Why the Lightning Framework will drive future content experiences

While the way we interact with, create and consume media has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past two decades, it’s the streaming and OTT domain where we have witnessed this phenomenon on a truly exponential scale.

One of the most critical components for the success of any content provider is the ability to reach as wide an audience as possible. And although the process for achieving this through web, mobile and even smart TV apps is fairly clear-cut, establishing a foothold in the significantly larger set-top box ecosystem has proven much more difficult.

Enter the cross-platform Lightning Framework.

The Lightning Framework

Lightning is an open-source, cross-platform, lightweight SDK and development framework for creating high-quality UX and TV apps. It makes every aspect of rolling out set-top TV apps easier – from designing and developing, to onboarding and maintaining across all devices. What’s more, it provides a native-like UX, enabling the creation of high-performance browser-based TV apps on NextGen set-top boxes, such as OTT platforms, smart TVs and streaming devices, as well as for older, memory constrained devices. Put simply, a single Lightning app can be deployed on essentially all platforms, leading to reductions in overall costs and time to market.

Beyond simplifying the development process, Lightning empowers operators with complete freedom to design their own apps through its ability to incorporate a variety of design patterns and components. Yet it also provides them with connections to a vast array of content from the Metrological App Library, including premium OTT services, as well as niche and localized TV apps. The Metrological Application Platform is in use by several Tier 1 cable and telco companies around the world, reaching more than 80 million households.

The Lightning Partner Program

We believe Lightning’s strong value proposition positions it as a major driver for the future of consumer-facing media, sports and entertainment apps. This is why Amdocs (through Clearbridge Mobile) is proud to be among the initial partners to join the Lightning Partner Program, which aims to accelerate the development and deployment of high-performance Lightning-based TV apps and UXs.

What does this mean for Amdocs/Clearbridge Mobile and our customers?

According to Amdocs Group President of Technology and Head of Strategy, Anthony Goonetilleke, the invitation is a recognition of “our expertise in helping content and service providers deliver ground-breaking digital and video offerings.” Furthermore, he predicts the partnership will provide exciting possibilities for “re-imaging the future of content, and bringing our global expertise to empower superior customer experiences.”

Clearbridge Mobile (an Amdocs company) has made its mark in this ever-shifting tide of industry trends by bringing skills, insights and expertise. And by integrating the latest technologies and techniques, we have remained on the cutting edge. With over 10 years of experience working with leading media brands such as NESN, YES, Bell Media, we’ve built one of the industry’s most persistent and successful mobile app and OTT video presences.

As a launch partner, we have vast expertise and understanding of the Lightning framework, including the skills to establish a smooth development process and an excellent user experience. What’s more, with several developers specializing in the framework, we’ve already begun to lay the groundwork for our planned Lightning Center of Excellence, with certified developers in the USA, Canada and India.

Our expertise tells us Lightning is the future of TV apps, while our command and understanding of the framework positions us at the forefront of this push. If you’re interested in learning more about the Lightning framework, how Clearbridge Mobile developers utilize it or the role it can play in the development of your own custom apps, reach out to us or visit our website.

With research predicting that the OTT market and VoD (video-on-demand) market will grow annually by 13.6% (CAGR 2021-2025) and bring in roughly US$6,122M this year, the time to capitalize is now. But how?

Today, broadcast media companies develop OTT apps to deliver video content to their subscribers; however, as the market matures, it gets more competitive. For example, Customer churn has become one of the most significant challenges for OTT businesses. If one company isn’t providing the viewer’s desired experience, it’s easy enough to jump ship and find another service. This makes ensuring the highest customer lifetime value out of their customer base is difficult.

As more providers enter the market, OTT providers must develop strategies to entice viewers to continue using the service after the initial viewing experience and become lifelong customers. To succeed, broadcast media companies need a combination of engaging content, intuitive user experience, personalization, and integration of data and technology

With the increasing overlap of content across all these platforms, these services must improve the consumer experience by delivering relevant and engaging content to prevent audience churn. Content personalization is, therefore, vital to acquire more viewing time and strengthen market share.

Big data streaming analytics and personalization      

The key to an excellent OTT service begins with understanding the customer and promptly responding to their needs-whether for content, the user experience, or the business model.

Since the ‘viewer’ lies in the heart of the business, OTT managers have to look at big data streaming analytics to enable actionable learning of customer behaviors. 

Personalized, relevant, and contextual content is what OTT viewers demand. However, with new streaming services that come online almost every other week, there is more content today than ever has been produced in history. The recommendation engines need more customization and personalization powers to deliver the right content to the users. 

OTT content needs to leverage big data streaming analytics to get to that Netflix model, where the provider can quickly serve content based on individual preference. By combining large user data sets and metadata for analysis, OTT providers can fine-tune their recommendation engine and ensure that the right content reaches the correct user.

Deep big data streaming analytics also gives OTT providers deeper audience insights. It helps them understand genres of content in high demand, what content the audience demands at what time of the day when they pause, or what they skip. Based on this data, OTT providers can make informed decisions on content dissemination.

Big Data Streaming Analytics and viewer churn

The OTT market has, without a doubt, become oversaturated. The sheer number of OTT players means that customers have an increasing number of providers to choose from, making viewer churn a real problem to solve to maintain profitability in the OTT universe. 

Most OTT platforms struggle with retention once they launch, and viewer acquisition is becoming more expensive and challenging as markets become overpopulated. However, big data streaming analytics can level the playing field by providing detailed analytics regarding viewer and subscriber churn rate to answer questions like ‘which customers are most likely to churn next month’?

Big data streaming analytics gives OTT providers the capacity to aggregate data sets and develop a 360-degree customer view. OTT providers can use more accurate churn prediction models and use real-time and historical data, user data and user behavior, and other associated data to identify subscriber clusters with a high churn risk. They also get detailed insights into the leading causes of churn and can proactively solve this problem. 

Improving the viewer experience 

Understanding location-based nuances of user behavior and gaining insights into device demographics and platform infrastructure becomes essential as OTT providers attract international audiences. Additionally, gaining specific real-time data across live and on-demand services becomes necessary to improve customer experience and stay on top of the OTT game. 

