For nearly a century, the broadcast industry has remained the tried and tested space to consume content and get news. The industry has stayed relatively the same over these years, with technology improving, but the core broadcasting methodologies remain the same.
Television was the alpha dog leading the way, with people across the globe watching their favorite weekly shows, sports, and movies.
However, since the rise of the internet, that has all changed. Today, streaming video content has become the most convenient way of consuming content – whenever you want—also known as video on-demand (VOD).
Today, VOD revenue is expected to display an annual growth rate of 10.72% (CAGR 2022-2027). The projected VOD market volume is $157.91 billion by the year 2027, as seen in the graph below. We can also see that video streaming surpasses video downloads and pay-per-view by vast lengths.
Source: Statista
There’s no doubt that VOD has become king and surpassed traditional mediums like television. Let’s take a look at how it was founded.
The Creation of VOD Platforms
Video on demand began with something simple and something we all enjoy consuming – movies. But consumers needed an internet connection with considerable bandwidth to cater to these VOD systems. Later on, technology evolved, which allowed VOD applications to run smoother.
Television VOD systems were prevalent, where audiences could stream content through a traditional box or a remote device like a tablet or computer. The majority of cable-based television providers still offer VOD streaming due to its immense popularity among audiences worldwide.
By 2007, Hulu launched its video on-demand online service, allowing people to watch TV shows on demand at any time they wanted to. Netflix also launched a similar platform for movies. Today, we have premium video on-demand platforms for series, movies, sports, reality shows, and more.
How VOD Platforms Boosted Exclusive Content Creation
When you log into your Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu account, you’ll notice many original and exclusive content from each video on-demand platform provider. This is because the competition grew as the years went by, and the VOD market quickly became saturated.
If you’re a VOD platform owner and your competitor’s subscription numbers surpass yours, how do you get back in the game? Simple. Make your own exclusive content.
Big entities in the broadcasting world have also noticed that people love exclusive content. As a result, they (e.g., ABC, HBO, ESPN) also offer exclusive content today. Think of shows like Game of Thrones and The Handmaid’s Tale – they’re HBO originals and can only be viewed by paying for HBO via a cable connection or their platform.
And these players are spending a good amount of money on original content. For example, Amazon said it tripled the amount of original TV and film titles offered through their Prime Video service since 2018.
There’s no denying that exclusive content holds value for VOD platforms and their audiences.
The Rise of VOD Platform Popularity
It sounds like VOD platforms are at their pinnacle. But the industry is still growing and (as we saw earlier) is projected to keep growing at a rapid rate.
But what has made VOD so popular over so many years?
Well, we know it started to become known in the 00s, but it wasn’t necessarily available to people then. This was due to our slower internet connections, televisions that weren’t as smart as they are now, and television broadcasters still having the majority of viewership.
Consumers were still very used to coming home from work and watching their favorite shows on a weekly basis. There was one episode of House or How I Met Your Mother every week. And we waited patiently for the next week to watch the following episode.
But once the internet was accessible and fast enough for people to stream content without any hiccups – the personalization behind video on-demand was what caught the eye.
You can now watch any amount of any series or movie at any time. The best part is you know that you’ll be charged a subscription fee that is known is automatically charged and gives you access to all the platform’s content in one go. No more choosing channels. No more paying for views on an individual basis.
Viewers drew closer to this flexibility and customization that television broadcasting didn’t have. This is also why VOD platforms are here to stay. To put it bluntly, we’ve all gotten used to choosing when and where things happen, and it’s a good feeling that we’re not ready to give up.
VOD Platforms: 5 Factors that Drive Growth
Streaming popularity has made VOD platforms push their businesses to the maximum in an effort to stay ahead of the competition. One of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that VOD platforms use to measure this is user engagement. This metric is simple; if a person is a subscriber, they’re paying you a monthly fee which earns you revenue.
But how engaged is that customer with your content? The idea is that customers who aren’t engaged with the content on your platform may stray toward canceling and moving to a competitor.
So as a VOD platform owner, you need to create a few customer engagement (and consequently customer retention) strategies to ensure that your viewers are happy and fully engaged with your platform.
We’ve broken down a few factors that can aid in driving VOD platform growth:
1. Quality of videos
One of the most basic but often overseen factors is, in fact, your video quality. By this, we mean more technically than anything else. Yes, your content should always be of higher quality to actively engage your audience. But you also need to spend time ensuring that your video’s basic settings and formats are optimal.
The reason is straightforward; low latency video streaming ensures that no buffering occurs. This is essential as buffering can disrupt the viewer experience and frustrate viewers. The last thing you want is someone canceling because their episode took too long to load and continued to buffer.
