Global media companies are weighing up some major organizational and strategic changes while simultaneously placing plenty of smaller bets, as they restructure and reposition themselves for a world of increased consumer choice.

Leaders from some of the world’s biggest media brands outlined the approaches they are taking, and the rationale supporting these, during the opening keynote sessions at this year’s APOS conference in Bali.

“We are in the early days in what is going to be a lot of experimentation among programmers to ensure we are getting our branded environments out to as many consumers and in as many packages as possible,” said Turner Broadcasting System’s chairman and CEO, John Martin.

The priority is exploring these options with existing partners, Martin stressed, although Turner has inked deals with some aspiring OTT distribution platforms such as Sling TV, a subsidiary of American DTH operator Dish Network, and Sony’s streaming service Vue, delivered via PlayStation gaming consoles.

Turner also stands to learn from sister company HBO’s own experiment on market readiness for change: direct-to-consumer SVOD service, HBO Now, which recently made it its APAC debut in Hong Kong as HBO Go.

Implications for APAC hinge on the different dynamics at play in different countries.

“We are going to have to look at it territory by territory, market by market,” Martin said.

“By market, the consumer will ultimately dictate the manner in which they wish to receive their television services. We are in the process of reimagining what TV even is.”

Turner is ready for the road ahead, Martin declared, after a major shake-up, in Asia as well as globally.

He pledged to continue building out Turner’s core brands in kids and news, while layering on other locally and regionally specific channels in other genres where relevant.

In Asia, the company recently unveiled a new factual offering, World Heritage Channel, following the launch of a new Korean entertainment brand, Oh!K, last year.

“Entertainment is one area where we have to be selective, but we have a new found ambition and willingness to make investments in local content,” Martin said.

Turner’s global head has also funds to energize what he sees as an underperforming merchandizing business, as well as for possible partnerships to create new branded environments, plus potentially bigger deals offering a chance to scale up in attractive markets.

“Those programmers that have strong brands that can meet consumer expectations will garner a larger slice of economics compared with today,” Martin said.

“That’s what we are working very hard on.”

FLEXIBILITY AND FINANCIAL SECURITY

Media heads of state need to navigate a fast-changing world, revisiting the way shows and films are packaged and sold on an ongoing basis for the next few years.

“The way the company is organized is always evolving,” noted James Murdoch, co-chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox.

“At different times, you are more integrated to gain the scale that you might need to have in certain situations, at other times you don’t need to do that,” he added. “We try to be reasonably flexible about it.”

One area working out well is vertical integration, Murdoch noted, citing a recent merger in the US between the leadership group of the TV studio business and the Fox broadcast network.

“There was a lot of friction in the business around windows and packages and season stacking, and all things that producers and channels argue about,” Murdoch said. “By creating the right set of incentives and the leadership, we fixed them like that. We believe in vertical integration and think it’s really effective”

The audience 21st Century Fox delivers increasingly represents more varied consumption of programming, from library content to current series and films, across multiple devices and schedules, Murdoch noted.

The key question is how to best monetize that, via existing revenue streams as well as new ones.

“Our business is going to continue for a while to be dominated financially by selling programming in packages to pay-TV operators because there is so much revenue there today, but increasingly we are going to see very rapid growth and change in the digital video advertising space because there is such high consumption today in windows that are not monetized at all,” Murdoch said.

“That audience is there. As the vast majority moves from DVRs and local storage to IP streaming, as the cost goes down and bandwidth goes up, we are going to see a new advertising business emerge, that is very exciting to monetize that audience in a new way.”

Watch out for more detailed coverage of the keynote sessions with John Martin and James Murdoch, as well Ted Sarandos from Netflix, Rohana Rozhan from Astro, Richard Freudenstein from Foxtel, Li Ruigang from China Media Capital, plus many more highlights from this year’s APOS conference in the weeks to come.