Big data streaming analytics play a significant role in providing deep insights into all the customer experience influencers by looking at the data intelligence. Analytics help offers a thorough understanding of the viewer experience. It gives providers detailed information that is needed to benchmark things that matter most, identify disruptions that impact engagement, and make intelligent business decisions without ambiguity influencing it.

Using behavior-based audience insights and fan analytics enables OTT providers to profile the viewers accurately. This helps them make more informed business decisions on programming choices, marketing effectiveness, predictable cross-selling, and upselling opportunities, making it more relevant and contextual to the viewer.

Final Takeaways

Big data streaming analytics are transforming the world of OTT by enhancing the user experience by providing more accurate and personalized recommendations. It allows for advertising to become more targeted based on user preferences. Big data and Analytics also give insights into making more accurate predictions on the subsequent best offers and help fuel cross-selling and upselling initiatives. 

OTT providers have an advantage because they already have access to enormous amounts of valuable data without even knowing it. Knowing how to make this data work, push and manipulate this data, and use the right analytics can help OTT providers design the best service that will lead to customer satisfaction, retention, and profitability. 

However, the sudden increase in users on OTT platforms has also increased a number of challenges broadcasters and content distrubtors face when it comes to how viewers view their content. One of the biggest challenges these platforms face is centered around security and conversion. How can broadcasters ensure that their omnichannel experiences are secure enough to ensure that that only those who are paying or subscribing to the platform have access to the content. 

Unfortunately for platforms that only require a simple password login, password sharing and identity theft have long been issues that have cut into the pockets of providers. Today, content distributers need to put their best foot forward to securely authenticate and authorize users to avoid and eliminate any possibility of  any user sneaking into the network that may lead to financial losses or brand reputation tarnishing.

What is OTT Authentication

Authentication refers to the process or action of verifying the identity of a user. Through the use of various authentication methods, content providers can verify that the right viewer  is trying to access their content. As mentioned above this helps to cut down on identity theft and lost revenue. Currently MVPD authentication is the most popular form of authentication with 43% of US broadband households with traditional pay TV are likely to switch to a virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD) in the next 12 months.

This method helps broadcasters deliver content to viewers who have paid for the service and also allows them to present locally specific content based on user location to ensure the right audience is being offered the right contentensure that his content can only be viewed by authorized people, and the content viewer also wants to ensure that the received content is indeed from the right sender and that it has not been accidentally or maliciously altered 

Benefits of Authetication

Simplified User Experience

No one likes to remember long credentials, especially if they can utilize the true potential of frictionless login across all applications and connected devices. While SSO is on the verge of becoming an industry standard for authentication, OTT platforms need to quickly gear up for enhancing the user experience through SSO and Federated SSO.

OTT users perceive your enterprise as a single entity, and they expect you to treat them like a single customer. If you have multiple websites and mobile apps under the same company umbrella, there’s no reason you can’t meet this expectation.

Each customer has one account. One set of credentials that they can use anywhere they interact with your brand. Since the market is flooded with plenty of OTT platforms and publication websites, the ones offering a seamless experience to the users would surely get more signups and subscriptions.

Restricting Content

With the increasing access to media over OTT platforms, a major challenge for the entertainment industryis setting age restrictions for specific content. While some media platforms aren’t focusing on creating sub-profiles, the competitors are already leveraging access management for a single identity used by multiple users.

Whether we talk about a particular category of content for premium users or setting age restrictions, access management plays a crucial role in enhancing the user experience for every business. Authentication also offers broadcasters the ability to provide exclusive content based on predefined parameters. For example, unauthenticated viewers can download the app and watch basic programming while authenticated users are able to unlock additional content. There is also the ability to offer tiered access based on the user’s subscription level. This allows OTT platforms to gain more signups, increase retention rates, and scale business growth.

User Profiling

Media businesses need to understand that registration fatigue could be why they lose a potential subscriber. Honestly; nobody wants to share a large amount of personal data in a single go, especially during the sign-up process. Keeping the subscription form compact is the best way to ensure a quick sign-up from the users’ end.

Authetication lets you gather important details about a subscriber over time and not everything in a single go. This not only improves user experience but eventually helps to build credibility in the long run. Authentication enables you to gather consumer data through various stages of the consumer’s journey to share their information as they interact with your business.

Final Takeaways

With the increasing number of data breaches and compromised identities worldwide, OTT platforms should consider getting a robust authentication solution in place.

Whether it’s delivering a seamless omnichannel experience across multiple devices or managing billions of identities, authentication has become essential. 

For more on how Clearbridge Mobile can help deliver an authentication solution to your OTT platform, take a look at our in depth case studies for New England Sports Network and Yes Network to see how we revolutionized their live sports streaming OTT apps.

For many broadcasters and content providers looking to cash in on this trend, the main question about getting their users to adopt a new platform to consume their content revolves around monetization. How can you make money on OTT? What are the various models available to content creators to monetize their content? OTT providers have a few key models to choose from. In this piece, we’ll break them all down, what they mean, and the pros and cons of each.

Common App Monetization Strategies

There are two major app monetization strategies currently used: advertising-based (AVOD) and subscription-based (SVOD). For the former, almost all advertisements are in video form – the same format they’ve been for decades, just on a different medium. The latter, is a monetization strategy in itself, with the direct pay model circumventing the need for advertising.

AVOD

For media companies using advertising models, the opportunities to generate revenue are vast. It’s a relatively simple model.  Audiences can access videos without paying money to the content owner, or to the platform owner in exchange for subjecting themselves to the advertisement(s) that run in front of, or alongside, or in the middle of, or at the end of the video.  These platforms are all digitally delivered over the internet giving advertisers new more target advertising options.  The most famous of all AVOD platforms is YouTube, but there are many more.

While video ads are still the most common format, there is ample opportunity to offer ads that are more engaging and optimized for the device the viewer is using. Examples include:

• Interactive rich media ads including slideshows, quizzes, games, and more
• In-app purchases integrated with content (Download or Buy Now prompts that don’t interrupt the user experience)
• Sponsored features, social or otherwise

OTT platforms offer the ability for highly-targeted, dynamic advertising capabilities that work for both streamed and nonlinear content viewing. For the content providers themselves, there is the option of considering OTT, advertising-based, or mixed model monetization. The opportunities to expand revenues are there; implementing in a way that doesn’t hurt the user experience is the real challenge.