It’s all about delivering high-quality video streams to your audience. You can ensure that your video quality is first-rate by:
- Recording with high-quality equipment (4K or Full HD cameras)
- Optimizing videos with a video encoder
- Ensuring videos are recorded in a favored format, i.e., MP4
- Selecting an optimal video resolution and aspect ratio
- Choosing a premium CDN (content delivery network)
- Testing video streams thoroughly across various devices and internet connections
2. Video hosting platforms
You may think that having a VOD platform is enough. But this isn’t necessarily true. In order to grow at a steady rate and keep those customers happy, you need time. And video hosting platforms help you do that.
There are some state-of-the-art video hosting platforms out there that are designed to make it easier for VOD business owners to upload, categorize, and manage their video content. This is all done via a single platform, so you don’t have to manage several components of your VOD business in various areas and software.
Instead, log into one dashboard and upload videos (individually or in bulk), and start to manage them from the platform on which you will be distributing them. Now, all the data is in one space – including your customer information. With advanced reporting, you can quickly see which videos do well and which ones need some improvement. This informs future video content creation and gives your subscribers exactly what they want more of.
Your video hosting platform should allow you to do a few things:
- Manage your customer-base
- Host unlimited video content
- Manage and categorize video content
- Review reports of top-performing content
- Allow an unlimited number of subscribers onto the platform
- Ensure all videos are encrypted and secure
3. The ideal video monetization model
There’s no sense in having great video content available to customers if your monetization model isn’t ideal. There are many video monetization models out there, some of which you’ve definitely heard of:
TVOD: transactional video on demand
- This is where a consumer pays for a single piece of content and can view that video only. Also known as a pay-per-view basis.
AVOD: advertising-based video on demand
- This is free to consumers and is similar to broadcast television in the sense that consumers need to sit through advertisements amidst the TV show or movie. It is basically where ad revenue is used to offset hosting and production costs.
SVOD: subscription video on demand
- The most common (and favored) from the list is where a consumer pays a monthly or annual fee to a provider and can access all the on-demand content available on that platform for this single fee. The fee is generally recurring.
The popular choice of these three video monetization models is SVOD because of the attractive recurring revenue element. It’s also a low barrier to entry for consumers because they pay once a year or a month and don’t have to worry about any limitations with their subscriptions. It’s definitely a win-win situation for VOD platform providers and consumers. It’s a good idea to ensure that your video hosting platform can cater to subscribers.
4. A tailored user interface
User experience is of the utmost importance to VOD businesses. And as we saw before, a consumer experience can help or harm your company. In order to ensure that your consumers have a great experience, you need to go back to the basics: Look at your user interface!
That’s right, an interface’s usability is essential for you as the VOD business owner. But it’s also crucial for your consumers. It’s the first thing a customer comes into contact with – and we all know first impressions last. You need to be sure that your content is presented in a visually appealing way.
In addition, you should also check that the interface is one where consumers can easily search and find what they are looking for. We all know how frustrating it can be when you visit a website and can’t find the magnifying glass icon to search for a particular product or content piece.
Make sure your interface caters to ease of use. You can do this by following some UI best practices and getting friends and family to test the interface before going public. This way, you can fix any kinks you may have before going live.
5. Multi-DRM
Like anything else, we all know that the internet comes with the good and the bad. With online streaming services growing at an alarming rate, sometimes preventing things like piracy is difficult.
Unfortunately, there are too many people out there who are ready to pirate content. But this can be avoided, thanks to Multi-DRM. This is when various video DRM technologies, such as Fairplay DRM and Widevine DRM, are implemented to help secure your video content across multiple browsers and devices.
DRM providers ensure that all compatible DRM are available and provide you with a smooth and fuss-free experience across all major devices and browsers. Most premium video streaming platforms cater to Multi-DRM today.
Mastera: The Quality VOD Platform Designed to Empower Your Business
VOD is growing, but more importantly, it’s here to stay. You can see that the annual growth rate of the video on-demand industry is massive. This tells us that VOD is something that consumers have become accustomed to, and it’s something that has become de facto.
The best video on-demand platforms allow you to host, manage, and distribute your video content in a safe, secure, and reliable manner. It’s essential to use high-quality subscription video on demand platforms so that your recurring revenue is set up and you have the ability to measure your success.
Gone are the days of playing guessing games, uploading content to a free social media platform, and hoping for the best. Today business owners need to be clever, concise, and creative. And we’re here to say we can help you with that. That’s right, with our white-label video on-demand platform, Mastera can help you host unlimited video content to unlimited customers for affordable VOD pricing.
Our platform specializes in video streaming and hosting, but we also offer excellent complementary revenue streams such as eCommerce. Not to mention customer messaging and state-of-the-art marketing capabilities.
Are you ready to start your VOD business with a quality on-demand video streaming platform? If so, our team members at Mastera are here to schedule a demo with you and showcase our software’s capabilities to make your business a success in a simple and seamless way.
Co-Founder, Gleantap & Mastera