You cannot deny the fact that there has been a massive surge in terms of both the quality and quantity of digital content that is being prepared across the world regularly.
This has seen the migration of most of the youth and millennial who now prefer to go to such OTT platforms where they can easily choose the genre and film that they would love to view without any hassles. Seeing this trend, many other players have also entered the foray to create their separate digital platforms.
It has become a highly competitive market, and all of the more prominent players such as Amazon, Netflix and Hotstar are pumping out more shows and movies to keep their audiences on the platform. Apart from these you also have several other smaller players who are trying to make inroads into this game such as Zee5, Alt Balaji and Ullu.
While the prospects of starting an OTT platform seem rosy, there are quite a few hurdles that have to be appropriately navigated to even think of turning it into a successful venture. Creating a platform is just the beginning.
Let us take a look at some of the obstacles
Having an easy and visually appealing UI
First looks do make a big impression and today’s audience has a brief attention span, so if your user interface is not appealing and the user finds it difficult to locate the search buttons or find the films of his choice, then the chances that he will continue to use your platform are very slim. Convenience above everything when it comes to the customer.
Top-Notch streaming delivery
Okay, let’s be fair no one likes to watch a low-quality video or something that keeps on lagging continuously. I mean seriously are you living in the stone age. This proves to be quite a problem because as the number of user to your platform will start to increase, it will put tremendous strain on your servers. Sites like Amazon don’t have this problem because they have their very own system and fun fact (did you know that Netflix also uses amazon web
services for its platform)
Providing quality content regularly
Now, this seems like a given because ‘Content is King’ right? But though this may sound rosy and you may even get around to list some fantastic projects filled with lots of potential in the start, maintaining this momentum and churning out the same quality of content again and again regularly can be a tough thing especially with independent OTT platforms that do not have an enormous budget where they can spend lavishly.
Pricing according to your competitors
In the previous point, we discussed providing quality content and how you may require a lot of money for that especially in the long run, but then again you can’t demand exorbitant fees from your customers because then he will be apprehensive even to try out your platform. This is certainly not made easy with the likes of Hotstar and amazon providing their services at dirt-cheap rates with context to the others.
Marketing and branding to gain more awareness
It seems like there is a lot of discussion about money, but unfortunately, it is a very important aspect, and you may have great content lined up along with affordable pricing for the customers but if your platform is marketed or branded well enough then why would anyone even think about venturing into it. Imagine that you built a great house with incredible luxuries and materials but if there were no proper means of transport, how could they even reach there.
Even after taking care of all of these, you have to compete against the big names who have a strong foothold and established not only base amongst the audience but also deep pockets that can certainly keep them going for much longer. Unfortunately, the smaller and independent platforms do not have that kind of resources and while it may seem in vogue to start an OTT platform one must undoubtedly keep all of the following things in mind while mapping out a proper plan.
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