SVOD

Subscription based monetization models are based on paying the content provider directly, which typically circumvents the need for ads. Services like HBOGo and Netflix are two prominent examples of providers that work on an ad-free, subscription-based monetization model. SVOD operators offer a mix of content to an audience in exchange for a fee, paid monthly, weekly, or annually. Hallmarks of an SVOD service are: exclusive content, subscription fees, no advertising, with content delivered to audiences over the internet. Platforms typically look to license content on an exclusive basis, to draw audiences in based on the shows they have available. Typically these shows are paid a license fee in exchange for the rights. Some of these fees have bonuses, or are structured with variable payout systems where content providers are rewarded fees based on the number of views their programs receive. SVOD platforms need deep libraries of content to keep their audiences interested, and exclusive access to premiere premium content to prove the ongoing value of the subscription.

Redefining App Monetization Strategies

However, there is an opportunity to do much, much more. In addition to the above mentioned monetization strategies, platforms can break open new sources of revenue by adding basic nteractivity. Even the most basic video ads can be ramped up to take advantage of the technological capabilities that the medium offers. The TV Everywhere applications we made for a major media client, for example, added basic interactivity to traditional video ads on the app. With a single click, users could invoke the web browser and navigate to the websites of the advertisers. And this is just scratching the surface – the capabilities to completely transform advertising models are there, we just need to get imaginative.

While it’s difficult to envision ads that go beyond traditional video spots – especially for apps that serve video content – the fact of the matter remains that on mobile apps you have an audience of users, not just viewers. They have the ability to interact, rather than just watch. 

With Smart TVs and media streaming players, you can serve ads that are much more interactive. Nexus, for example, has a controller that can be purchased, and Roku’s remote can be used for playing games. Also, platforms like Apple TV support slideshows and other rich media that open up advertising possibilities.

 Some companies have opted to offer games in place of traditional spots. But ads can also take the form of slideshows, quizzes, and other experiences where the ad is not just a push message, but an immersive interactive experience. Users can control what is happening on the screen and how they interact with content with their mobile devices or controllers. These ads can also be directly related to the content being consumed, which allows advertisers to reach an audience targeted based on viewing behavior and activity within the app.

For media companies looking to attract advertisers, these could be offered as sponsored features, like the clip sharing function we implemented for one of our media clients’ TV Everywhere app, though there are other opportunities as well. 

In-App Purchases Integrated With Content

Though not an entirely new concept, we think in-app purchases that are integrated into content are still in their infancy. The major challenge to this isn’t necessarily technological but has to do with user experience. Do users even want this option? Is there a way to include it without negatively affecting the user experience? We believe the answer is yes.

 For those leveraging the SVOD monetization model, in-app purchases can be a valuable revenue stream. Infact, the big streaming device players have enabled in-app purchases, with the likes of Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku. However, to enjoy sustainable monetary benefits, providers must focus on quality, ease of use and a stand out value proposition. 

While some may be weary of viewers willingness to pay for app purchases, in-app purchases or in-app subscriptions, this chart from Apple via Statista gives a nice indication of user behavior based on the level of expenses:

Final Takeaways

As discussed above, we typically see two distinct app monetization strategies in the media space: subscription-based and advertising-based. But the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. A hybrid model is not only possible but feasible. In fact, the concept has been proven (albeit for a music app) with Spotify, which offers both a free and premium service. The free service contains ads, while the premium service is ad-free.

This is a viable app monetization strategy for media applications, and with the number of freemium products available on the market, it’s surprising this isn’t more common. It’s also a simple model: users who don’t want to see ads pay for the service, while those who don’t want to pay are served advertisements. This allows for companies to offer content directly to users via OTT, and additionally to collect advertising revenue.

Most OTT streaming apps tend to follow predictable advertising formats and monetization models. However, advancements in technology coupled with shifting viewing patterns present new opportunities. Rethinking app monetization strategies – from advertising methods to the business model itself – will help media companies building applications to have a more robust, revenue-driven solution, without interrupting the user experience.

As the mobile app market continues to grow rapidly, it’s becoming harder for app developers and organizations to stand out amongst competitors and grab their share of the market space. In particular, the market for video streaming and OTT apps has become over-saturated although run by significant players. While most of these apps target millennials and generation Z, it is precisely this audience that tends to tire of things easily. Therefore these apps must offer users something exciting and challenging to keep them constantly engaged, and mobile app gamification is one of the most potent user engagement methods. 

We can easily find examples of gamification throughout our daily and professional lives. For example, teachers reward students with stickers or retail stores offering customers rewards programs that enable them to get a free product after a set amount of purchases. The fact that gamification is so ingrained in our daily lives makes it a compelling engagement method for mobile OTT apps. 

With such an active user base, it’s no surprise that games remain far ahead of other Apple App Store categories in 2021. Specifically, 21.53 percent of the most popular Apple App Store categories in March 2021 belong to the gaming category, followed by business, which is only 10.11 percent. 

Therefore, it is understandable why many other types of apps are actively dedicating resources to introducing gamification elements and gaming features (i.e., badges, rewards, points, scoreboards, internal currency, levels, etc.) to their apps. 

Why Is Mobile App Gamification Important?

Before you decide to add gamification elements to your OTT app, you would want to learn which benefits mobile app gamification will bring to your business and how it can help you increase user engagement. 

Mobile app gamification works because it has the power to trigger various human emotions. A 1998 study by Matthias Koepp, a neurology professor at the University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, found that as adult players progressed through a video game and encountered more complex challenges, their brains released more dopamine. Based on this, it’s safe to conclude that if gaming elements similar to those that would be found in a video game, for example, are applied to a  non-gaming mobile app, a similar effect of having users’ brains release dopamine would occur. As a result, they want to interact with the gamified app longer to get more achievements and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

Additionally, here’s how mobile app gamification can influence and motivate people:

• It awakens curiosity. Curiosity helps to encourage users, so they can move forward and get more rewards. 
• It fosters competition. Scoreboards with the achievements of other users encourage the players to accomplish more and compare their results with others.
• It creates a sense of control. No one likes to be forced to do something. That is why the critical purpose of gamification is to give the users control and decide which milestone they will complete next. 

