Next-generation UX: Standing out among the OTT crowd

5G looms just around the corner, promising to disrupt how viewers around the globe consume content. But perhaps most significant is the shifting priority around the consumer experience and how integral it now is in growing an audience in one of the world’s most competitive markets.

Content, in a loose sense, has become commoditised. It can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Whether it’s short-form YouTube clips or a three-hour immersive film, there is no shortage of quality programming to keep the masses entertained.

So how do you stand out from the crowd? What’s the secret formula to ensuring a viewer chooses your service over a competitor?

Our twenty-two years’ experience tells us the answer lies in the UX. Truly, this is where the most significant opportunity to delight and differentiate resides. Owning your brand and presenting it to the user in a way that encourages stickiness is the fastest and most sure-fire way to grow revenue and maximise profitability.

However, it’s not enough to just match a background’s colour to your logo and offer a few custom rows. Netflix has set a high bar for what consumers have come to expect from a video service, and failing to reach it can prove costly. Today, offering tailored user experiences that cater to your audience’s individual tastes and behaviours, while simultaneously serving your own business objectives, is a must.

Operators have to take a holistic approach to UX, catering each content, promotional and navigational module, to the end user, in order to compete. They need real-time control over every device in their portfolio, with the ability to rapidly launch new features and business models, without eating into profit margins.

This isn’t easy. Complex legacy infrastructure and high engineering costs can often deter internal staff from testing front-end changes that otherwise would lead to higher engagement. But there is an answer.

Advanced UX management platforms have made it possible for small teams of content schedulers to test, adapt and evolve the front-end themselves, circumnavigating the prohibitively expensive engineering involvement previously required. Marketers can run promotional upsell campaigns to specific audience segments without updating the service in the App Store.

Best of all, operators have the opportunity to increase brand affinity between themselves and their audience through targeted UX, leading to higher profitability over the long-term.

We’re excited to once again be at IBC and involved with Content Everywhere. It truly is one of the best shows of the year, bringing together the global industry to share insights and experience with one another. And, as always, we’re on hand in Hall 14 to help operators from around the world navigate the future of television.

Ron Downey is Chief Executive Officer at Massive.