Vudu Podcast: Should Pay TV Players Fight the Leading OTT High-Def Content Provider, Or Join 'Em?

We had a chance recently to catch up with VUDU Executive Vice President Edward Lichty to capture his views on the role Vudu is playing in fostering the burgeoning over the top (OTT) video market, as well as his perspective on the market in general. Click here to listen to podcast.

Vudu has certainly been making a lot of noise lately. They seem to be at the forefront of many of the major innovations in the OTT space. First, while many skeptics thought the delivery of quality Internet HD on demand could not be done with any kind of a reasonable user experience, Vudu has embraced high-def, with 2,000 of their 15,000 movie titles available in up to 1080p resolution, more than any other OTT provider and more than the total Blu-ray library, according to Vudu. As a result, Vudu’s $150 box (they also sell a higher end $500 box) boasts the highest revenue per subscriber of any VoD service, with around $20 per month collected from customers. This is high compared to cable, a fact that Edward pins on the fact that, for cable, VoD is a service primarily used to buttress the value of their subscription-based service, as opposed to the core transactional business that drives the Vudu user experience. Edward also chalks this up to Vudu’s superior selection, high quality 5.1 sound, convenience, and ease of use. (By the way, for those following the protocol wars for HD video distribution in the home, Edward made it clear that even WiFi G is enough for them to deliver HD content in real-time with delays of 1 second or less. Of course, a mix of VoD and streaming live TV would be more taxing.)

Vudu is not afraid to try out new business models. Last week, the company announced a deal with Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment for the first major download-to-own service for movies. “I think this is another example of Hollywood endorsing Vudu as a premier HD platform,” he said.