How to Launch and Grow Your OTT service

Today, more video is being consumed online than ever before. In fact, according to the findings from our 2018 Global Consumer Streaming Habits Survey, 58 percent of global consumers stream content at least once a week via a connected TV—while 51 percent stream at least once a week on a mobile device, and 50 percent do so on a computer or laptop.

In order to thrive in this increasingly crowded OTT landscape, you must understand your audience well enough to deliver the ideal user experience—with an attractive, relevant value proposition.

Are you ready to be a leader in the OTT space? Download our first OTT Essentials whitepaper, the ultimate guide to launching and growing an OTT service. Read on for a preview of what the whitepaper covers; then download the asset for more insights and inspiration on how to provide the optimal user experience—and keep viewers coming back for more.

Launch with confidence

When launching an OTT service, you must establish your own compelling content and distribution strategy.

Ask yourself the following types of questions to define your strategy—and determine how you will execute on it to achieve the best results:

• Which genre(s) of content will you offer?

• Who is your target audience?

• What is your budget?

• How will you program an efficient, scalable screen experience on connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers?

• How will you get your content in front of your target audience?

Once you define your overall strategy, you’ll need to determine how you will monetize your content. Some of the most popular business models used by OTT content owners are ad-supported video on demand (AVOD), subscription video on demand (SVOD), and the Hybrid approach, which involves providing both a premium subscription offering and a free, ad-supported service. When deciding which model works best for your business, you should consider factors such as your content catalog, audience’s location, and marketing budget.

Drive audience growth and profitability

Once you have an established network of viewers, you’ll need to continually work to grow your audience. And, in order to do so, you must understand different OTT churn metrics and how to reduce your churn rate. After all, it doesn’t matter how many new users you acquire if they churn early or often. As a best practice, you should compare your churn rate with your conversion rate on a monthly basis. Using this data, you can determine where to focus your efforts: acquiring new users or retaining current ones.

As audiences around the world become increasingly accustomed to a premium, TV-like viewing experience, it’s also crucial that you incorporate new functionality into your service on a regular basis. By doing so, you can keep your viewers engaged—empowering you to drive revenue and profitability. Whether you decide to enable advanced casting or incorporate live channels into your service, be sure to conduct regular A/B testing to develop a solid understanding of what is and isn’t working when it comes to your viewer’s experience.

Are you ready to be a leader in the OTT space? Download our OTT Essentials whitepaper for more tips and best practices.