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OTT Platforms: A Five-Point Guide to Building the Next Streaming Powerhouse

Dave WoodBy: Dave Wood

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What is OTT?

OTT stands for Over-the-Top. The OTT umbrella supports the delivery of film and TV content over the internet, merging television and digital video to forge a singular, revolving content stream.

It's a little jarring knowing next year will be the first year we spend more time on the internet than we do watching television. We're amidst a paradigm shift. What sold during the cable television dynasty, no longer entices the modern consumer, and we have no choice but to accept our broadcasting archaisms as casualties and push on.

We need to think of the Media and Broadcasting ecosystem as a rolling stone, a continuous and frenetic movement with a destination we haven't yet defined, but enough momentum to keep pushing forward. In other words, we know we're moving away from traditional, cable boxes and channel bundling, and we have unearthed a powerful alternative, but this eclectic environment is just a pit stop in an ongoing evolution.

Where we are now: we're over the top.

Here are our main talking points, if you want to jump ahead.

Introduction: We're Over-the-Top

Over-the-Top platforms (OTT) are a natural progression. They're a byproduct of technological disruption, a means of integrating the digital revolution into one of the most iconic, modern conveniences.

The OTT umbrella supports the delivery of film and TV content over the internet, a merging television and digital video to forge a singular, revolving content stream.

Advancements in data management, cloud-based storage, and streaming have given way to an entire lineage of OTT related products, software, apps, content, and marketing campaigns.

For the companies pondering OTT concepts before we put a name to them, there's one force that finally shook their ideas loose and forced them into action—Netflix. Netflix came barreling through like a bullet, rattling the architecture we built for content delivery and making us think to ourselves, what now?

Well, now over 181 million people engage with OTT platforms regularly.

OTT Platform

When Netflix traded in their DVD rental service for a digital content library, the rest of the broadcasting industry met a crossroad. Follow in their footsteps and launch comparable OTT platforms, or get left behind like Blockbuster.

We put together a list of development hacks and OTT must-haves to bring the next media streaming powerhouse to market. Here's five-discussion points you need to consider:

1. Find your cloud.

Regardless how you plan to use your OTT platform, you're going to need a massive data management system. Cloud-based systems are the obvious choice here, and this is what we recommend to clients.

High-quality content, delivered rapidly comes at a high-data cost—the cost of being successful in the OTT scape. End-users demand instant and endless access to a content-rich repository. Just like all other cloud-based systems, we can leverage SaaS options or engineer a proprietary solution.

In terms of SaaS, AWS (Amazon web service) is a powerful data storage device, or Chetu can scale a unique cloud-based OTT workflow to your business model (which we'll get into more later).

Ultimately, cloud-based OTT workflows are the best way to secure sustainability. If just 50 years ago, we turned on the first television, imagine where we'll be 50 years from now, imagine the potential OTT user-base. OTT is where we're headed, and cloud services are the crutch we need to remain scalable, accessible, and ahead of the curve in an environment with dynamic data storage needs.

Data storage may be on the forefront of cloud-based campaigns, but accessibility and delivery are close companions. The relationships between data and delivery for OTT platforms, goes along with the old if a tree falls in a forest, and now one is there to hear it, does it make a sound adage.

If we have data, but no means of delivery, does the data really have value? If we have the delivery means, but nothing to deliver, did the delivery really happen? Not only do we have to provide for singular users, but concurrent users, looking to access the same content at the same time and from the same account.

OTT Platforms

2.Ability to adapt in the wild

Your ability to survive in the wild amongst competing OTT platforms, will depend on your adaptability, how you structure your boat as the tides change. The greatest adaptability is a symptom of first-rate development, engineering a custom, scalable solution, rather than a one-size-fits-all.

We need cross-platform support, multiscreen support, a sleek frontend, and an elastic backend, load-bearing backend, dedicated endpoints, and proprietary APIs. For OTT platforms, the frontend and backend must be equally intelligent. That intelligence boils down to streaming protocol and UI/UX.

In terms of streaming protocol, it really boils down to two primary options: RTMP (Real-time Messaging Protocol) and HTTPS live streaming. We recommend saying goodbye to any non-HTTP based streaming protocols; they're likely to become obsolete in the years to come. HTTP live streaming gets the job done at the best quality and the best cost. It facilitates cross-browser, device, and channel usage, the exact adaptability we're looking for here.

