Helping the TV Industry Accelerate the Success of OTT Video Services

Technology has fundamentally changed how we watch movies, TV shows, and our favorite sports programs. With the advent of OTT video services, people are tuning in to their favorite programs via internet-based services rather than traditional cable TV networks. This trend is influencing viewers to cut their cords to choose convenient and cost-efficient alternatives. An emerging option for viewers is à la carte access to OTT services across various screens like mobile devices, smart TVs, game consoles, etc.

While TV might not die in the near future, for sure it is on the edge of the incline. For instance, in a survey conducted by PwC, over 58% of satellite TV users said that they would cut the cord by 2025 by completely adopting OTT services. OTT services are already on their way to disrupt the TV industry with market players like Netflix and Amazon replacing traditional broadcast networks.

The OTT video landscape

The evolution of satellite TV network from a primary video delivery medium to an on-demand channel capable of targeting individual users has accelerated over the past years. Since the first digital system was built to deliver on demand content, the growth of the Internet has unlocked multiple channels for fast video delivery, new revenue models for content created and ushered in the golden age of TV for users and media brands alike. If you are seriously thinking about how to launch your OTT platform, now is the right time to enter into the lucrative market.

Additionally, mobile devices have created a second screen ecosystem for OTT services, meaning video programing is returning to the big screen in the living room, but with the ability to dynamically target, deliver modern viewing experience, and measure advertising. Over-the-top or OTT is the technology by which users receive access to TV programming without a cable subscription by receiving content through an internet connection that goes over the set-top-box. Some of the most popular OTT video streaming players include Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.

Hyper target your audience with OTT

One of the major benefits of launching your OTT Platform is the ability to hyper-target your users. Unlike TV ads, OTT ads can be targeted by various elements like age, gender, address, ethnicity, zip code, etc. Hyper targeting allows segregating unique information from users to decide which user groups are likely to respond to specific types of ads.

For example, a sports brand could display ads specifically to the audience watching a sports program. Media brands can also choose a certain channel to target on traditional TV as well, but hyper-targeting allows you to get the additional benefit of knowing that a viewer has specifically selected certain programs.

How media brands can leverage technology to address cord-cutting

The advanced technology of today has the potential to help media brands respond positively to the cord-cutting trend of users by offering great TV experiences for customers via desktop, smartphone, and connected TV devices.

The primary goal is to support TV networks and providers directly engage with users, grow their user base, and monetize premium viewing experiences most compellingly. The key for media brands to succeed in the evolving digital landscape is personalization. It’s impossible to deliver the best service to your audience without a one-one personal relationship with them supported by relevant and target content. Most media brands are launching streaming services to survive. Here’s how they can thrive in the competitive industry.

Create compelling content

To thrive in a highly competitive industry, you need to build your own OTT business around compelling content. Your content must be powerful enough to gain a competitive advantage in the OTT space, especially if you offer niche services. It is very important to keep evolving your services, producing offerings that audiences have shown interest in. Make sure you create content that is not available on any other platform. If your content is unique, people will appreciate it and be ready to pay for it.

Enhance customer loyalty

This is one of the essential strategies for media brands to thrive in the highly competitive OTT market. You can easily promote customer loyalty by either curating content according to customer requests or even bundle exclusive content at an attractive price. So if your audience builds a sense of loyalty towards your OTT offerings, they will recommend it to others and help you grow your community.

Offer excellent viewer experience

What makes users come back for more? One significant element is a great user experience to ensure high-quality video delivery on all screens. The audience has zero-tolerance to blurry or lagging video content. As 4K UD becomes more popular, users become used to better quality video content, promote delivery, and entirely first-class experience. Viewers also expect the same performance of OTT content on all locations and screens.

Personalize the experience

The more your audience receives specific recommendations, the more likely they will be able to relate to your content. However, resonating with the content calls for more than smart recommendations. OTT services need accurate user data to base user recommendations to make the experience meaningful to viewers.

Content personalization is not just about what to offer, but also personalizing the way the content is offered. Some of the personalized experience includes wish lists, personal recommendations, and continued experiences. Personalization offers the audience the feeling that there is a one-one relationship between and the OTT service which encourages their engagement and trust.

Offer attractive packages

Well, the quality of your offering matters, but affordability matters too. Many niche OTT services are pulling off users from industry players by offering affordable price packages.

Have a look at what your competitors are offering and what rate users are most likely to sign up for. The price package would generally vary according to the type of content, video viewing time, and the mode of accessing it.

Along with attractive packages, consider offering free trials to your users. This will help you to gain a competitive advantage over services that are not offering free trials. A major hack is here to make your users input their credit card details before the start of the trial period so that you can ensure the transaction from free trial to a subscription is smooth.

Use social media to improve engagement

Most people, while they are watching television, will also have another screen alongside. It might be a mobile phone, laptop, or iPad. Leveraging this second screen is a great way to encourage user engagement to a great extent.

This is when leveraging social media to improve engagement becomes significant. Social media is a great place to share entertaining content like bloopers, deleted scenes, commentary from the casts, upcoming events, etc. Social networks are also a great opportunity to collect feedback and reactions from viewers on shows and movies.

Utilize powerful analytics

When it comes to creating your OTT platform, integrating powerful business analytics and reporting is another essential feature to consider. Measuring the performance of your services is critical to understand what is working and what is not. It is not just enough to measure the content, but also important to measure the impact on your price, promotions, and marketing efforts. It is these powerful and accurate insights that can be used to upsell opportunities and fine-tune offerings. These actionable insights can also uncover unusual patterns in viewing behaviors so that you can take the correct step to bring the viewers back to your OTT platform.

Provide bonus offerings

Your users would be more likely to stay loyal if they are lured with free or promotional content. Besides your OTT offering, offer bonus content like rehearsal footage, cast interviews, deleted scenes as well. You can offer a mix of regular and bonus content as per your bundling strategy at a discounted price. If you are choosing a white-label OTT platform to power your services, you can easily integrate offers and promotions to your platform. You must also take advantage of seasonal thrills, freebies, or special events for a limited period to attract new subscribers and to retain existing customers.

Conclusion

As the TV space becomes increasingly digital, media brands need to follow unique strategies to differentiate themselves. Offering the best quality OTT content with a great viewing experience is essential to improve engagement. For greater impact, both the content and context must be personalized on top of data-driven offerings and services.

Increased diversification suggests the OTT market is growing and has several opportunities that are still untapped. Whether you are just using a TV network to brand your services or already using OTT, OTT represents the future of media. It’s the right time to be a part of it.