The OTT sector is booming, both in terms of subscribers and services. Global OTT revenue is expected to reach $159 billion in 2024, but this opportunity is drawing strong competition, including offerings from heavyweights like Disney and Apple.
Winning your share of the OTT space is no small task. You’ll need to regularly release compelling content onto an engaging platform that builds and retains your audience — an audience that uses a growing variety of devices and has growing expectations for service quality.
But however daunting it may be to put yourself out there, the opportunities presented in the OTT sector are unmissable — and we have some tips to help you stay one step ahead.
Understand today’s streaming trends
The cord is cut. The modern audience for video content is shifting away from traditional television services and some demographics may only have experience of video-on-demand services. The 2019 edition of Deloitte’s Digital media trends survey found that 69 percent of people had at least one streaming subscription, whereas 65 percent had a traditional pay-TV subscription.
Another trend shaping OTT is the fact that your audience is viewing content on more devices than ever. This means that reaching your audience will require multiple apps. Going beyond the Apple and Google app stores, your audience expects an OTT service that can be viewed whenever, wherever and on whatever device they are using.
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Lastly, it’s clear that the “lean-back” experience is back. In fact, the findings from our 2018 Global Consumer Streaming Habits Survey indicated that the majority of video consumers (57 percent) use a TV to stream content more than once a week. As such, it’s more important than ever that connected TVs and smart TVs are part of your distribution strategy — and that you make sure you’re ready to reach your audience everywhere.
Maximize your OTT potential
Due to the changing landscape, it’s crucial to keep your viewers’ attention by understanding their preferences, providing high-quality content and offering a frictionless user experience.
In order to best stay one step ahead of your competition and execute a top-notch approach to OTT, it’s necessary to follow these steps:
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1. Define your content strategy.
2. Design a distribution roadmap that empowers you to reach your audience across devices.
3. Launch campaigns to build awareness around your offerings.
4. Choose the monetization strategy that fits your content catalog, audience’s location, and marketing budget. And test which ad experiences resonate best with your viewers.
5. A/B test to confirm your interfaces are easy to navigate.
6. Develop a compelling library of rotating content.
By defining the right OTT strategy for your business — and executing on it to achieve the best results — you can launch and grow a successful service in today’s competitive market.
For more tips and best practices, download our new OTT ebook.
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