I’m Kauser Kanji and I’ve been working in online video since 2005. Formerly a senior exec at NBCU, Virgin Media, ITN and Trinity Mirror, I started my consultancy, VOD Professional, in 2011 with the aim of helping clients unlock the potential of OTT.

Broadcasters, content-owners, service providers and vendors deploy me on their continuing journey of business transformation: their evolving products, infrastructure and commercial strategies.

Across nearly twenty years in the OTT industry, I’ve completed successful projects for clients including A+E Networks, the BBC, BBC Studios, Channel 4, Liberty Global, Netflix, Sony Pictures and a range of national and international broadcasters and streamers.

Vendor customers include 24i, Akamai, Candyspace, Imagine Communications, TiVo, Whip Media and Vimond Solutions.

OTT – as part of the wider transition from broadcast to streaming – is all about business transformation and in the early days, when companies were launching their first and second-gen VOD offerings, their focus (and therefore mine) was largely on product development and technology.

Since then, as the market has matured and boards of directors have looked for greater ROI and replicable revenue, I’ve been used for more monetisation, operational and strategic assignments.

Read more about my consultancy work.

To help me keep up to date with the industry, I host an annual conference – OTT Question Time Live – and its online sister show – OTT Question Time Online – where I get to quiz senior industry execs about news, developments and innovations.

This year’s OTT Question Time Live featured speakers from A+E Networks, Amazon Freevee, Axinom, the BBC, BBC Studios, Bedrock, BritBox International, Candyspace, ContentWise, DR (Denmark), EDGE Video, Evergent, ITV, Google, Hasbro Entertainment, Meta, NOW, NRK (Norway), Samsung TV Plus, RTL AdAlliance, Sony Pictures India, SVT (Sweden), Thinkbox, Universal Pictures, Vimond, Warner Bros Discovery, Whip Media, Xumo, Xperi, YouTube and ZDF Studios.

And the new season of OTTQT Online starts soon! Drop me a line if you’d like to take part.

I publish posts on the VOD Pro website in which I take deep dives into subjects that fascinate me: how broadcasters and streamers decide and spend their budgets, the continuing evolution of OTT products, the ways in which viewer behaviours have shifted over time and the solutions built in-house and supplied by specialist vendors.

Over the last 18 months, I’ve been keeping tabs on the effects that artificial intelligence may (or already do) have on our industry. You can see some of my research in the OTT AI Database. 

The best part of my job is bringing people together: vendors and potential clients, execs and specialists, employers and new hires.

Together with a brilliant judging panel, we produce 50 VOD Professionals – an annual list of the most influential people working in the UK’s OTT industry.

And I’m a regular speaker and host at events like CTAM Europe and the DEG (Digital Entertainment Group) Roadshow. Catch me at IBC and the Future TV Advertising Forum before the end of the year.