Over the past few years, the industry of OTT (over-the-top) has been expanding very fast. Many people are switching to streaming services for entertainment. Some most popular OTT platforms are Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max and Hulu. Such platforms have apps for listening to podcasts/music, watching videos, attending gatherings remotely and taking online classes. You can see a higher growth for OTT and streaming. If you are a business owner and want to architect your platform, then you should choose OTT monetization models to get top benefits such as reaching a huge user base, boosting revenue and providing a great streaming service.
Now the question is what is OTT monetization?
OTT video monetization is one of the great practices to make higher profits from content assets which are owned, licensed or sold for distribution with different video streaming services or OTT media platforms.
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5 OTT Monetization Models that Every Business Owner Should Know
If we talk about a business revenue model, it depends upon the content type you are investing. For this, you should select the right strategy depending on the audience’s viewing preferences. There are so many OTT monetization models available for content creators that help in monetizing the content. Let’s check out what are these models: –
Ad-supported Video on Demand (AVOD)
If you want to generate revenue through advertisements, then you can try OTT video monetization model. This model has three main players – advertisers, content creators/publishers and audiences/viewers. Being the backbone of any business, it allows users to access video content absolutely free in exchange for watching ads.
Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD)
Subscription Video on Demand, also known as SVOD, is a video monetization model that gives unlimited access to on-demand video content to subscribers at a small flat fee. On this model, many OTT platforms run for genres like sports, e-learning, fitness, health and wellness, etc.
In-app Purchases
In-app purchases are a popular OTT monetization model that allows users to have the best experiences according to their interests and needs. With this model, they can buy extra services or content in the App, like access to exclusive content or show episodes.
Sponsored Content
Being a new method of monetization, sponsor content OTT platform monetization helps businesses reach a large audience. Using this model, you can sponsor great pieces of content such as a movie or show.
Hybrid Model
When it comes to a hybrid model, it is a mixture of all the above-mentioned OTT revenue models in which users get some content absolutely free. You can earn revenue through advertisements and the remaining content is chargeable.
Whether you choose a subscription-based model, in-app purchases or another monetization model, you should find out which will work best for your business. This will help you make a sustainable and profitable OTT platform.
OTT Monetization Challenges and Considerations
The challenges for OTT players is increasing day by day. Also, they face higher competition in the industry when introducing a new service. Let’s understand some of the challenges here-
- Choosing revenue model: Every OTT platform has different kind of audience and revenue models. So, they should choose the one that fits the best for their company.
- Retaining new vs. old viewers: The most challenging thing every company faces retaining new vs. old viewers. To handle this issue, they should provide high-definition videos to their viewers.
- Poor Content: Most OTT companies fail to create content what their viewers love to watch. To avoid this issue, they should create something unique and generic content.
What’s more, they have to face challenges like device fragmentation, content delivery, retaining new users, storage cost, and data consumption.
OTT Monetization Future Trends
If we talk about the future of OTT monetization, it is believed that there will be demand for a hybrid model combining ad-supported and subscription based content. This model uses dynamic ad insertion that would allow viewers to be targeted based upon their watching preferences and behaviour. In simple words, it has a bright future ahead.
Conclusion
Simply put, OTT monetization is the best way to grow the audience and get higher profits from OTT business. No matter, what the size of your business is, you can enhance your business revenue by investing in monetization models. But for this, you should follow the right monetization strategy for you that will help you stand out in today’s competitive world.
This will help you track main factors such as customer experience and give you the best options for audience participation.
