EST (Electronic Sell Through) – The What, Why and How

Ankit Jena Published on : 30 November 2022 6 minutes

  Electronic Sell Through (EST) has been a game changer since last year because the acquisition of digital movies and shows reached close to $1.6 billion in revenue and this is a straight 30% growth spike over the previous year. … Continue reading

Electronic Sell Through

 

Electronic Sell Through (EST) has been a game changer since last year because the acquisition of digital movies and shows reached close to $1.6 billion in revenue and this is a straight 30% growth spike over the previous year. Year-over-year there is a bigger jump towards people buying digital entertainment to store in their own device. While Transactional Video-on-Demand (TVOD) is one of the bigger media business models that is giving opportunity to several new streaming businesses to enter the landscape and make some profits. Combination of earlier release windows by content owners, continued growth of connected devices had given EST the massive success.

Prime studios and content distributors have realized the revenue potential of EST and the value it provides by shortening the early release windows while also increasing the number of digital contents in the marketplace.

People are purchasing digital versions of the popular shows and movies increasingly and top EST sellers such as iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, Comcast and Verizon are prime examples of customers building their own digital library in their personal devices. This ultimately resulted in more purchasing and downloading of content for viewing across a vast range of devices both inside and outside of the end-user’s home.

The growth of DTO (Download To Own) or digital ownership has been encouraged along with the augmented accessibility of digital content and the size of the libraries available. Popular and award-winning movies are legally available for streaming and downloading through online services. Along with that, 85% of the popular television shows are also available through online video streaming services.

 

Electronic Sell Through

 

What is Electronic Sell Through (EST)?

Electronic Sell Through (EST) also called as Download to Own (DTO) is digital sale of media where consumers pay a one-time fee to download the media for unlimited viewing or accessed on demand via the Internet, Mobile and Cable. It is also described as an extension to the Home Video Market.

It is often defined as a transaction that allows content ownership to the end-user, the content might become unusable after a certain period and not be viewable through the respective platforms. It is used to sell a wide range of digital contents such as movies, television, music, games, and mobile applications.

While purchasing movies or any other contents through Electronic Sell Through platforms, end-users do not actually own the content, instead, they license the film from the platform, a license that can be revoked by the rights holders. In the past, this has sourced controversy when iTunes and Amazon Video users have discovered movies disappearing from the libraries.

 

EST is good for eLearning VOD Platforms

The EST model works well with eLearning VOD platforms. For example, Byju’s generated $100 million revenues by providing exam prep videos. Coursera, valued at $800 million, has emerged as the top eLearning VOD platform mainly on the basis of their course prep videos which until recently followed the TVOD model.

 

Content-as-a-Service Platforms enable EST service  

EST represents a burgeoning revenue opportunity for multichannel video programming distributors as well as content providers, but implementation needs investment in infrastructure, including building out networks, offering storage as well as developing digital storefronts. This is an overwhelming process for all but the largest service providers. To solve this issue, and take advantage of monetization opportunities, Multichannel Video Programming Distributors are searching for alternatives to launch their own EST services to provide digital contents to both set-top box users as well as other IP-connected devices in homes and on the go.

SaaS based streaming solution providers have solved this challenge of building and deploying an EST service across all levels through their easy-to-use streaming solutions.  

Using these enterprise-grade streaming solutions, content distributors can charge their end-users through various subscription models. The video content is entirely managed and hosted in a cloud server providing content distributors an opportunity to save a huge amount of money involved in buying expensive servers to store their contents.  SaaS providers eliminated the need for content distributors to construct, test, maintain and scale the service themselves, and this in turn lowers operational support labor as well as costs.

As more and more consumers continue to watch video content anywhere, anytime and on any device, the platform providers not only enable new revenue streams from EST purchases, but also serves as a strong deterrent to keep those subscribers from churning away to competing services from OTT providers.

 

Allow Your End-Users to enjoy Download-To-Own Device with Muvi

Muvi is an enterprise-grade streaming solution that allows you launch white label multi-device OTT streaming and video platforms, offering Video-On-Demand and live streaming contents to end-users and monetize them to earn revenue from them.

Muvi allows you to set up multiple payment gateways to deal with multi-geography audiences as well as multiple payment modes along with multi-currency setup. Transaction and data security is our top priority and we have a ton of enterprise grade security features to ensure data security and privacy when it comes to accepting payments on your platform.

Muvi One includes Pay-Per-View (PPV) or better known as Transactional VOD (TVOD) or EST Model. With this model you can sell videos and audio content online and charge your users a one-time-fee for accessing the same. All plans come with several cutting-edge features including analytics and reports, so you do not need to worry about anything.

Muvi’s in-built encoding and transcoding feature provides a flawless buffer-free streaming experience to your end-users with more efficiency. Video encoding compresses the file size without compromising the quality. Transcode the encoded video into numerous resolution formats for buffer-free streaming, irrespective of internet speed as well as device used.

Muvi CMS allows you to upload a raw content file and the rest is managed by our advanced encoder. Muvi’s in-built encoding converts your videos into streamable digital format as well as compresses them automatically. Upload your video content and get ready to stream across multiple devices and platforms. We assure you will not need any external encoder.

Muvi protects video and audio content on your OTT platform against illegal usage and downloads with the help of a multi-DRM solution. It allows you to provide a secure streaming service for subscription, video rental, lease, purchase, and download, along with ensuring device security. You can also set up license, playback, and rental duration for your video or else audio content on your OTT platform. With Muvi, you can launch your Video-on-demand service, FAST channel, sports streaming channel, eLearning Platform, training videos, live streaming channel and many more. Take a free trial to explore the outstanding features of Muvi now!

 

Electronic Sell Through

Written by: Ankit Jena

Ankit is Content Writer for Muvi’s Marketing unit. He is a passionate writer with 5+ Years of Experience in Content Creation And Development. In his past time, he likes to dance, play football and google various things to quench his thirst for knowledge.

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