How to Start an OTT Platform – How to Set up, Get Users and Stand out from the Competition

Written By:- Dulumoni Das

OTT or Over The Top services are rapidly becoming a popular way to watch videos. OTT platforms are changing the way the world consumes video content.

We live in a volatile world where viewing options are constantly evolving to offer the best user experience. This is indeed a great deal— people get to watch more shows, pick from numerous service choices, and can access content from wherever they are.

Hence, if you create video content, then starting an OTT service would help you build a profitable online business. However, in case you don’t know how to get started, here is a step- by- step guide to follow.

Step 1- Select the most appropriate business model for your service.

There are two business models on which an OTT service can choose to work-

The subscription model; and
The transactional business model.

It’s the nature of your product that determines which business model you choose. Note that both transactional and subscription models have their own upsides and downsides.

Let’s get some insight-

How does the transactional business model work?

In this model, a product is sold against a one-off payment exactly how regular retail products sell. Video educational courses sold one-off are an amazing example of businesses thriving on this model.

Understandably, businesses that sell standalone courses benefit the most from this model. You just need to put all the information in a video package and then put it up for sale. It doesn’t need any kind of future updating and hence, you can forget about it once it has been sold.

The best thing about this model is its one-off payment structure. Products sold in this manner are generally high priced. Meaning, every sale the business makes commands high profits.

Nonetheless, it has got its own downsides.

First, your search for new customers simply can’t stop. You will have to keep your focus on customer acquisition intact as long as you want to make profits.

Secondly, your marketing efforts will have to continue till your market expands to a desired size. And since you can’t sell the same product to the same customer multiple times, you will have to come up with newer products for targeting your existing customers.

It is impossible to predict the income you will generate using this model. In most cases, the initial sales are high, but they gradually drop over time. This is the most important reason why you can’t allow your quest for customers and conversions to end.

This model is ideal for one-off products such as an academic course or a feature film, which you want to sell for a high price. This is also an amazing tactic to test the workability of a product idea to figure out if you can generate an audience for it.

However, for people who are looking to build a platform with a recurring and stable income, the subscription model is the most ideal.

How does the subscription model work?

Popular OTT platforms like Netflix follow this model. In the subscription model, your product is generally a library of content made accessible to the audience against an affordable monthly fee.

The subscription model is best suited for shows that stream in episodes and courses that are progressive in format.

The amount of money you receive per month from a customer might not look enticing, especially when you compare it to profits earned with one-off products. But this model of business can help you make big profits in the long run.

This model ensures better sales stability compared to the transaction model. And it directly points at a better and more secure future for your online business.

There is also no urgency of finding new customers. Besides, you are not working heads down to make your next sale. Since you have a recurring monthly income, you feel at ease and are not required to put in a lot of effort to keep your business going.

Having said that, this is certainly not a fail-proof solution and has got its own share of downsides.

Those who sell using this model are always focused on creating content. If your audience fails to find new content after they have exhausted the current stock, they will eventually lose interest and unsubscribe.

You will have to be vigilant about your subscribers. The people who will unsubscribe will punch financial holes in your business. And then you will have to devise strategies to fill the holes.

Even then, if you are an entrepreneur looking to launch an OTT service, this is the business model you will need for your growth. We provide ott solution provider in india

Step 2- Create an amazing website.

Once you have selected the right business model to follow, it’s time to create a video website for your OTT service.

Having a video website will help you in myriad ways-

It will make handling queries and support tickets a breeze.
You will have the scope of ranking on search engines.
There will be a place to collect payments without hassle.
You will have an address to publish along with your marketing materials.
Customer trust building becomes more achievable with a website.

Plus, your customers will have an alternative way to access your videos when they fail to open your OTT app.

Create an impactful logo for your brand and ensure that your website design is responsive. This will help you maintain your platform’s uniformity across devices.

Step 3- Get the most appropriate app developed for your OTT service.

Not all apps are created equal. There are going to be specific devices to which your app will be compatible. So, before getting an OTT app developed, it’s important for you to do some research and find out which devices your audience is likely to use the most.

For instance, if you are a basketball coach and teach people how to play this sport, then you probably shoot all your videos from a distance. For your viewers to be able to make out your moves, they will need to watch your videos on larger screens. So, now it’s easy for you to guess that the most appropriate devices for your OTT service are smart TVs and tablets. By getting an app designed which will show compatibility with these devices, you will cater to your audience efficiently.

