Did you know that 50% of Wifi-connected homes in the USA use OTT apps for around 100 minutes per day? Isn’t that a good enough reason to launch OTT apps for your business? In this blog, we will educate you with the reasons for adopting OTT apps into your video marketing strategy and how to go about it. So, let’s get started.
Over-the-top applications, or an OTT app delivers audio/video on-demand or live content to your smartphone, tablet, or smart TV using the internet rather than the traditional methods of distribution like satellite or cable or satellite.
Downloaded over the internet, OTT apps can change the way you connect with your audiences. Through OTT content, you can provide customers access to a plethora of content at any given moment.
According to an OTT Customer Analytics report, 33% of people sign up for a free trial through an app than on the website. Out of the 33%, two-thirds of the sign-ups eventually convert into paying customers. In fact, these conversions are 72% higher when customers sign up through an app.
So, if you start integrating apps into your OTT offering, you enable your customers to enjoy audio/video content on devices they are most comfortable in.
Since Millenials are always on the move, they prefer streaming exclusive content anytime, anywhere and on any device.
By launching your OTT own-branded apps, you allow your subscribers to watch/listen to your content while travelling on a bus, metro or car on their preferred devices.
Your content simply becomes more accessible to your target audience who are constantly on the move. They just have to open the app, tap on the content and plug in their headphones.
You increase brand visibility to potential subscribers if you have your branded OTT app in a platform’s app store. Being visible in app stores puts you on the OTT map and makes your brand more discoverable to end-users.
For instance, your end-users can directly access your app on the respective app stores and enjoy streaming if you launch your OTT app for multiple platforms like Android, iOS, Android TV, Roku and Apple TV.
At Muvi, we help you launch your audio/video/live streaming app across multifarious platforms including iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Tizen, LG TV, Vewd TV and develop XBOX app without any hassle.
To deliver a personalized experience to your audience, you have to feed your customers with tailor-made communications based on their locations, interests, behavior and more. With an OTT app, it is easier to treat end-users with a more personalized experience as compared to websites. Having a white labeled OTT app, allows your end users to set up their preferences based on which customized content gets delivered.
Everything is more fun and interactive in an OTT app- from swiping what content to watch to going through the on-boarding process to just tapping on the play button. Customers can control everything with just their fingertips!
Personalization can also be achieved by sending app notifications. Both in-app notifications and push notifications accelerate user engagement with the latter stealing the show with a click-through rate of 40%.
Also Read: Prerequisites for Launching an OTT App
Just launching a customized OTT app will not help if you fail to create a stunning user experience for your customers.
In an age where watching scheduled content on TV is becoming almost obsolete and watching content on demand from OTT apps is gaining traction, a seamless onboarding experience has become a must-have UI/UX feature for OTT apps. Since the video monetization models of most OTT apps are based on monthly subscriptions, the onboarding process should be very simple and easy for enticing users to continue paying for their membership.
For more details on app onboarding, read our blog, 9 Tips to Effective VoD App Onboarding Experience
Almost all OTT media apps for personalizing their interfaces invest in an AI-based recommendation engine to recommend content based on an individual’s watching history. A tailor-made recommendation feature can be provided by collecting data such as what kind of content is being watched or how long a user watches, what kind of device is being used for watching, etc.
With the proliferation of new devices in the market and the rise of mobility, viewers expect video streaming apps to deliver an accessible and flexible content consumption experience as they swap from one device to another. Therefore, OTT apps should provide multi-device compatibility for maximum customer satisfaction. This will help users to enjoy content whenever they want.
Video previews are a must-have UX/UI feature for OTT apps. Not only does it speed up the navigation process but also aids in deciding what content to watch. Having thumbnails that get expanded as a preview screen is a good idea for retaining engagement.
For more details on UX/UI of OTT apps, please read our blog Essential UX/UI Features of OTT Apps.
Now it boils down to the main question of how do you create and launch your OTT apps. There are two main options you can choose.
Assuming you can’t develop these OTT apps yourself, we have listed 2 main options:
Option 1: Hire an app developer
Option 2 (recommended): Get a customized app developed from an OTT platform service provider
Option 1: Hire an app developer
Hiring someone to develop your OTT apps is a good option. However, you should be ready with a healthy budget as it’s going to be expensive.
The app will be built from scratch by a coding professional (or team of professionals) to your exact needs. The process is time and labor intensive and can take from anything between 6 to 12 months and cost anything between $20,000 to $40,000 per app.
You can even use websites like UpWork or Freelancer to find an affordable developer. They should be able to create a basic OTT app for you to work with without breaking the bank.
However, if you are looking for a fully-featured app with exclusive features, you’d be better off looking for a high-end developer or agency. This could again be quite heavy on your pocket though.
So, if you’re on a budget, we recommend you go for option 2- get a customized app developed by an OTT platform provider.
Opting for this method is an easy option as you get to design and custom build your app according to your needs and preferences without burning a hole in your pocket, that too by professional app developers.
An OTT service provider like Muvi already has all the custom made features prebuilt and offers a lot of services including CDN, Analytics, DRM and much more.
At Muvi, we can help you LAUNCH your fully featured, branded native OTT app across all platforms like Android, iOS, Roku, Amazon Fire TV OTT app, Apple TV, Android TV and XBOX INJUST ONE DAY! Yes, you heard that right.
Let’s take a look at what our customers have to say about us:
“With Muvi, you can ask for ‘n’ number of customizations while designing the look and feel of your app.”
Ali Craig
Founder, Brandpreneur TV (brandpreneurnetwork.co)
“Working with Muvi has been an extremely rewarding and fantastic experience for the last two years. Especially building all the capabilities into an app that is customized and suits exactly what is required.”
Milan Pintar
Founder of XPME TV
Apart from user-friendly CMS, multiple payment gateways and a completely white labelled service, we have an excellent customer support team and dedicated account managers who can resolve any queries or technical glitches that you might be facing while launching your app.
Rest assured that your premium content is safe with us. We offer a tamper-proof Studio Approved DRM solution through which your content library is protected from unwanted piracy.
Hope we have been able to give you a detailed vision of launching your white label, customized OTT apps.
In 2021, 75% of customers at Muvi have launched their OTT streaming platforms through apps successfully. You can be the next!
Sign up for a 14-day free trial with Muvi now and get started with your mobile & TV apps!
Written by: Sreejata Basu
Sreejata is the Manager for Muvi’s Content Marketing unit. She is a passionate writer with a background in English Literature and music. By week Sreejata spends her time in the corporate world of Muvi, but on weekends she likes to take short hiking trips, watch movies and read interesting travelogues.
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