We can look at Netflix as an example with the choose-your-own-adventure episode “Bandersnatch” of the series Black Mirror where viewers are asked to pick between two choices as they go through the episode, then control over how the plot unfolds. This results in multiple “endings” and many story paths resulting from millions of unique permutations. To add even more gamification elements,  Netflix included a countdown timer to ensure viewers decide within a certain period. According to Netflix, more than 90 percent of viewers engaged with the “choose your own adventure” story from the very first option.

How Do You Gamify An App?

To implement gamification in your app, you need to start with the design elements and then proceed with the mobile app  gamification workflow. The typical design elements include:

• Badges: These are a visual representation of users’ achievements, which indicate their performance within the app. For example, some fitness apps like Peloton introduce badges to help encourage and motivate people to work out together. With Peloton, users can take a “ride” with others they are connected with on Peloton to achieve the following badges: Dynamic Duo (ride with one other person from your list), Three’s Company (3), Pack (4), Squad (5), Flock (10), Swarm(20+).
• Levels. These are the parts of the game world. With each level, the complexity of the game increases, challenging the user to get further. The Netflix example above would fall into this category, as the choices users were presented with more ethically complex decisions.
• Performance charts show how the player performed compared to their previous results and track their records.
• Points: These are basic rewards that the user gets for their accomplishments as they progress within the game.  
• Scoreboards: These are lists with player rankings that help to define who performs best in a specific activity. Unlike performance charts that show the performance of one user within a specific period, a scoreboard shows the performance concerning the performance of others. 
• In-game currency: This is the means of “payment” for game-related benefits — extra lives, for example. This element works best for live sports streaming apps where online sports betting may be involved. The user can get this currency as a reward for specific accomplishments or as a daily bonus.

Successfully implementing mobile app gamification elements into your app requires more than just design and development. To ensure the gamification elements you implement truly engage and help to retain more users:

• Keep in mind the problem that needs to be solved with gamification. For example, the app is not getting the desired level of conversion. We recommend that you implement the gaming elements and align those elements with your corporate goals.
• Incorporate social elements. The most remarkable feature of gamification is its ability to drive groups of people together in collaboration and socializing. The gamified app should be designed in a way that encourages and rewards social networking.

• Keep everything simple. Mobile app gamification is all about fun and simplicity so that the user intuitively understands at which stage they currently are and what they should do next. Your task here is to walk the user through each step smoothly and transparently. 
• Develop an easy-to-use reward system. Instead of promising One Big Reward at the end of the game, break it down into smaller chunks and offer small rewards upon the completion of each piece.

If you’re a company in the media & entertainment space, then you know the 2020 global pandemic turned your whole business model on its head. 

The pandemic only accelerated an inevitable trend: your audience wants more content, on any device and anytime. Millennials are cutting the cord at head-spinning rates, if they’ve ever even paid for cable at all. Netflix is known as the OG streaming platform, Hulu, Paramount+, Disney+, HBO Max and Amazon Prime aren’t trailing too far behind in the cord-cutters and cord-nevers portofolio.  Amazon’s recent acquisition of MGM means each of these services except Netflix is backed by their own major studio.  Funny how Netflix’s focus on product has them in the lead.

Media companies which previously depended on linear TV ad revenue, cable subscribers, or box office revenue, are now releasing DTC streaming platforms for their library of content, whether it’s ad-supported, subscription-based, transaction video on demand or a combination. With limitless options for the user with no strings attached (unlike cable), churn-rates are rapidly increasing and revenues are unpredictable. 

So you’ve reviewed your business model and you built a DTC media streaming app, now what? You might be scratching your head and thinking, “I gave my audience what they want, why am I not seeing the same success as Netflix and Disney+?”. The answer is simple; just having a media app is not enough, your app needs to have a gold standard customer experience that will turn your fans into “stans” — an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity, but in this case, your app.

Even if you have irresistible shows on your platform (i.e. Friends, The Office) if your app is not engaging, or if there are any interruptions in your user experience, your audience will bore quickly and be gone before you know it. Product Managers nowadays need to think outside the box to maintain long-term relationships with their audience.

If you’re a Product Manager in the media industry, look no further, we have you covered with The Ultimate Guide To New Streaming & Media App Engagement Strategies. Think of it as your cheat sheet for when your boss asks you how you plan on delivering a positive ROI on your media app. We’ll be covering timely and relevant topics like virtual co-watching, gamification, and in-app sports betting.

Gamification

One of the media app engagement strategies we will be discussing in the guide is gamification. It’s no shock that gaming, and mobile gaming in particular, has become massively popular. There are currently over 1,651.66 million active mobile gamers worldwide, with that number expected to reach 2,220.8 million by 2025. What does this mean for Product Managers in the media & entertainment space? With the OTT app market reaching over-saturation, your media streaming app must offer users something exciting and challenging to keep them constantly engaged, and gamification is one of the most potent user engagement methods. 

Gamification will have your audience coming back for more by rewarding them for using your app. What makes video games so addictive is the dopamine release that comes along with it, and there are plenty of ways to incorporate that rewarding feeling into a basic, streaming app.  Gamification will also encourage repeat engagement from your audience by:

• Awakening their curiosity
• Fostering competition
• Creating a sense of control

Virtual Co-viewing

Don’t make the mistake of thinking once the pandemic is over, people will be out and about, forgetting all about the habits they’ve developed socializing virtually. Virtual co-viewing for instance, is a trend that is here to stay. Since before 2020 came along and uprooted all our lives, younger generations have preferred virtual socializing over in-person interactions. Now with working from home and Zoom happy hours, people are reaping the benefits of enjoying the company of others in the comfort of their own homes (no commuting is also a huge plus). Some media apps that are already offering co-viewing include Disney+ with their “Groupwatch” feature, Hulu and Plex. Co-viewing allows your viewers to engage with other viewers in your app, for a more engaging experience that will surely have your fans turning into “stans.”

