About The Importance Of App Development For OTT Streaming Business

Apps like those of your Facebook or TikTok apps, plus so much more, have revolutionized the world in countless ways. Nowadays, not only do individuals utilize apps but businesses and several industries as well.

There are various benefits that apps or app development can offer for businesses. These include apps providing more value to the customers, building a stronger brand, connecting with your customers fast and easily, improving customer loyalty, and having a competitive edge in your niche. The advantages of apps for businesses also constitute reaching a higher customer engagement level, building a direct and personalized marketing channel, utilizing social media channels, and offering instant and better customer service. There are more. The benefits also include finding valuable consumer insights, having more control, providing unique services and features, and having an avenue for customer feedback. There is a wide range of categories for apps, including task resolution apps, loyalty apps, entertaining apps, customer service apps, and content apps, among many others. You might be pretty surprised to know there are several other types of apps around.

Among the many categories of these apps, among the most important categories of these apps are OTT applications. This article will take a closer look at the importance of app development for the OTT streaming business. But before anything else, let us define the basics.

What Are Apps?

Apps, a term short for “application,” is a kind of software that you can install and run on your computers, tablets, smartphones, and other electronic devices. An app usually pertains to a mobile application or a piece of software installed and utilized on a computer. Many apps have specific functions.

For example, a food delivery app might only be designed for individuals to order food from local restaurants and cannot be used for anything else, perhaps making restaurant reservations. As you have learned earlier, there are currently millions of apps in various categories, from business and productivity to shopping and scheduling, and a whole lot more.

Apps are essential for businesses for various reasons. Firstly, they can help business owners quickly deploy software to run the company more efficiently. Secondly, apps are more cost-effective than other forms of software. Thirdly, apps can extend the reach of a business to its target audience. Fourth, apps can also increase the productivity of a company. Then, apps can enable employees to perform business functions outside the offices. Lastly, apps can provide various business services, including accounting, inventory management, customer relationship management or CRM, and more.

OTT In A Nutshell

This article aims to present the importance of app development for OTT streaming businesses. But first, what is OTT? This is an excellent way for those encountering this topic to understand the concepts better.

OTT refers to “over-the-top” media service. Any online content provider offers streaming media as a standalone product. The term is also about video-on-demand platforms and may refer to audio streaming, messaging services, or Internet-based voice calling solutions.

OTT services can circumvent traditional distribution channels, including cable television providers or telecommunications networks. As long as the user has access to the Internet, either locally or through a mobile network, you can access the complete service at your leisure.

OTT services are usually monetized via paid subscriptions, though there are exceptions. For instance, OTT platforms might offer in-app purchases or advertising.

Discussing OTT Apps

You’ve learned OTT or over-the-top pertains to the practice of streaming premium content to viewers directly over the web, without using cable or satellite TV.

So, OTT apps deliver online videos straight to your devices, provided that you are connected to the Internet.

Let us look closer with Netflix as our example. You can watch Netflix on mobile, Android, iOS, and smart TV devices such as Roku, Android TV, Samsung TV, etc. Netflix has developed native apps for these platforms and all these apps. These apps are known as OTT apps.

The Importance Of App Development For OTT Streaming Business

Are you fond of streaming videos online? As you may have understood a while ago, using OTT apps has been growing quite exponentially in the online video industry. Several people have reduced their time watching from cable and satellite TVs and spending more time watching videos over the Internet via their PCs, mobile devices, and Smart TVs. These are the reasons why OTT app development for these businesses is vital.

1. Garner More Viewers

Over the recent years, video streaming traffic on mobile and smart TV devices has grown significantly.

Statistics from Statista.com show that global mobile data traffic is predicted to grow from 28 exabytes per month in 2019 to 77 exabytes per month in 2022. What a way to start the New Year. That is an incredible growth of three times in three years! The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated the use of these kinds of content, especially with the help of OTT apps.

As a matter of fact, in 2021, it has been said that 82 percent of all Internet traffic will come from online videos. With these in mind, it is pretty evident that people are streaming videos on their mobile and smart TV devices. You should take advantage of this trend to gain more viewers, which is why you should start developing or using apps for OTT streaming.

2. Earn More Money

Beyond what you have learned earlier, OTT has also simplified the monetization of videos in many ways. There are various monetization options for these videos, including subscriptions, transactions, and advertisements, plus more. And OTT revenue from these three models is booming.

According to BroadbandTVNews.com, subscription revenue or SVOD is projected to grow from $25 billion in 2017 to $69 billion in 2023. Aside from this, advertising revenue or AVOD is predicted to grow from $20 billion to $47 billion during this same period. In 2020, transaction video on demand, TVOD services, or pay-per-view revenue was expected to reach $46 billion.

You do not have to choose one model over the other for your OTT streaming service. You can select a hybrid video monetization model or a combination of SVOD, TVOD, and AVOD. Provide your non-premium videos free of cost and charge your viewers for watching premium content.

3. There Are Lower Costs

Know this: it is far more affordable to launch your OTT service than launching a cable or satellite TV channel. With OTT, you will not have to pay uplinking and downlinking charges, carriage fees, content delivery fees, distribution fees, and more. In other words, you can save hundreds of thousands of dollars every month!

Usually, there are two types of costs if you utilize an OTT Software as a Service or SaaS platform. These include fixed costs or variable costs.

4. Acquire Direct Relation With Viewers

If you are looking for a business that will generate success, this is the perfect time to venture into the OTT streaming business. With OTT, there is no intermediary between you and your viewers.

Viewers can directly watch your content on their OTT devices without subscribing to cable or DTH services. This gives complete control over distribution. Plus, you can reach viewers worldwide!

Another advantage of OTT is that you receive payments directly from your viewers. There is no need to wait for a mediator to pay you. Simply integrate your preferred payment gateway to get paid.

Moreover, you already have the email and phone numbers of your users. You can now reach them directly. If you want to inform them of new releases, perks, or discounts, you can send a text message or email.