How to Stay Competitive Through OTT Innovation

In collaboration with Indian Television, Accedo representatives Nikki Perugini and Niklas Björkén, joined editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari and a panel of experts to discuss India’s surging OTT market.The industry has recently seen significant growth, with subscriptions in the region increasing 50-fold between 2015 and 2019. This positive trend appears to be far from over and according to the Boston Consulting Group, the market is expected to reach a total value of $5 billion by 2023.With such dramatic growth in a short period of time, the market is also becoming increasingly competitive. In a crowded environment, it is vital for platforms to differentiate themselves from their competitors.Accedo’s long-standing expertise in different global markets allows us to share and compare approaches towards innovation and human-centric research.

With guidance from Nikki Perugini, Australia, and Niklas Björkén, Europe, the panellists were able to consider and compare continental approaches to succeeding and thriving in OTT, in India and beyond.At its core, the webinar revolved around how OTT platforms can maintain relevance in a market that is constantly changing. Clutterless UI, accessibility to assistance, and listening to consumer needs were some of the aspects discussed by the panelists as a route to increasing the stickiness of online content. At the same time, all participants agreed that listening to user feedback is crucial to ensure that a platform can adequately adapt to India’s changing OTT landscape.Differentiation for differentiation’s sake is pointless; all such initiatives have to be geared towards improving the user experience. Video providers are wise to invest in research to understand customers’ needs and experiences. Yet, most of the panel conceded that their primary research into UX is currently done by reacting to general feedback. SSK Osmosis however, has opted to interview people in gyms in order to better understand their behavior and preferences. This, Nikki Perugini states, is vital “as analyst tools will show you stats that demonstrate what is happening, but never why”. This question can only be answered by taking a human-centred approach to product decisions.

Nikki presented the panel with an Accedo case study into user behavior, in which stats were collated and participants were interviewed, allowing the company to gain a better understanding of what drives user engagement. Ultimately, having a coherent strategy plan towards bettering UX ensures satisfaction and retention in the long-run.While offering a seamless user experience is important, it is not enough to differentiate and grow your video platform. Innovative and industry changing technologies also need to be adopted, because the things that seem futuristic today will be reality tomorrow. Failure to adopt such technology, Niklas Björkén states, will leave your OTT service behind. The industry has a unique chance to make the most of things like 5G, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and even holographic technology. It is the companies that take advantage of these opportunities that will win the hearts of India’s OTT consumers.

Niklas also highlighted the potential of portrait video to appeal to a generation of smartphone users.In addition, numerous members of the panels highlighted their own intriguing innovations - from enriching metadata, to implementing Javascript overlays to further increase engagement. What was made clear however, is that innovation does not always need to be successfully implemented in order to be considered a valuable exercise. Discovering what doesn’t fit with your audience is just as important and allows for your company to adapt and find better ways of driving customer satisfaction.Scalability has long been considered one of the primary strengths of cloud-based infrastructure, and India’s OTT market seems to be adopting this well. Using the multi-cloud model, companies explain the ease in which they can add, and remove, software and content from their platforms. Having architecture that is well scaled allows these local companies to compete with global, household corporations. These were the main and overarching themes of the webinar, but there was also a plethora of in-depth, detailed insights into the industry. In order to find out more about these topics, and for more detail into Nikki and Nicklas’ case studies, be sure to watch the full discussion here.‍