On the other hand, If you have a children’s education website, where kids learn through TV episodes and films, you will probably have to consider all the devices people generally use. After all, it’s not unusual for parents to use their tablet, phone or the smart TV in their bedroom to make their kids learn.

But imagine if you can get an IOS, Android , Web and Smart TV app built with all the bells and whistles of the biggest OTT Players. That would be nice right? Mogi allows you to do this within 1 week.

Mogi will help you launch your own OTT App with a no Capital Expenditure model. This means that you can launch your OTT within 7 days across platforms, and pay only for what your users consume in terms of Bandwidth and Data. Our White Label OTT Solution has everything that you can imagine a user would need. You also get AVoD, TVoD and SVoD monetization options, so you can start earning from every piece of content that you publish through your OTT app. We Provide ott streaming services in india

Step 4- Get users for your OTT service.

Now that you have your domain, content, choice of business model, website and app in place, you can focus all your attention on building an impressive audience base. Hence, the next step in the process is video marketing.

It’s important to note here that you won’t be able to do much with a feature loaded app or a fast loading website if you fail to convince people to view your content. So, come up with strategies and devise tactics to present your brand in such a way that people feel compelled to at least check out what your service is all about.

Here are a couple of things you can do to get started-

Social media platforms have lately been focusing heavily on video content. So, you can use these platforms to post teasers, trailers or other marketing content pertinent to your service. By doing so, you will make your promotional content reach thousands or even lakhs of people on a daily basis.
You can leverage the power of YouTube for video marketing. With the right marketing strategies, you will be able to drive an impressive traffic to your website.
E-mail is still the most invasive way to get the word out. It will help you reach out to your potential customers, and build a one-to-one connection with them. Make sure your mails include an option for people to join your newsletter. Also, notify them whenever you get new videos live.

How to make your OTT service stand out from the competition?

OTT platforms have lately become a way of life. They are being increasingly used by advertisers, marketers, entertainers, and others to stream movies, product advertisements, and live videos, among other things.

By having your own OTT service, you will have the potential to reach out to people who are actively looking for content like yours. You could also make a substantial recurring income if you have the right business model in place.

But having an OTT service doesn’t guarantee a steady flow of traffic. To make your service stand out from the crowd, you will have to

Have unique content on your platform,
Slimmer packages and flexible pricing,
Develop business strategies focused on your target market,
Have a dedicated niche
If possible, leverage the power of geo targeting.

So, technically speaking, you dont need to worry too much about the apps, the UI, UX or even the features when you start. The most important thing is that you focus on the thing that would differentiate the most, and that is content and marketing.

Mogi enables you to remove tensions regarding the technical part of OTT, as it’s white label solution provides an end-to-end service.

Mogi’s White Label app would provides you with 3 layers –

Front End App for IOS, Android, Web and SmartTV’s, so any piece of content can be viewed anywhere we can imagine
Backend Content Management System to give granular control to you on how you want to arrange and display your content. What sections you want, What Categories you want, What videos you display at the top and the entire piece. It also gives you video analytics on performance, engagement and bandwidth, so you know how each of user is behaving, and how each of your content asset is performing
All Monetization options, which means you get TVoD (Pay Per View), SVoD (Subscription packages customizable by you) and AVod (Advertisements in your free content as well). So you start earning from every piece of content, with minimal to no revenue share.

Mogi’s patented tech, which would be embedded in the white label OTT solution , provided AI enabled Video & Image Delivery SaaS that helps Content Platforms to Improve Customer Engagement by enabling Buffer free Streaming Experience for the user through a patented multi-CDN upstream architecture called Mogi Streaming Engine, Enhanced experience through quality enhancement and compression of up to 50% both during transcoding itself and Deeper user insights through Advanced Video Analytics.

The Mogi Streaming Engine basically jumps between CDN’s based on performance, cost, latency and traffic both on a user level and on a client level. This enable the best experience for your customers and along with it you get a highly compressed output with the same or higher quality. This means not only your contractual pricing is low due to competitive pricing, your bandwidth consumption reduces, and user experiences increases multifold. Your user metrics are never affected due to peak traffic and you can focus on improving it consistently, without worrying about the technical problems. It’s a win win for all of us (Users, Clients, Mogi).

So what are you waiting for? Launch your own OTT within 7 days, and start monetizing your content with us. Contact susheel.srinivas@mogiio.com for inquiries.