Successful television has always been anchored in a simple proposition: Create a pipeline of unique, compelling content that can captivate large viewing audiences.
A new generation. Today, this task is easier said than done. While each new generation of TV technology makes it easier to create and distribute content, it has also caused an explosion of channels available, many with specialized programming appealing to narrower audiences.
Today’s over-the-top (OTT) video technologies accelerate that trend, enabling aggregators to combine the attention-grabbing power of television with the agility and scale of the global Internet. As a result, hundreds of OTT services have been launched in the past few years. Now, more than ever, OTT services must develop sharp content strategies in order to succeed.
A new whitepaper. We write about this tenet of OTT success in Five Smart Tactics for OTT Success, Brightcove’s latest whitepaper. We include questions to help you clarify who your target audience is and the content genres you plan to offer. We also provide examples to help you better understand how to differentiate your services in a highly competitive landscape.
One such example is represented by the 2011 launch of Brightcove customer Acorn TV, which focuses squarely on British mysteries, dramas, and comedies. This unique positioning helped Acorn TV increase its subscriber base by 100% in 2015. VidAngel is another well-differentiated OTT service – they leverage a unique consumer model to enable family-friendly versions of major entertainment titles that are not available anywhere else. According to statistics pulled from AppAnnie on April 17, VidAngel reached number 10 on the list of top 100 grossing Apple TV apps.
There are other examples of well-differentiated OTT services as well. SeeSo, launched by NBC Universal in December 2015 is pursuing a slice of the comedy market; Shudder, launched by AMC in July 2015 is seeking to capture horror fans.
A new product. It’s easier to focus on executing brilliant content and marketing strategies if you have a simple, seamless technology platform as the foundation of your OTT service. That’s the goal of Brightcove OTT Flow – powered by Accedo , our new turnkey solution that helps media companies quickly and easily launch OTT services. With Brightcove OTT Flow, we’re lowering the barrier to entry to the market by providing an end-to-end product with no upfront development costs, enabling organizations to take their content over-the-top in weeks rather than months. With a disruptive pricing model that helps content owners mitigate against the uncertainty in the OTT market, Brightcove OTT Flow is seeing quality OTT services launching more quickly and adapting easily to new opportunities in this exciting market.
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