Own Your Content — Launching Your OTT Platform

Published in

mobiotics

8 min readNov 3, 2021

Over the past few years, as more and more consumers prefer to stream on-demand videos, content owners have realized that launching their own OTT platform is essential. The power of the OTT platform has transformed the way people prefer to consume media to online on demand content rather than traditional broadcast television content.

Are a content producer, owner, aggregator — Here is the absolute guide for you on how to go about launching your own OTT platform and monetize.

OTT platforms are no longer only for large companies. If you are a creator making high-quality video content, a content aggregator, a startup OTT business, a small scale cable service provider or a broadcaster, etc. it is likely you have considered how to start an OTT business by now.

How do you know if launching an OTT platform is right for you?

OTT streaming platforms are leveling the playing field for independent video creators, startup OTT businesses, cable service providers, broadcasters, etc. to launch their own Netflix or Hotstar style service.

While anyone can launch an OTT platform, you will want to make sure one or more of the following factors apply to you.

You already have an established content library — Typically starting with at least 50 hours of video — it is a sweet spot for many platforms to offer enough content at launch for customers to feel like they have enough content to make their financial investment in your platform worthwhile.
The content you have is premium and valuable and can attract a large audience — exclusive movies, TV Shows, Educational content, etc. can all work
You have an established audience on other channels/platforms — if you have an existing audience on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or other social platforms, you can work on converting your fans into paying customers.
You have a long-term, consistent, content release calendar. If your OTT business plan is going to succeed, you’re going to need a steady flow of new content.

It is also likely that you’ve got questions like.

Is an OTT business worth the investment. Can I monetize?
Should you structure your OTT business plan around subscription video, transactional video, Ad based or some other kind of video monetization strategy?
Do you have the desired volume of content available and how wide and deep is your intended audience base for OTT platform?
Do you have the capability for steady content distribution, marketing, and production of video content?

If the answer is in the affirmative — you are ready to evaluate platform options

Evaluating OTT Platform Options

Does the platform support your content type — Movies, TV Shows, Live Broadcasts, Live Events, etc. Does it provide you with the flexibility and features needed. Is the UI/UX best in class and onboarding and payments friction-free.
Does the platform have branded apps on iOS, Android, and Web (PWA) with Chromecast support. Is TV and Console Apps available on demand?
Does the platform support industry-standard studio-grade Digital Rights Management (DRM )with content Geolocking. Google Widevine, Apple Fairplay, and Microsoft Playready are popular studio-grade DRM systems.
Does the platform support Adaptive bitrate streaming(ABR) from Low to Full HD. Does it allow you to migrate to 4K and HDR in the future. Does it support 5.1 Surround sound (Dolby). Does the packaging allow multiple language subtitles and audio tracks. Is player fingerprinting and watermarking supported?
Does the platform support Subscriptions (SVOD), Purchases (TVOD), and Ad based (AVOD) monetization models. Are domestic and international payment gateways supported. Are recurring subscriptions allowed.
Does the platform gives detailed metrics and reports including subscribers, subscriptions, purchases, and payment details
Can we manage partners easily? Is there a portal where partners can view their content statistics and reports.
Does it support affiliate program management, discounts and loyalty rewards?
Does the platform support PUSH/MAIL campaigns and notifications
Does the platform provide a QoS guarantee and great L2 technical Support? The platform must be monitored 24x7 and kept up. Technical issues coming through customer support must be closed within a guaranteed time with SLA.
Can the platform scale according to your needs? Does it address privacy ,security and regulatory concerns. Does it offer free upgrades and enhancements?

Planning for Launching OTT Platform — planning, marketing, creating content, etc.

With a growing number of consumers going online to find content, an effective way to launch an OTT platform in front of an audience is through a successful OTT platform launch plan.

Clearly define unique content strategy — What, when and how.
Design a distribution roadmap across platforms & screen sizes. You might start with iOS/Android/Web Apps but may want to expand to TV Apps in the future.
Adapt marketing tactics to find, nurture, and build your OTT audience — In the OTT model, viewers need to be engaged by marketing across a range of channels and messaging touchpoints. Plan your pre launch and post launch marketing across channels. Make sure you have all the materials needed for marketing, including a marketing budget, influencer marketing/celebrity marketing plan, OTT platform promotions, affiliate marketing links
To reach a bigger audience, when promoting OTT platforms, it is crucial to be present on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote, Email Marketing to engage with an email list and work with influencers, famous bloggers/actors, celebrities, etc.
Design, launch and refine your video offering and technology solution in an iterative effort.
Pre-launch awareness marketing strategies — The Awareness phase is your chance to build up excitement and share information about your OTT platform. The strategies are by setting a release date, Understanding your audience, building a website or landing page, Content strategy, Outreach strategy, Social media strategy, App store optimization research, Consider paid advertisements.

