5 Things to Know Before Starting an OTT Service

Over-the-top (OTT) has presented a unique opportunity in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic. More than ever before, it’s possible to live stream music festivals, concerts, conferences, and other large events that would otherwise have been canceled. 

There are many success stories like YouTube and Netflix that have made significant contributions in the OTT market. With such a platform, you too can deliver your content to a much larger audience and monetize.

Since 2007, when Netflix went OTT, many other content creators and similar service providers have caught onto the wave of customer demand for streamed, untethered content. 

As the world recognizes the potential of OTT, there’s an even greater push among indie creators to make their OTT platforms. If you’re looking to set up your OTT platform, we’re going to brief you on the process and what you need to get started. 

Types of OTT Services

OTT services are distinguished into two broad categories: Mass-market and Niche services.

Mass-market OTT services focus mainly on TV entertainment and general film content that targets mainstream audiences. Here, you’ll find the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and other premium OTT aggregators, major studio broadcasters like Sling Television and HBO, and media platform providers.

On the other hand, niche OTT services target well-defined audience segments and fan bases that offer access to hard-to-find content. These include sports bodies, studio broadcasters with access to unique content and film libraries, independent aggregators, and right holders.

The main types of OTT content you’ll get within these two categories of OTT services are OTT Television, OTT voice app, and OTT messaging. OTT television is the most well-known and most popular type of OTT content. The content is received through a cell phone network or the internet, but access is under the video distributor’s control. 

Some good examples of OTT television include Hulu, Netflix, YouTube Red, and Amazon Video. OTT voice app uses a mobile device’s data or an internet connection through the LTE network to offer a voice provider. Some examples include Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber, which provide messaging services in the form of chat or video features, and anyone can access it over the internet. 

The third type of OTT content is OTT messaging service, which is offered online and provides instant messaging features. You’ll get services like Skype, Telegram, Kik, and Viber, which are messaging alternatives to what your mobile network operator provides.

5 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Own OTT Service

While it’s possible to start your OTT service without involving any IT team or any coding, there are several things you need to consider including the following:

1. Target Audience: Identify your target audience, their content preference, and the form they prefer.
2. Licenses: Acquire content licenses, which give you exclusive rights to the content that your OTT platform must offer based on the information you gathered about your target demographic.
3. Revenue Model: Choose a revenue model that will fit your business plan and content requirements. Such models include ad-based, subscription business models, pay-per-view, or push TV, which you can integrate into your platform.
4. Promotion: Bundle your OTT video content and plan how to promote it. You can use methods like push notifications, social media integration, metadata management, or recommendation engines to reap maximum engagement for your videos.
5. Tracking KPIs: You can use analytic reports to get relevant metrics that will help you leverage demographic trends and improve your platform’s user experience.

There’s so much that goes into building your OTT service, which may be overwhelming if you’re new to the business or don’t have the budget to set one up from scratch. 

Need help to make your own OTT platform? Contact us at MAZ. For over a decade, our team has worked with top video brands, handling video hosting, live streaming, building websites, mobile apps, and custom OTT apps.