The spread of OTT streaming platforms has radically changed the entertainment landscape and viewer preferences. They now expect higher quality content and a large catalog of choices. Online video platforms are fast replacing traditional TV-based entertainment because people like the level of personalization possible.
The OTT business is raking in major revenue, is expected to cross over $80bn by 2022.
Businesses both big in the video space like TV channels and those for whom it is a small part of the product offerings are considering launching their OTT websites or apps.
The question is whether it is worth it to have an entire team dedicated to building the OTT platform or just get a third-party OTT solution.
Top Criteria for Choosing an OTT Solution
OTT solutions can be resource-saving and inexpensive compared to hiring and maintaining a building and support team. A white-label OTT solution provides various benefits in a one-stop platform like one-time licensing fees, on-premise or cloud video hosting, etc. These are some additional criteria to watch out for.
1. Hosting and broadcasting your videos live and for replay
Your OTT platform provider should make it possible to host and broadcast your videos according to the access mode offered by you, live or replayable. Therefore, it will be necessary to offer a storage solution, transcoding to make them compatible with all devices, and a good content delivery network.
2. A video player compatible with all screens
The best OTT platform should offer a video player that plays well across all browsers and devices. Enabling multi-player provides this feasibility for multi-screen viewing. Also, having a watermark will protect your videos.
3. Turnkey vs. Microservices
Turnkey projects are built to be delivered to the buyer as a complete product while microservices are the independent web standards, programming languages, database platforms, and web server components sold as developer tools. Whether you choose the former or the latter depends on the features you want. Ideally, you should have a turnkey OTT solution for creating an OTT platform to save the hassles.
4. Simplifying the creation of your video catalog
What is the quality of the content management system? It should be easy for users to navigate, find the content of their preferences with a good cataloging system. It should provide metadata fields that are necessary for you to describe your content. Providing the feature to make a playlist is necessary nowadays.
5. Effective Monetization of your content
There are three popular modes of revenue generation- SVOD, AVOD, and PPV. Many OTT streamers offer a mix of any two or three. Your OTT platform provider should offer such flexibility.
6. Easy management of your user base
The larger your user base grows, the harder it will be to manage. It should be possible to restrict them based on the plan they have purchased, do geographic restrictions, manage their payments, etc. Access rights management and intervention for access problems are necessary.
7. Monitoring the activity of your service
It is vital to have account analytics and reporting capabilities so that you can measure your OTT website or app’s performance. You should be able to measure user engagement, the customer basket, churn, etc. It will help you tailor your content accordingly.
8. Securing your content with multi-DRM
Securing the content is extremely important and you need to have the option of every relevant DRM protection and security standards and encryption to be available. Your OTT solution should support Clarkey, Fairplay, Playready, and Widevine DRMs.
9. End-Users’ Apps
This involves two aspects. First, the user shouldn’t have to think too hard to use your app. Second, it should not interfere or be affected by the presence of other apps on the users’ devices. The look delivered to them should reflect your app. Many also like mini-player mode and overlay across other apps.
10. Marketing & Engagement
Features that help with marketing such as offers and coupons being added to the payment gateway, branding logos, and design, should be a basic requirement for any white label OTT platform providers. Adding a comments section or a forum and ways for users to give feedback makes for an engaging viewing experience. It is crucial to be able to measure the impact of your marketing and user engagement efforts.
To Summarise
Though it looks like an impossible list there are OTT players that do offer all these criteria. If you compromise on them, you may end up spending a lot more on getting microservices that give all the features you need. It offers third-party integration, end-to-end user and business support with all the latest features to make your app competitive enough for the market.
