How to Choose the Right OTT Platform for Your Video Streaming Business?

The OTT platform market offers a wide range of solutions to content providers. Many of them offer streaming of VOD and live content. However, there are companies that implement more advanced features into their platforms. These features can help you achieve your OTT business goals faster and more efficiently. 

Choosing the right platform to operate is an essential decision since its features define the experience you will have and provide to viewers. Let’s explore what to pay attention to when selecting an OTT platform for your business.

How to Choose the Right OTT Platform for Your Video Streaming Business?

Here’s the list of helpful features:

#1 Monetization functionality

Since the market has multiple offers with different feature sets, it is better to understand in advance how you want to monetize your content. The common revenue-generating models include AVOD, SVOD, TVOD, PPV, and hybrid. Some platforms offer all of them, while others can provide one or two of them.

• SVOD refers to subscription-based video-on-demand. It is about charging a monthly or yearly fee for unlimited access to the content library.
• AVOD stands for advertising-based video-on-demand. In this case, viewers don’t pay for watching videos but view ads during the playback instead.
• TVOD is an abbreviation for transactional-based video-on-demand. People pay for each piece of content available on the platform. 
• PPV (pay-per-view) is similar to TVOD but refers to live events. In this case, viewers pay for a “ticket” to an event in advance or right during the event.
• A hybrid model is a combination of several models described above. 

#2 Adaptive Bitrate Streaming

Adaptive bitrate streaming is adjusting the quality of a video based on the network conditions and device requirements on the user side. It is necessary for ensuring a seamless viewing experience for your audience. 

Before the video delivery, multiple copies of the same video in various sizes and bitrates are created. Then, the file in the highest quality possible based on available bandwidth and device requirements will be delivered to viewers. 

For example, when a user is on the go with an unstable internet connection, the quality of a video will change from time to time, depending on the signal strength.

#3 Scalability

With time your audience will grow, or you will have premieres. In such cases, your platform must be able to maintain an increased load. For this, you will need a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to stream content to a great amount of people. 

CDN is a network of geographically distributed servers that can deliver content anywhere in the world. It helps to reach viewers around the world and provide them with a seamless viewing experience. For example albanian TV app  NimiTV can reach its audience in all over the Europe and even in Australia.

CDN will help content providers scale to support a larger amount of viewers. It will scale up when you need extra resources to handle the load and scale back when it is not necessary so that you save money. 

#4 Analytics

Every business needs analytics to grow and enhance. Check if the OTT solution you select has advanced analytics functionality so that you receive data on the service performance and customer behavior. This data will help you make informed decisions and grow your business step-by-step. 

Drawing the Line

Before making a decision, check if the platform has everything you need to operate smoothly. You will need monetization and analytics to generate revenue and grow your business, while adaptive bitrate streaming and a CDN will help you ensure a smooth viewing experience for your audience.