With HTTPS/HLS you're securing your spot in future, OTT markets, as they easily augment with newer protocols (DASH/VP9) as they standardize. HTTPS breaks down file downloads into small chunks that initiate over a transport stream. These streams minimize buffering and are resilient to changes in network bandwidth.

HTTP streaming scales to the strength of your network connection, encoding at different quality levels to sustain playback through lost connection.

This is where the server comes to play. If you are truly looking to produce the next Netlfix, you're going to need some kind of secret sauce; for Netlfix, their secret sauce is a combination of DASH subset and PlayReady DRM. The shorthand version: you need a custom Webkit engine to forge Neflix-quality interoperability; Netlfix's Webkit QT engine is the stove they brew their secret sauce over.

OTT servers exist as an index for variant streams, alternating between versions according to bandwidth.

OTT video playing on a tablet

3. Monetize before you digitalize

Simply put, how will you make money from your new OTT platform? We have three monetization models to choose from: AVOD, TVOD, SVOD.

You have to understand that these monetization models can experience cross-over. In fact, most OTT platforms use a hybrid to maximize profit and open all possible revenue streams.

Prior to building an OTT platform, you first need to define your viewership and how you plan to capitalize from their demands.

4. CDN over everything else

Okay, we have the data, we have the accessibility, the scalability, and the audience, but how will be deliver the content?

A Content Delivery Network is a web of servers that deliver content to users when they make the request. You can build or buy you CDN, but when you buy you are at the mercy of a third-party.

When you build your own CDN, you have ultimate control over your delivery, and gain the power to expand your offerings without compromising playback quality. OTT providers circumvent scalability issues by engineering a custom CDN based on their business objectives. When building a CDN, you can equate your IT investment costs (how much you would like to spend on the development) to the growth you expect to see within a year, within five, over a decade. If you want content that is consistently encrypted, personalized, and cached properly, and completely relevant to user requests, you by some means need to (build or buy) acquire a cloud-based CDN.

5. What Does Chetu Know About OTT Platforms?

We know custom build is the best build when it comes to OTT, and we know how to build it.

Most developers are localized to one specific niche, and while they may engineer a robust CDN with all the delivery features your audience is looking for, the frontend will be poorly written and the data management system will have accessibility issues.

OTT brings many moving parts together, and requires a toolbox of programming skillsets, rather than a single wrench or hammer. Chetu is the toolbox in this scenario. We have the on-demand developers you need to put together the perfect OTT team—the visualization guys, the HTML warriors, the Cloud architects.

When you embark on the OTT platform mission without the proper toolbox, execution won't mirror conceptualization, and you'll end up with a sub-par product without any competitive advantage, another drop in the OTT pool

Chetu's custom OTT platforms empowers clients by bringing their vision from concept to code, enabling creators to jumpstart the dialogue with their viewers and deliver content at an unparalleled quality. This is your business and no one else's—so why should there be middlemen involved? Custom OTT development renders third-parties obsolete and funnels all profit directly into your pocket.

OTT champion trophy

So here's the secret to becoming the next OTT streaming powerhouse: build something that doesn't yet exist, something custom-tailored to your vision and redirect the conversation in your direction.

Like we said before, OTT is a natural progression. The mini computers we toy around with all day have embedded themselves in our every movement, our every decision—answering our questions, leading us from place to place, and listing the best Thai restaurants in a five mile radius. OTT is headed on the same ubiquitous path.

No off-the-shelf, SaaS OTT option is going address the ubiquity that you need.

Disclaimer:

Chetu does not affect the opinion of this article. Any mention of a specific software, company or individual does not constitute an endorsement from either party unless otherwise specified. This blog should not be construed as legal advice.

Founded in 2000, Chetu is a global provider of enterprise software development solutions and support services. Chetu's specialized technology and industry experts serve startups, SMBs, and Fortune 500 companies with an unparalleled software delivery model suited to the needs of the client. Chetu's one-stop-shop model spans the entire software technology spectrum. Headquartered in Plantation, Florida, Chetu has fourteen locations throughout the U.S. and abroad.

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