M+E Connections

Xperi continues to sign new deals and make other strides in its media platform and connected car business segments, company executives said Nov. 16 at the Stephens Investment Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

The media platform business includes Xperi’s TiVo operating system. That, along with connected car and IPTV streaming (video over broadband) in its pay TV segment, represent Xperi’s growth solutions, company executives had pointed out during its recent earnings call for the third quarter (ended Sept. 30).

Media Platform accounts for about 11% of Xperi’s total revenue now, Nicholas Zangler, a research analyst at Stephens who covers advertising technology, pointed out at the start of the conference session.

But Zangler said: “It’s exhibiting the highest growth rate…. Just for perspective here, when we talk about media platform, we’re modeling $59 million in revenues here in 2023. I think you guys are targeting $190 million on a run rate basis.”

He added: “What is really powering that is the new TiVo OS and relationships that you’re forming on the TV OEM side.”

Video services powered by TiVo are now shipping in Vestel smart TVs and BMW cars, according to Jon Kirchner, chief executive officer of Xperi.

The Vestel TVs smart TVs are now shipping into Europe, Kirchner said, adding that, “as we get through [2024] with more partners shipping TVs and ultimately more activations, you’ll begin to see that turn into a monetization side, which is really an opportunity … to grow.”

Sharp has also agreed to ship smart TVs with TiVo integrated inside, along with two other manufacturers that Xperi hadn’t identified yet.

Kirchner vowed, however, that “we’re not going to make TVs, which is what you’re seeing out of a lot of the competitors; we are licensing software and building partnerships where the actual TV [maker] can own the brand [and] can own their customer.”

Xperi “will share data” with the electronics manufacturers and they “obviously will have prominent billing in ways that are important to their businesses – not only to sell TVs, but other goods around their brand inside the home, which is … one of the core tenets around the importance of why TV is so big,” he said.

“That combination of …  truly being independent, supporting our customers and giving them that control and participation, I think it’s what really sets us apart” from rivals, he added. That along with the “technical design,” he said, noting: “We not promoting a sea of apps where the consumer has to go through and know where content is available. We actually do the opposite. We have what they call a content-centric approach where, as you look for your content … we’ll tell you where it’s available. So, your time to content in the search and discovery process is not only far faster, but far more gratifying.”

He pointed to consumer studies that showed this also “drives more engagement on the platform [and] more engagement translates to more monetization opportunities…. I think that that puts us in a really good position to accelerate this,” he added.