Sports-betting and micro-wagering

Have we convinced you to check out our Ultimate Media Engagement Playbook yet? No? Well if you work in sports media, boy, do we have a treat for you. Our Playbook will dive deep into one of the hottest topics in sports media: in-app sports betting and micro-wagering. Companies like FuboTV are already making huge investments by acquiring Vigtory and Balto. In their press release, FuboTV shared that they plan on leveraging their acquisition to build a sportsbook app where consumers can see current betting lines, place a variety of wagers, cash in their winnings and much more across sports they love. The company expects to integrate the sportsbook into FuboTV’s live TV streaming platform for a seamless viewing and wagering experience. It is projected that 32 states could offer legal sports betting and with it, generate almost $6 billion in revenue, be sure that you don’t miss the bandwagon! 

Final Takeaway

If you’re a product manager in the media & entertainment industry, in order to set up your product for long-term success, you have to anticipate future trends and user demands. Simply doing what your competitors are doing is not enough. Meeting the “Netflix Gold Standard” is the bare minimum expectation that your audience has for your platform. Our Ultimate Guide To New Streaming & Media App Engagement Strategies will give you the ammunition you need to impress your boss, and of course, turn your “fans” into “stans.”

You need to go beyond your competitors to design the experience of tomorrow. Don’t follow the race, lead the race. Investments in product development to deliver audiences the features that will keep them coming back for more is the best thing you can do for your product. Innovation on delivery of the entertainment experience will drive creative teams forward.

YES Network has launched the YES App. The sports network collaborated with Clearbridge Mobile to deliver a daily digital destination for live game streaming and sports content for Yankees, Nets, NYCFC, and Liberty fans. The app — available on Android (mobile and tablet), iOS (mobile and tablet), Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, and web —provides a seamless and personalized sports content viewing experience anywhere and on any device.

With the decision to phase YES content off of the FOX Sports GO app, the network wanted to develop an app it had sole ownership of that would help it retain existing users and enable it to own and develop a relationship with sports fans by offering content directly to the consumer base,  and attract new users, too.

To help guide the project and enable YES to meet its required business objectives, we provided YES with unrestricted access to our technical and industry experts with a deep understanding of the media and sports streaming sector. With ten years of experience in developing media and entertainment apps, our team provided in-depth knowledge on different user bases and the best UX/UI practices for YES to leverage and maximize user engagement and personalization.

Key App Features

1.     Simplified navigation and user onboarding and permissions flow
2.     Frictionless and convenient registration process allowing social and email login
3.     Highly discoverable, timely, and personalized video content
4.     Seamless and immersive Live TV optimized for the platform-specific viewing   experience, powered by iStreamPlanet
5.     Comprehensive and user-centric scores & standings experience highlighting users’ favorite YES teams supported by Stats Perform, Adobe, and Firebase  eskişehir haber

By leveraging the latest technologies and driving the project based on our recommendations, YES has driven value and further engagement through an optimized cross-platform viewing experience.

The YES App is available for download through the App Store and Google Play.

While the pandemic may have slowed some industries down, the OTT industry has picked up speed. Streaming services and other OTT platforms for live sports and events streaming are booming. In this article, we are looking at six major OTT industry trends. For anyone looking to enter the OTT and streaming market, arming yourself with market trends and industry insights will help you prepare for the future and better position yourself for success.  

5G is Changing the Game

5G will change streaming behaviors forever, as 5G internet is expected to become the standard, especially in urban areas. This next-generation cellular network technology will provide much faster, more reliable internet speeds, opening a world of possibilities for OTT platforms and video streaming. Even more notably, 5G will also give live sports and event streaming the boost it needs, with 5G promising latency to be just one millisecond, leading to less network interference and delays to ensure a flawless viewing experience. Twenty-nine percent of consumers say they would pay a premium for OTT services if 5G provided a better quality video on mobile devices and decreased buffering.

Immersive Streaming Technology Becomes Accessible

While we are on the topic of 5G, this next trend has become to emerge because of that technology. Streaming 4K video takes up about 30 Mbps of internet bandwidth, and live video streaming, requires double that, which is not usually achievable with consumer-grade internet connections. However, 5G technology and its ability to support extra bandwidth will make it possible to stream 4K video and other 4K streaming solutions. Because of this, we expect to see more immersive streaming experiences like 4K and VR (Virtual Reality) coming within the next one to two years. 360 degree live streaming is also now a possibility with these new network connections. 

Rise of the Subscription Bundle 

According to a global survey from digital content platform Apester, 60.1 percent of people have grown tired of having so many streaming services. With so many OTT services on the market – Netflix, Prime, Disney +, AppleTV, Hulu, Discovery + – to name a few, it’s safe to say that we have reached a point of maybe too many options in the OTT space both globally and locally. While watching subscription-based OTT video services is a daily habit for 60% of adults in the US, all of these subscription options also have many viewers who have become tired of subscribing to multiple services. However, this is driving increased innovation in terms of OTT video monetization. Providers are increasingly turning towards pay-per-view and advertising monetization models as alternatives to the subscription model. In some cases, we have begun to see increased usage of bundling different subscription packages to create channels. We’re already seeing Disney+ bundle their videos with ESPN, National Geographic, and other content producers. 

COVID-19 Sparks Shared Viewing phenomenon

The pandemic has had an enormous impact on the OTT industry, provoking a rapid spike in consumption as people have been forced to stay home due to global lockdowns. To help consumers isolate themselves and social distance, many OTT platforms like Netflix and Disney + have introduced technology that allows people to watch movies together on a video chat, allowing platform users to stream in sync. Disney Plus’s GroupWatch and Netflix’s Teleparty have been a massive success and are a trend that is worth looking into.

User Experience is Key

With so many OTT platforms available, viewers have the power to pick and choose the services that they’d like to use. For those looking to get the leg up on their competition, success lies in their User experience (UX). Viewers demand platforms have an extensive library of content and have interfaces that are intuitive and easy to navigate. If we compare Netflix and Hulu, the Netflix platform is easy to navigate, pleasing to the eye and offers an expansive content selection. Their algorithm is user-friendly, and their apps are easy to navigate on most devices.

