OTT or over-the-top technology is a buzzword now in the video streaming industry. It simplifies the content delivery process for content providers.
Moreover, OTT platforms are popular among viewers as it offers multiple benefits, such as flexibility and convenience. As a result, businesses and consumers are getting involved in the video streaming industry. Companies launch them to deliver content to viewers, and viewers turn to them instead of watching cable or satellite television.
What to Know about OTT: Definition & Benefits for a Business
If you want to create your own OTT streaming service, we recommend you contact Setplex. The company can offer an OTT solution to achieve your business goals.
Let’s have a closer look at OTT, its meaning, and benefits.
What is OTT?
OTT technology enables video content delivery across multiple devices via the Internet. It is a sustainable alternative to traditional television, like cable or satellite. Moreover, videos are available on smartphones, Smart TVs, tablets, and computers, while traditional television operates only on a TV.
OTT platforms allow viewers to watch videos pre-stored on servers. Platforms with videos available at any time are called VOD (video-on-demand) platforms. VOD platforms allow users to access videos whenever and wherever they want.
Depending on the monetization model a VOD platform uses, there are AVOD (advertising-based video-on-demand), TVOD (transactional-based video-on-demand), and SVOD (subscription-based video-on-demand).
Benefits of Having an OTT platform for Your Business
Many companies have already launched their own OTT video streaming services, and even more companies are thinking about it. Let’s observe the main benefits a video streaming platform can bring to your business.
1 Additional revenue source
As we described above, there are many monetization models that you can use to generate more revenue.
- Advertising. An ad-based service is usually free of charge for viewers. The content provider makes money by running advertisements on their videos.
- Subscriptions. It is one of the most popular monetization models thanks to huge corporations like Netflix or Hulu. They sell a monthly or yearly subscription to a service. At the end of a subscription period, viewers renew or cancel their subscriptions.
- Pay-per-view. It is also known as a transactional-based VOD. In this case, consumers purchase only one video they want to watch. The rest of the content is inaccessible and requires additional payment.
- Hybrid monetization model. It is getting popular among streaming service providers. They combine several of the models described above. For example, they offer viewers to obtain a subscription or purchase every single piece of content. It is a mix of subscriptions and a pay-per-view model. A content provider may create any other hybrid monetization model they assume is suitable for their business.
A content provider can use any monetization model with the right OTT solution. Not all solutions offer all three revenue-generating approaches and a capability of hybrid approach.
2 Control over content
OTT platforms offer you complete control over your content, design, analytics, monetization, and many other things. These are essential things to manage when it comes to an online-based video streaming service.
The OTT solution usually includes middleware, OTT applications, a CDN solution, and an encoder to transfer video through the Internet. These components allow you to control all aspects of the video streaming platform. You can manage content, organize categories, use analytics to understand the performance, customize your service with brand elements, and monetize your videos.
OTT Middleware will help you connect all software so that they can exchange data with each other.
Moreover, you can publish any content you want as you don’t have censorship to forbid you from posting something. A content creator is the one to decide what videos to share.
3 Good User Experience
OTT companies like Setplex embed many features into their solutions. Professionals are familiar with possible problems that content providers can encounter. That’s why they come up with solutions.
These features are profitable for a video streaming business as they help to enhance the service. But some of them are for viewers. They ensure a good user experience. Consequently, users stay on a platform longer, and a content provider has more revenue.
Among such features are a recommendation engine, personalization, multiple profiles, and so on. These functions bring an individualized experience for viewers. And viewers can enjoy using the video streaming service more. They will be able to receive personal recommendations based on their previous watching experience. Providing people with recommendations saves their time – viewers don’t need to look through a huge library of content.
Final Thoughts
OTT is a revolutionary technology that simplifies content delivery. Videos are played on the viewer’s devices in a matter of a second after the request to play. They are available on multiple devices allowing people to watch content anytime and anywhere they want. And businesses profit from video streaming platforms generating a lot of revenue.
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