DECE: Australia Has Second-Highest Consumer Adoption Rate of UltraViolet

30 Jun, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Since a soft launch last year, initial consumer adoption of UltraViolet in Australia reportedly is second only to the United States, according to Mark Teitell, GM of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, which coordinates UV rollout.

The cloud-based digital content storage system, which is backed by all Hollywood studios except Disney, has generated more than 160,000 registered accounts in Australia. That’s only trails the U.S. in per-capita UV adoption.

There were about 17 million UV accounts in the U.S at the end of the last quarter, according to Time Warner.

“UltraViolet is currently available in 10 countries around the world and there are nearly 18 million accounts globally,” Mark Teitell, GM of DECE, told Australia’s .

JB Hi-Fi was the first Aussie retail chain to offer UV-compatible packaged media, with EzyFlix.tv becoming the first online retailer to offer the storage platform.

Meanwhile,  the Aussie adoption rate could be challenged by the United Kingdom, where there are about 1 million registered UV accounts without any formal launch, according to the British Video Association.

Regardless, Teitell said UV represents a seamless way for entertainment retailers to develop a digital connection with consumers while at the same time enhancing packaged-media sales and curbing piracy. Establishing an online retail platform for UV can reportedly take from six to 12 months — a process Teitell said DECE can assist with.

“It’s not all that complicated but still takes a while to deploy,” he said. “They need to do a bit of technology integration into the centralized system we operate. Sometimes they are deploying digital services for the first time ever; they actually have to build a digital storefront.”

Teitell said retailers can offer UltraViolet as a means of enabling family members and friends separated by geography the ability to watch a movie simultaneously without resorting to piracy.

“They want to be able to watch it and have their sister in another city watch it. A lot of those things aren’t about money but what you can do with it. UltraViolet is kind of a legitimate way for consumers to have that,” he said.
 

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