Conversely, Hulu’s platform seems cumbersome, and their search engine isn’t the greatest. With this simple comparison, one can easily see why users generally prefer Netflix and why it is worth ten times more than Hulu. Good user experience drives success.

Competition Gets Tough

Even though many significant conglomerates dominate the OTT streaming industry, smaller OTT streaming services are still popping. Our team at Clearbridge Mobile recently played an important role in helping NESN launch their OTT service. While we used Brightcove as an online video platform to support the NESN app, numerous OTT hosting solutions are now available on the market, increasing competition. Cloud-based OTT hosting is also emerging as an affordable option.

These hosting solutions are necessary as people turn to these platforms for support with content management and distribution. Some desirable features include advanced security, video monetization, reliable content delivery, white-label streaming, and live streaming capabilities. With so many options readily available, we expect to see a more significant number of smaller OTT streaming services launch in the coming years.

With OTT subscribers expected to surpass 100 million by the end of this year, the potential for reaching broader audiences and tapping new sources of revenue is massive. Companies that can evolve with the market will come out on top of the competition, and Services that fail to understand the increasingly complex array of choices available to the audience will struggle against those that address the need for connectivity, perhaps in hardware and content. Understanding the latest industry trends will help set you in the right direction.

This is the second article in our series exploring the different digital entertainment delivery platforms. We are exploring the entertainment on demand world we live in today, one platform at a time.

We started with a dive in on advertising supported video on demand (AVOD); in case you missed it, and want to catch up, you can find it here. This blog’s focus is on Subscription Video on Demand more commonly known as SVOD. Let’s start with a short history lesson.

The History of SVOD is the History of NETFLIX

SVOD as we know it today was invented when Netflix launched their monthly subscription website in the United States in September 1999. Netflix had started in the late ‘90s as a movie rental service undermining the giant Blockbuster Video with a movie delivery service. Customers of Netflix could order a bundle of movies over the internet to be delivered to their homes where they could be enjoyed on DVD. Famously, there were no late fees. You returned the bundle of titles when you had finished with them, and could then go ahead and order more.

The experience wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t immediate. Blockbuster customers on the other hand, would walk down to their local shop (it’s hard to believe now, but they were everywhere), select a title off the shelf, pay $4.99 for library titles to rent them for 2 nights. Or pay $6.99 to rent the latest release for one night. Should you return them late, you would be charged late fees. These fees could be considerable, and consumers hated them bitterly. In a last-ditch move to save themselves before the very end Blockbuster did away with them, but too late. The late fees were also controversial within the industry, as Blockbuster didn’t pay rights holders of those movies returned late a share of those late fees.

In a typical arrangement with a supplier, Blockbuster would pay a revenue share where the distributor would receive a proportion of rental fees their title earned in exchange for providing the rights to rent the movies to the public for Blockbuster.

Netflix correctly identified that customers would likely rent more movies at once if they knew they wouldn’t face late fees should they fail to consume them all within 24 or 48 hours. They also knew that Blockbuster stores often could not keep up with demand for new release titles from the public. While this unfulfilled demand was great for the movie industry, as customers would nearly always select an alternative movie vs returning home empty handed, it was an ongoing source of frustration for the consumer. Because Netflix didn’t rely on physical stores, they were better positioned to meet demands for the newest releases.

In 1999 Netflix blew the industry wide open when they began offering an all you can eat option to the consumer in exchange for a monthly subscription of $9.99. All you can eat options that existed at the time were limited to the Pay TV networks like HBO in the United States, or TMN (The Movie Network) in Canada. Cable and Satellite TV distributors had begun experimenting with video on demand offerings as a means of enriching the value of a cable or satellite TV subscription. These services were new and had tighter inventor restrictions than we are used to seeing today. The amount of movies available for an all you can eat experience was limited by the broadcast schedule of the pay networks, and by the amount of inventory made available to them by the cable and satellite companies.

Netflix on the other hand, had massive inventories of titles available. Subscribers would order the movies they wanted to see from the website which would send the movies to subscribers homes where they could be viewed on DVD, much like they had done with rental. There were some titles available to be streamed directly over the internet – but the overwhelming majority of their content was disc driven, and ready to go to consumers homes after just a few clicks.

After Blockbuster Video declined an offer to buy-out Netflix in the early 2000s, Netflix doubled down on their efforts to be a lean, mean , entertaining machine. They took advantage of the growing availability of high speed internet services in the U.S. and Canada, and began to focus on putting more and more of their catalogue online available to stream. As the rental component of their business declined, and the subscription side leapt forward, Netflix started to become the streaming giant we know today.

I’ve glazed over a ton of details here… In the mid to late 2000s I was selling film x to buyers domestically and internationally, and I can tell you the impact Netflix had on the marketplace was dramatic. Every single territory they went into they disrupted. Today, they lead the SVOD, and PayTV, markets globally with 205 Million Subscribers globally. Amazon is close behind, at more than 150 Million Subscribers, and Disney’s SVOD service Disney + takes third with more than 90 Million subscribers as of writing.

How the SVOD Market Works

There are a lot of SVOD platforms. Easily more than a few dozen of these platforms exist, and compete globally for subscribers. The platform may have been invented by Netflix, but the total market size is such that no one player will own the globe.

SVOD operators offer a mix of content to an audience in exchange for a fee, paid monthly, weekly, or annually. Hallmarks of an SVOD service are: exclusive content, subscription fees, no advertising, with content delivered to audiences over the internet. Platforms typically look to license content on an exclusive basis, to draw audiences in based on the shows they have available. Typically these shows are paid a license fee in exchange for the rights. Some of these fees have bonuses, or are structured with variable payout systems where content providers are rewarded fees based on the number of views their programs receive. SVOD platforms need deep libraries of content to keep their audiences interested, and exclusive access to premiere premium content to prove the ongoing value of the subscription.

SVOD platforms differentiate themselves from one another by pointing to their exclusive content, and the depth of their content catalogue. They court fans of known content franchises, and hype new shows they have bought away from their competitors to attract audiences. Some mega franchises of the past like FRIENDS, and THE OFFICE have such intense, built-in audiences that we have seen the big players spend serious money to secure the rights to these shows – perhaps better put, they pay big fees to take these built-in audiences away from their competitors.

