Almost everyone with a smartphone in their pockets or with smart tv at home knows either one or many of the OTT platforms now available in the market. OTT which stands for “Over the Top” is a platform that delivers movies and tv series/shows over the internet, unlike traditional cable TV. These OTT platforms are the same as any other apps or services available on the internet, all you need is a device that supports OTT and an internet connection and BOOM!! You now have access to a wide range of content, but wait a minute, do you get every movie or a tv show ever made on a single platform? Well, no. Each streaming company offers content that is different from other platforms.
There are so many OTT platforms available now. Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar and Disney plus, Aha, ALT Balaji, MX player, and such. Even TV channels are providing such services to keep up with the competition. The users are finding it very hard to choose from the available options. This article is not about helping out the users in choosing the best platform out there, we can do that too if you want us to. All you have to do is drop a comment in the comment section.
Then what’s this article about? You may ask, you ever wonder how these OTT platforms make money or what monetization models they use? Then continue reading this article.
OTT platforms follow the VOD business model, VOD stands for Video on Demand. There are three types of VOD models that most of these platforms use.
1. SVOD: Subscription Video on Demand, in short SVOD is a subscription model that allows users to access an entire library of movies/series for a certain fee set by the company. Users have to pay the subscription fee daily, weekly, monthly, or annually, according to the company’s policy. These subscriptions are automatically renewed until the users unsubscribe from the platform. Companies that use this model generate their revenue through user subscriptions.
Examples: Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar, ALT Balaji, Aha.
2. ADVOD: Advertising Video on Demand, ADVOD is an ad-based video streaming model that allows users to access its wide range of content with ads. The company uses the money generated from the ads to balance production and hosting costs.
Examples: YouTube, MX player.
3. TVOD: Transactional Video on Demand, is a pay per view basis service, meaning the user has to pay for each video he/she wants to watch. If it’s a series, then, the user has to pay for an entire season to watch.
Example: Google Play, iTunes.
There’s one more model that uses a combination of one or two models mentioned above and it is known as a hybrid model. In this model, the user has access to much of the library but still has to pay to watch premium content. The best example of this model is the Prime video.
Click on the link to know more about it – WILL OTT PLATFORMS TAKE OVER THEATRES
-Kalyan (FrontlinesMedia)
Nice info