Integrations that level up your OTT game, and why they matter to your end-user experience

We find a common question amongst our customers is as simple as its answer: how do you level up your OTT game?

Normally, we suggest that they vigorously pursue innovation coupled with a solid technological foundation. But of course, is this enough to grant a competitive edge where every player in the market is looking to offer a premium service at an inviting price point? The answer is probably as simple as ‘no’.

Perhaps we can find a flow of innovation with companies in the tech space who keep investing in research and development to create unique, fully managed best-of-breed solutions. It always comes at a great cost. Like in a sports team, where players need to complement one another to generate an outcome that is greater in value than the sum of its parts. Much the same as technology providers need to to integrate third parties’ software and tools to create more powerful products that fit the overall strategic vision of their customers. The world of OTT and streaming is no different, amid pressing demand from hungry audiences, content owners and distributors must elevate their game quickly if they want to capture a zenith of opportunity in the market.

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Relying on the right partners and integrators is paramount. However, the flexibility afforded in remaining agnostic to existing technology is a big plus too. Don’t get me wrong: solid proprietary solutions are something you cannot do without. However, the secret to being a true leader in today’s tech landscape is the ability to specialise on certain aspects of the stack, and at the same time to make your solution play seamlessly with third parties’ constant innovation. Simply put, you cannot always be Netflix, but you can drive focus on what can do better than Netflix, as opposed to wanting to do everything.

There are at least four elements we can identify as integral to a solid OTT offering. Make them come together like an orchestra to play a beautiful symphony, and you’ll win.

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☁️ A world-leading cloud platform can help you cover a wide range of services from global data centres. It makes it easy for your service to scale up.

💳 Payment gateways play a vital role in the online transaction process, one of the fundamental pillars of any OTT platform, as it’s seen as the realisation of value.

📢 Advertising tools are a means to reach your target audience and maximise the impact of your OTT service. Placing ads, through dedicated dashboards that let you automate the whole workflow, is a way to monetise, and to personalise your audience’s experience.

📊 Data analytics tools sit at the core of performance optimisation. Both in live and on-demand environments, real-time insights help you to better understand and build a perfect user journey to grow and retain your audience: choosing a world-class partner is a must.

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System integration is a key differentiator. Especially within the complex ecosystem of OTT and streaming services, it creates added value around proprietary tech stacks. Integrations avoid the creation of dangerous data silos, making your architecture a smoother, more cooperative environment where several software programs can coexist and work together.