On a panel at The Pay TV Show, Philo COO, Mike Keyserling discussed the future of Philo. “The first year was getting table stakes functionality” discussing building out Apple TV, Fire TV, and Android TV last year. But he thinks the future is about building innovative functionality.
“We believe we can build a more social television experience. People talk about TV more than any other content consumption, except no social functionality has made it way through. I think you’re going to see more social functionality from us.” At CES, the company said they were working on a feature that would let you watch TV with your friends, no matter where they are.
In terms of their recent price hike, Keyserling said that their $20 package already has “about a 50% penetration.” He said the company decided to discontinue the $16 plan and didn’t want to follow others in raising prices 20-30%, multiple times a year.
Keyserling discussed that much of what Philo thinks about is what the customer wants. “We think those companies that people the customer first will be the ones that win in the end. From our perspective its building a great product. You can start a trial on Philo with just your phone number.” This is also why he said the company grandfathered existing customers who already had their $16 plan.
“We don’t embargo features for extra cost—live linear feed, on-demand, unlimited DVR. We put the customer first. We are building a nimble company that can pivot if we need to.” So from it sounds like, while Philo has focused on getting their initial product right, there is a lot of functionality ahead for the service.