Subscribers pay monthly fees to the platforms in exchange for the rights to view the available content on an unlimited basis without interruption by advertisement, at a time convenient to them, and in high quality formats with robust technology keeping the viewing sessions uninterrupted by bugs. Speaking of robust technology, SVOD platforms live and die by the user experience. If fans can’t find the shows they’re looking for, or can’t view it in high quality, or can’t finish watching an episode without the app crashing, they will leave the platform in search of an alternative.

Operators court potential subscribers with limited trial experiences – often just one week, though some operators will offer more generous monthly trials. It’s essential the app is easy to navigate, that the available content is easily browsable, that suggestions are relevant to the user’s demonstrated preferences, and that there’s enough to watch to keep them coming back after the trial.

SVOD platforms are a bit different from AVOD or TVOD platforms with respect to which devices they need to be compatible with. A strategy which puts their service on all or a large number of devices will give them lots of opportunities to win new subscribers, but because of the high standards expected by audiences with respect to the user experience, the quality of the video feed, and the uptime of the service; this can be a risky strategy for any but the biggest players.

Lessons learned – avoid these pitfalls if launching your own SVOD platform

Millennial audiences have been conditioned by Netflix to expect premium experiences in exchange for their subscription fees. They expect an advertisement free experience. They expect to be able to easily navigate the mix of content available at minimum by genre. They expect an always-on experience, with all the episodes of a series available to binge in their entirety.

The best of the SVOD services are available on mobile platforms (Apple, and Android) with natively built experiences. Standing out with a premium look and feel will really help manage subscriber retention issues, and take pressure off of customer care. Increasingly, operators are able to take advantage of digital SVOD marketplaces like Amazon Channels, or ROKU Marketplace which aggregate available SVOD services, and promote them on platform to their massive base of users. While these seem like ways to save money versus building your own 10 foot experiences; they can come with significant revenue sharing implications which will need managing.

Don’t over complicate your experience, or your model. Quibi learned this the hard way. Quibi developed an SVOD/AVOD hybrid solution which would offer users an ad-supported experience at a monthly fee of $4.99, and an ad-free experience for $7.99. They tried to push the boundaries by creating content that was only viewable in portrait mode on your mobile device, and all their episodes were shorts. Quibi failed quickly, and hard, despite all the buzz surrounding their launch, and despite the hundreds of Millions of dollars invested in premium content development. While Quibi execs officially laid the blame on COVID-19, that’s tough to swallow considering the substantial growth experience by the SVOD industry as a whole.

Planning on going OTT with your own SVOD platform? Having launched one myself, here are 3 tips:

Invest in premium content that will command an audience

The SVOD landscape is very competitive. Your service is going to be competing with the big boys on the block: Netflix, Amazon, HBO Time Warner, CBS-Paramount-Viacom, ABC-Disney; and the other little fish. Every producer with an idea is looking to these major services for investment in their scripts. You won’t be able to compete with the big boys head-on at launch, you’re going to need to be creative.

This can take the form of aggressively courting producers, spending to advertise co-production opportunities, being prepared to take risks. But it can go another way as well. Some of the most successful SVOD services start with hyper targeted content offerings courting a specific audience, spending to deliver premium formats like 4k, and developing a reputation for excellence in a genre.

Examples of this include:

Love Nature – a service dedicated to wildlife content.

Pureflix – a service dedicated to spiritual programming

Muslim Kids TV – a service dedicated to Muslim children with appropriate, educational content.

Fubo TV – a service dedicated to sports programming, which has since expanded considerably.

MetOnDemand – a service dedicated to broadcasting operas

By providing focussed content offerings to niche communities, these services develop a reputation of excellence within their target audience and don’t need to compete with the majors for content. Distributors with focussed content offerings will take new content to these buyers knowing the shows will get a larger audience more quickly and have a higher likelihood of renewal for subsequent seasons than they would be on mainstream outlets.

Invest in premium user experience

Subscription video on demand is a competitive business. There are a lot of options for today’s consumers, particularly amongst those cable cutters and cable nevers who are stringing together several subscription services to replace the cable experience. This customer is ruthless. If the service doesn’t meet their expectations for ease of use, and 24/7 uptime they will not stick around. Even if you have that ‘just gotta see it’ hit of the year show, once your subscribers have consumed it, they’ll drop you like a hot potato. You need to keep these subscribers on board for as many months as possible to maximize the value of each single subscriber you pay to acquire.

Respect your investments in content, and promotional advertising to win over new subscribers by investing in the best possible user experience you can afford, and continue investing in it. You need to be in this for the long-haul and will need to consistently spend to keep your app stable, and improving with the times. Even if you have to limit yourself to one platform at launch. Do it extremely well.

Avoid the Apple tax

Did you know that Apple earns ___ billion from the app store alone? Apple takes a 30% cut of your app’s revenues for the privilege of distributing your app in their app store to Apple devices globally. Your SVOD business margins are too tight to operate without 30% of your gross revenues. You can’t, and shouldn’t avoid distributing your SVOD app in the App Store, you need to be creative and clever and you can get around the apple tax. If you’re interested in learning more, reach out – we should talk!

Closing thoughts:

Netflix gave birth to SVOD, and the Millennial generation have wholeheartedly embraced it. Cable cutters and cable nevers are flocking to these solutions, are willing to subscribe to more than one service, and are willing to swap between providers month to month. This is a competitive landscape, with hundreds of options for consumers.

If you’re considering taking your entertainment product to the next level, like the NY Met have done with MetOnDemand to access that global marketplace, it can be transformative. There is lots of room for new SVOD services, but you need to be prepared for the competitive landscape ahead, and ready to spend aggressively on technology, content, and advertising.

Globally as access to high speed internet improves, more and more potential viewers are coming online. The market potential for subscription video on demand is global in scale. Many users will look to multiple platforms to enjoy their favourite shows (just like they used to do on TV!)

Transactional Video on Demand, Premium Video on Demand, Subscription Video on Demand, and new AVOD/SVOD hybrid platforms are engaged in a street fight these days for online audiences. Next issue we will dive deeper into these streaming wars as we continue our series.