Delivering the content & Prerequisites

While launching your OTT platform, there are some basic and most important things you really need to keep in mind to make it a big success.

Give your audience what they are literally looking for.
Grow and scale-out your business Growth — Focus on Churn, Lifetime value, Average revenue per user (ARPU)
Make a content marketing strategy: ways to keep your audience involved and not lose interest.
Have a Customer acquisition strategy.
How to retain Existing customer base.
Subscription/pricing strategy.
Setup: configuration of the platform like branding, logos, and colors, along with how you will monetize it.
Technical build: check for all components decided during setup are compiled accordingly.
Test: QA (Quality Assistance) the platform. This is the step where you review your app for functionality and CX (Customer Experience)
Submission: App submissions require careful planning and details to be provided.

How to enhance and grow your OTT platform

Effective strategies to improve the OTT platform include.

Deliver a Seamless Onboarding Experience to New Users
Bring Back Your Platform Users With Push Notifications
Recommend New and Featured Content Using Personalized Banners
Use Product Badges/Rewards to Drive Premium Subscriptions
Speed Up Content Discovery With the Power of Stories
Leverage In-App Messaging Campaigns to Increase Viewership Time
Collect Critical User Feedback to improve Your OTT platform experience
Engage Your Users With Promotional Emails and Notifications
Develop affiliate marketing program to enhance subscribers through affiliate referrals
Enable “Refer to a Friend” Process to Encourage Referrals
Let users discover content with the same experience across the devices and make them come back for more.

Analyzing the performance of the OTT platform

Monitoring your metrics and analytics is essential not just for retention, but also for driving future users. Keep in mind that key metrics should be tracked in both the Pre-launch and Post-launch stages, so make sure to keep an eye on this throughout the entire process.

Paying close attention to the following points helps to analyze the performance.

Subscriber count: Measure the number of subscribers in a given time frame to track the success of your marketing efforts.
Churn rate: This refers to the number of users that unsubscribe from your services.
Average watch time: The average length of time your users spend watching a specific piece of video content on the OTT platform.
Devices: This shows you on which connected devices your content is viewed the most.
Countries: Knowing where your users tune in from is helpful for keeping track of their preferences and creating more targeted strategies.
Analyze the monthly active users (MAU), customer acquisition cost (CAC), average revenue per user (ARPU), customer lifetime value (CLV), conversion rate (CR), abandon rate, engagement, inactive users, etc.
Analyze technical problems faced in the OTT platform, have a dedicated support team to manage customer requests.
Analyze marketing activities, Check on the return on investment for each activity based on insights and analytics from the activities. Do research to understand what better marketing campaign can be done to reach more right audience and get more subscribers and generate revenue.
Understand the viewer experience in terms of UI/UX design, visibility, etc. If any improvements need to be done on UI/UX, consider implementing the same in future premiering.
Does the platform provide quality delivery — low latency playback, good SD/HD visual and audio quality, and multiple subtitles/audio track support are all essential?
Does the platform provide low friction onboarding, payment, and viewing experience? Users must be able to signup/login using email/mobile/social media through easy, secure steps. Plans must be purchasable friction-free. INAPP/PG/Wallet payment options must be provided.

Developing a state of the art OTT platform with good user experience takes a great deal of expertise. At mobiotics, our experts are well-versed with techniques to provide you best customized OTT solution.

Introducing our OTT Platform as a Service Called — vLite

Fast to set up OTT Platform for Content Owners and Aggregators

Here is the simple flow of vLite for the OTT platform.

vLite offers — Fast to set up OTT Platform for Content Owners and Aggregators.

Here are the features of our vLite product.

Branded Apps on iOS, Android and Web (PWA) with Chromecast Support
Support for Movies, TVShow/Web Series, Live Channels and Live Events
Industry-standard studio-grade MultiDRM for securing content from piracy. Content Geolocking.
Adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR) from low SD (216P) to Full HD (1080P)
Domestic and International Payment Gateways pre-integrated
Support for Subscriptions (SVOD) and Purchases (TVOD). Support for content Premiering and Pre-booking. Quality and Currency based pricing.
Detailed Metrics and Reports including subscribers, subscriptions, purchases, and payment details
Scalable SAAS built on AWS. 24x7 Maintenance and Monitoring

Coming to an end.

mobiotics vLite OTT platform As A Service is customized to work across all client devices without snags.

Looking to launch your own OTT platform ASAP? mobiotics can help you.

Click here to book a 15 Min demo with us to know how vLite works.

For more information about our product and services please feel free to get in touch with us

Call us at +91 9620209869, or write an email to the sales@mobiotics.com