Five Considerations for Launching an Online Video Service and Expanding Your Content Reach

We live in an era of screens. Good screen. Bad screens. Big screens and flat screens and curved screens. Barely a moment goes by when we’re not staring at one screen or another. With increased engagement comes increased demand and competition, and as a content owner, you need to ensure that your video content is not only engaging your audience and leaving them hungry for more, but is also reaching as far and wide as possible. Sounds easier said than done, right? Well, here are 5 tips to help you expand your content’s reach while maintaining a great user experience and enjoying the ability to scale as your service gains momentum.

Mobile Video Traffic by 2022

Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Trends, 2017–2022

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Launch, Grow, Adapt 12Make Sure You’re “Always On”

It seems that the video industry is changing at the speed of light, with new services and technologies popping up

all the time. While it’s important to ensure that your service can adapt and grow to meet its ever-evolving

demands, it’s arguably even more critical to just get your content out there. You can focus on the content that is

performing best and scale from there once you’ve gained some traction.

And speaking of obvious first steps: make sure you have a mobile-first strategy from the get-go. Everyone owns a

smartphone. Everyone. You’re probably reading this on a smartphone right now. You can add support for more

devices as you go – be it Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, or one of many more – but if you’re designing

for desktop only, you’re already behind. While you’re at it, don’t forget to experiment with various business models

for your content consumption; keep the flexibility to mix and match between types of content and the best

monetization strategies, from ads, to SVOD, TVOD, and a hybrid approach.

Bells and whistles are nice. Everybody loves cool features, but none of that matters if you get the dreaded

buffering icon or loading symbol. First and foremost, you need a robust system that will ensure you are always on,

no glitches. It should simply work when the viewer clicks the play button, and in fact, fast load times are key to

increasing user satisfaction and service adoption. You will want to monitor internet connectivity data at the

network level in addition to the device and player level data to ensure video load-time optimization. To assure a

smooth user experience, it’s recommended to use real-time analytics to help you monitor the platform and detect

issues before they impact the end-users. In the same context, but from a slightly different angle, making sure you

offer a seamless transition between premium content and ads is crucial. This all becomes even more important as

your service grows. Take it from us, you should ensure your system is based on a robust cloud infrastructure,

delivering high concurrency and high-availability from the get-go.

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Keep Your Head in the Cloud

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Show Me the Money

The video market is headed in one direction, and it’s easy to see why. With cloud-based technology, businesses

can invest less capital, hire less support staff, and enjoy greater flexibility with everything from security and data

to customer support and billing. New features and capabilities are quickly developed to meet the changing

consumer demands, embracing a cloud-based platform is the quickest way to make sure you stay one step

ahead. A recent Comcast study revealed that 23% of media service managers would be willing to host “all of

their video-related functions in the cloud”.

The best strategy is a cloud-based platform that makes the implementation of new features fast and easy. A

cloud-based service will save you loads of time and effort introducing new features and staying future-proof

with an ongoing roadmap to make sure your service stays relevant and constantly engaging.

No single platform or service will have it all. Therefore, it’s important to have a platform with open APIs that

allow tech partners to easily integrate and extend the platform with complementary services. Extendibility is

the key. Taking a modular and open platform approach lets you extend your service capabilities and easily

integrate with third-party vendors such as payment gateways, front-end design houses, ad servers, metadata

enrichment, and so much more. How important are third-party vendors to your success? Well, according to a

2018 study by SpotX, 85% of respondents believed that leveraging third-party data was “a strong driver for the

adoption of audience-based buying and selling of ads.”

Once you’ve got things going, it’s time to maximize your return! You should continuously be experimenting

with business offerings including advertisement, subscription, pay-per-view or a hybrid that strikes the

optimal balance. Perhaps start with an anonymous ad-based service offering users free access to content,

driving revenue through increased eyeballs, integrated with best-of-breed ad servers to help you optimize your

CPM. If you have premium content, you should consider adding in a subscription-based element and play

around with various coupons, personalized offers and content-based promotions.

There’s a lot to consider when launching an online video service and expanding your content reach, no doubt,

but good planning that incorporates agility, flawless performance, and a future-looking plan can help you

achieve your business goals and pave your way to the next generation of content consumption.

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About KalturaKaltura's mission is to power any video experience. A recognized leader in the Cloud

TV, OVP (Online Video Platform), EdVP (Education Video Platform) and EVP (Enterprise

Video Platform) markets, Kaltura has emerged as the fastest growing video platform,

with the widest use-case and appeal.

Kaltura is deployed globally in thousands of enterprises, media companies, service

providers and educational institutions and engages hundreds of millions of viewers at

home, in work, and at school. The company is committed to its core values of

openness, flexibility, and collaboration, and is the initiator and backer of the world's

leading open- source video-management project, which is home to more than 150,000

community members.

The Kaltura Media and Telecom business unit is focused on solutions for content and

service providers looking to create next generation TV experiences. The Kaltura TV

Platform enables customers to quickly launch a comprehensive Cloud TV service with

advanced monetization, social interaction, and personalization tools. Kaltura provides

a cross-device experience for all content types -- live, VOD and catch-up.

Call us: +1800-871-5224, or visit our website

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