If you like what you read, please hit that thumbs up button and share this post with a friend.

Not your cup of tea? Did I miss something? Friends in broadcasting, amigos in online video, online Madison avenue MadMen if you think I got it wrong, please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!

Unlike the traditional mobile app development world where Apple iOS and Google Android dominate over 99 percent of the global mobile OS market share, the world of OTT app development is much more fragmented. 

When it comes to OTT apps, audiences aren’t loyal to one or two platforms or devices for everything; they use multiple platforms at any given time, sometimes simultaneously. They may start one video at home from a Samsung connected TV (CTV), and then continue watching on their iPad on Apple TV during their walk in the park. Changing media consumption behaviors and the proliferation of technologies that allow consumers to access content in new ways has forced entertainment and media providers to rethink how and where they engage with their viewers. 

This varied and complex ecosystem has content providers asking a simple question: what platform do we build for next? To take advantage of this “be everywhere all the time” experience, content distributors must build OTT apps that work well everywhere their audiences live, or in whatever way they choose to enjoy their content. Cross platform development is the process of creating apps that work seamlessly on their different devices and platforms.

However, that’s easier said than done. This post will help you make informed choices for your connected TV and OTT app strategy by analyzing the connected TV ecosystem, including platform and device statistics and recommendations for what platforms to target based on available market data.

The Connected TV Ecosystem

To make an informed choice on what platforms to build for, it’s important to first understand the current market. Both streaming media devices (sticks and boxes) and smart TVs are increasing in terms of in-home prevalence, and are forecasted to keep growing. In fact, a recent report from Nielson states that connected TV viewing has grown from 2.7 billion hours during the pre-pandemic week of March 2 to 3.9 billion hours during the weeks of March 23, March 30 and April 6 during the height of the Pandemic. A year over year growth of 81 percent. Additionally:

• 58 percent of TV households have at least one connected Smart TV (Source)
• 56 percent of TV households have at least one stand-alone streaming device (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, or Apple TV) (Source)
• Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV are the favored platforms amongst US users, being used by 26 percent, and 25.8 percent of survey respondents respectively. Chromecast and Apple TV were both used by 12 percent of survey respondants.  (Source)
• Revenue in the Smart Streaming Devices segment is projected to reach US$6,122m in 2021. The market is expected to grow annually by 13.6% (CAGR 2021-2025). (Source)
• Number of Smart TV users in the United states alone is forecast to grow to 119 million by 2022, representing about 58.3 percent of connected TV users. (Source)
• Samsung, with 33 million opt-in Smart TV sets sold, and Vizio, with 15 million opt-in sets, are among the largest Smart TV manufacturers in the U.S. (Source)
• In 2019, eMarketer estimated CTV ad spending in the United States was nearly $7 billion. That figure is expected to more than double in 2023 to $14.1 billion, accounting for 4.7% of all media ad spending. (Source)
• During the first quarter of 2020, Roku said it earned $233 million from advertising and licensing fees. (Source)
• In the U.S., Amazon has a 30% market share of CTV devices. (Source)
• Roku has a 39% market share of CTV devices in the U.S, including an estimated one-third of the Smart TVs sold in the US and Canada that use Roku’s interface. (Source)

What these statistics demonstrate is that connected devices – whether media streaming boxes or Smart TVs – are what consumers are increasingly choosing in order to access media content.

Increase Viewership. Drive Audience Engagement. Enhance Brand Experience. Learn More About Our Connected TV Services.

Breaking Down The Data: What Platform Do I Target?

Analyzing the statistics listed above can give some valuable insights into what platforms you should be pursuing. However, your particular strategy will be dependent on factors including your target market, your audience, your organization’s experience with connected TV, and more.

Companies that have a more mature connected TV strategy will likely already have a presence on one or more major platforms such as Apple TV or Chromecast. These companies will be best served to go after other platforms that have gained significant market share and audience base (40 million plus) in recent years. Platforms like Amazon FireTV and Roku have now emerged as leaders in the space, and are good candidates for companies in this position that are focusing on reaching a wider audience.

For companies that don’t yet have a presence in the connected TV space, Chromecast is likely the most sensible platform to target. Chromecast may be the simplest choice if you already have an existing app and simply want it to push content to the Chromecast, as you can use the Cast SDK to make Android, iOS or Chrome apps cast content to TVs that have a Chromecast connected. However, in order to customize the display on Chromecast (for example, the look of the player) or do anything more complex, you will have to build a receiver app.

Roku and Amazon Fire TV are also good candidates given their market share and wide audience base; widely available developer documentation; and maturity of the platforms. They are also particularly prevalent in the US, so if that is your geographical market, these are platforms you should consider.

In terms of development, all of these platforms carry their own challenges, and the choice you make should be informed by your organizational goals, any data or insights you have about your target audience and their viewing behavior, and other considerations like your ability to support development internally or find the right connected TV development partner.

Key Questions To Ask When Choosing A Platform

• Who is my target audience, and where are they viewing their content? Are they more prominent on a specific platform?
• Does the platform technology allow us to do what I need? Are there limitations to my product if I build an app for platform A vs. platform B?
• Is there any alignment between my target user base, the product I hope to build, and what each platform can offer?
• Will user acquisition be easier on one platform over another given your target audience and the strength of your brand?
• What are your goals for the application? How will you measure success? Is it viewership? Revenue? Brand awareness?
• Do you have/will you need platform partners for analytics, digital rights management, ads, etc? What are the dependencies? Will your current or future partners be able to support your needs on specific platforms?

It ultimately comes down to the goals of your connected TV strategy and your target user base. If your organization doesn’t have an existing connected TV presence, it’s likely best to start with the most popular established platforms like Roku or Amazon Fire TV. For brands that already have a presence on Chromecast or Apple TV, it would be wise to also invest in Roku and Amazon Fire TV platforms solely based on market share and audience base. However, before making any decision, it is important to take the time to gather data on your target audience and identify what platforms they are migrating to or actively using.

Increase Viewership. Drive Audience Engagement. Enhance Brand Experience. Learn More About Our Connected TV Services.