IPTV/OTT Business Busted
The IPTV/OTT market has become synonymous with rapid traction in business coupled with swift user acquisition. New entrants in this field may have some knowledge based on their past experience in digital media platforms, content distribution, internet technologies, or mobile services. Some may want to explore a totally different yet exciting field and would want to try their hand at it. However, for those who are just getting into the domain, they may come in with popular misconceptions regarding their relationship with the platform developers. It is important that these are dispelled so that your decision making process is based on facts and not assumptions.

Today, we take a look at 5 such misconceptions around your association with platform developers and debunk it for businesses that want to enter the IPTV/OTT business.

1 – Premium content is a must to succeed in this business

Many entrepreneurs feel that they should get premium content and find dependable digital media platforms for succeeding in their ventures. However they should focus more on the service rather than the type of content they will be providing.

With adequate spending on sales and marketing, you can build a great user base that can help you thrive in the long run. This should be backed by vital KPIs like quality content, swift delivery channels, great application interface, and zero legal or licensing issues.

It is viable to have almost 1/3rd of the budgets allocated towards sales and marketing in the initial days for better outreach.   

2 – A great looking application is enough to pull in users

A visually appealing and easy to understand application interface is essential for success. However this is not the ‘only’ parameter to your success on the new age digital media platforms.

Your target market is going to be heterogeneous in terms of tastes and preferences for digital media consumption. First off, you need to make sure that your business is catering to this factor. Next, you need to get the UI/UX right in order to design a functional and easy to grasp application.

3 – The platform provider will tell me how to strategize the business for success

Take the case of an automobile manufacturer like Honda. It will not teach you how to drive. Similarly, you cannot expect the platform provider to give you a roadmap or tactical guidance on how to run your business.

Developers of digital media platforms will go as per your vision and blend in their expertise to provide high performance software. However, how you use it, what monetization strategy you apply, how you entice customers – these are vital questions that can be answered only by you.

You and the software provider need to work together to ensure successful application deployment.

4 – A DIY in application development will work for me

Many business owners want to cut down costs by developing their own application and use the provider’s middleware capabilities. However, the task for creating an aesthetic application interface that is compatible with different platforms like internet, TV, or mobile is tough.

Each type of device has its own set of controls like mouse clicks, button press, or screen taps.  Mix this with the varied options in hardware, software, OS, development tools, and you would realize that this job is best left to professionals in the development of digital media platforms.

If you do have the tech expertise, you can definitely ask for APIs and get your own application developed in-house, but you will need to do a diligent cost-benefit analysis to see if such a step is actually viable.

5 – I can expect super-quick turnarounds from the developers

You may see a slight change in the updates or addition you had requested at the time of development. But behind the scenes, it may entail resource-intensive work that can take a bit of time. All good digital media platforms developers have promptness built into the SLAs so they won’t delay the project or iterations unnecessarily.

If an update task is taking time, the reason might be that it actually needs that much time to integrate it well and test it for performance and other key parameters. For the developer, the focus will be on the stability and long term ROI delivered by the platform and your suggested updates will need to meet these benchmarks well.

To conclude

With these misconceptions busted, your foray into new digital media platforms will be based on strategic acumen and sound decision making capability.