Netflix's television quality improvement, communication carrier cooperation.What is a new relationship with Sony and au? --Av Watch

Currently, there are four ways to watch Netflix, mainly television (including via STB), PC, smartphone, and tablet.Among them, the terminals used at the time of contract (sign -up) and the terminals used for viewing are largely divided, and as of September, smartphones (41%) are the most used contracts in the global contract.While PC (30%), TV (23%), and tablet (6%), the most TV is 64%, followed by a computer (16%), smartphone (13%),The difference from the tablet (7%) is large.

The trend is the same in Japan, but the most useful smartphone in the contract is more than half of the total, followed by a computer (23%), a TV (17%), and a tablet (6%).Watching is 44%for the most common TV, followed by smartphones (28%), PC (17%), and tablet (11%).In Japan, the proportion of mobile is relatively high in contract and viewing.

On the other hand, looking at the ratio of using the mobile phone line (celluler) and the wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) by time zone, Japan clearly increases the ratio of cellulers during hours such as commuting time and dinner.In South America Chile, the ratio of cellulers is always high between 6 am and around 3 pm, and there is a time exceeding 50%.In Nordic Finnish, there are significant differences between countries, such as the ratio of cellulers over a day, as high as 60%or more.

These differences are affected by not only lifestyle patterns in various places, but also communication infrastructure and rates.It is a partner's approach by Netflix and telecommunications companies that mobile is being used in the same way as television.

Richard Yamamoto, a director in charge of business development, who manages partnerships with telecommunications carriers, mobile carriers, home appliance manufacturers, and CATV operators, explained specific initiatives with domestic and overseas partners.Currently, there are about 60 partner contracts between Netflix and CATV companies and mobile carriers, and in various ways, such as STB and smartphone app pre -installation.

One of the major cases of T-Mobile, a major telecommunications company developed in North America and Europe is "Zero Rating".Initially, T-MOBILE started with music distribution services, Pandra, Spotify, and i-Heart Radio, so that the data usage was not counted on the network on T-Mobile.As a video distribution version, a service called "BINGE ON" was developed since 2016.Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. are targeted.

The characteristic of Binge on is that all services are used on T-Mobile, and the survey results in "Netflix are often used", so T-Mobile plans Netflix as a plan.The point we provide.According to a survey by a third -party organization, "the older the age, the more interest in the service that bundles the mobile communication plan."These trends are the same in Europe in recent years.

For telecommunications companies such as T-Mobile, the acquisition of new contracts and the reduction of withdrawal rates have become an issue, but last year's T-Mobile's financial results announcement also contributed to the company that started Netflix bundles.It is said that a comment was given by the president.

Mr. Yamamoto said, "The method of efforts with partners is evolving. By partner, there are assets that can be used by partners. It can use Netflix original programs in -house commercials. When the bundle was not present.He explained the advantage that the content was temporarily used by the content.

The most prominent partnership in Japan is the au flat plan 25 Netflix Pack for Netflix viewing provided by KDDI (au).The Netflix Basic Plan was bundled to the au communication fee, and it was launched on August 28 for 5,500 yen per month (as previously reported on January 1, 2019, 5,650 yen per month).

If the user of the pack wants to use the Netflix's top plan, the standard plan can be changed with an additional 400 yen per month and the premium plan is 1,000 yen per month.In the standard plan, up to 2 units can be viewed at the same time with HD image quality, and the premium plan can be viewed up to 4 units with 4K image quality.Mr. Yamamoto explained, "It's been less than three weeks, but the impact is great. I can't give specific numbers, but it's a good idea to start."

Mr. Yamamoto explains that the pack is bundled with 25GB of data communication, but because this capacity uses compression technology that can view Netflix for 100 hours, "there is almost no burden on the entire network" (encoding technology).Details are published in another article).

The case of T-Mobile mentioned earlier was a bundle service, starting with the success of zero ratings, while the bundle was ahead of Japanese careers.The day after the pack started, SoftBank Mobile announced the zero rating "Ultra Giga Monster+" for YouTube and Abema TV.This plan does not include Netflix, but Mr. Yamamoto states, "Softbank is already a partner and there is no reason not to do (Netflix bundle). The details have not been confirmed, but we are looking into it.""In the end, I want to create an environment where I can enjoy Netflix regardless of my career or terminal. I want to do not only KDDI, Softbank, but also DoCoMo, which has no partnership yet."