How Diverse Revenue Streams Are Fueling The OTT Industry
Whether you are a subscription business geek or an entrepreneur, keep in mind from the very beginning that you need to have killer business instincts to thrive in the market. When you start your business, you hear from many that the subscription market is already saturated—especially the companies offering subscriptions for over the top media services (OTT) are outnumbered.
What is it that got the rapt attention of the recurring billing business sharks? It is diverse revenue streams that bring profit to the OTT business community. It is not difficult for a person having business-oriented intuition to understand the importance of the opportunity that can bring revenue from diverse streams. OTT services business is a jackpot only if you know the market and can keenly observe the future prospects.
Why Diversifying Revenue Streams Matters In the OTT Industry?
When COVID-19 hit the world, there was a global economic downturn. It has been more than a year since the pandemic has caused the economic slowdown. However, the businesses that had multiple revenue streams performed relatively better during this episode of health and economic crisis.
OTT industry kept performing up to the mark because content consumption increased during the lockdowns all across the world. Not only local but international viewers onboarded OTT platforms.
For people who had identified this scope of OTT media services, the flow of their revenue streams remained maintained. For some reason, if the business does not perform in one domain and the flow of the revenue disrupts, other revenue streams are there to help you cover the difference.
But how the flow of different revenue streams remains maintained in the OTT industry. Even if there is a disruption in one of the streams, the other ones effectively help in recovering the money.
The backbone of the revenue diversification of the OTT platforms is the VOD business models that companies adopt. Video-on-Demand is the concept based on the idea of providing videos any time, anywhere. People have shifted from TVs to online streaming.
Here are these business models that boost the performance of the OTT industry:
SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand)
When it comes to video on demand, associating the system with subscription billing offers the best business model. VOD services providers offer their customers to pay regularly to access the video content they want to watch.
Subscribers, billing, and revenue are managed through the subscription management software.
Following are the pricing models that maintain the flow of revenue stream for businesses opting SVOD:
- Free Trials are not only a tactic to lure more subscribers but also a part of a recurring revenue management strategy. They help in establishing one of the streams that bring revenue. Free trials for video streaming services are time-bound. Once the trial period ends, people are asked to subscribe to access the video content in the future.
- Freemiums are not time-limited options because a viewer can access the content. However, there are certain advanced features of the OTT services providing platform that he cannot enjoy. He needs to get subscriptions for those features. Some platforms do not allow viewers to watch content beyond a limit. There can be other limitations that vary from one company to the other.
- Prorated VOD Options depend on the type of subscription that the subscriber uses—sometimes called differentiated access model. This model helps you in accommodating catering to those subscribers who change their video subscription plan.
AVOD (Ads-Based Video on Demand)
Another model to offer videos on demand is to attach advertisements with the video content. The sponsors pay money, and it is utilized for the expense of content creation. For example, every one of us would have seen the ads on YouTube. These ads may appear before, after, or anywhere in the middle of the video.
Users can enjoy the content but advertisements are not appreciated every time. In fact, they affect the customer experience (CX) which is the backbone of the subscription business market. The market is filled with competitors.
The other way to take advantage of the annoyance is to offer paid subscriptions that can compensate the ads-based revenue and generate subscription-based revenue as SVOD.
TVOD (Transactional Video On Demand)
TVOD is another model to bring more viewers on board. OTT services providers use this model to offer a vast library of videos to the viewer but he will pay charges per video. It is based on the pay-per-use model. Viewers attract to this model as they think they have control over the expenses associated with the usage.
TVOD is one of the most customer-centric business models. Customers can estimate their usage and charges that they would need to pay for watching the content by shifting to it.
Hybrid VOD
The online video monetization options are not limited to the ones that we have discussed here. The reason for the popularity of OTT services is the flexibility of using pricing models. You are not bound to use a single model. You can improvise not only the plans pricing but also the pricing strategy. Businesses are going far beyond the boundaries of the conventional sales & marketing norms.
The modes of selling and marketing have changed and they are still evolving. It is more like a basic right that you have in the streaming services subscription business—to devise your pricing policy or strategy.
Also Read: Gift Subscriptions—The Powerful Business Growth Approach to Grow your Customer Base and Revenue Net
All these business models empower the OTT services providing companies to cater to maximum online content viewers. Offer them content that they want to watch at the price that they can afford, and through such channels where they can pay for streaming services easily. That’s the key to prosper in the OTT services market.
Conclusion
Revenue diversification in the OTT media business industry offers many options to run your business in a risk-free manner. The recurring billing business model has become a sun and businesses from different niches are orbiting around this sun just because predictive revenue and multiple revenue streams are rewarding enough. No one wants to let go of any opportunity to increase revenue. The shift of cord-users to advanced gadgets and online streaming has opened the doors of endless opportunities for the OTT services industry. Subscriptions and TTP services have offered the business community a combo that helps them live the dream of earning better revenue. If you want to enter this market, or if you want to revise your pricing plan to improve revenue, team SubscriptionFlow is all available.
