile of their customers, and better customise their communication and offerings to match what the customer actually needs. For example, a customer with a high mobile data usage but low broadband needs can be offered a quadruple play package designed to match that exact usage pattern.

To achieve this CSPs need a big data analytics tool which can handle various data streams, allowing them to build up a comprehensive user profile. A level of automation is also advantageous for this purpose, to automatically alert users to potential cost saving and custom packages to best suit their needs.