Imagine, you are driving your car on a route you take every day. You know the familiar bumps & curves in the road and the landmarks along the way. Suddenly, you find yourself pulled into a high speed racing track while, simultaneously, all the vehicles on parallel lanes have screeched to a halt.
This is how OTT (Over The Top) media morphed in 2020. While the world came to a halt, your customers were forced to stay at home and they spent more idle time binge-watching on their many devices. No more can you reach these customers’ top-of-mind without riding the adrenaline-charged highway of OTT.
In 2020, the OTT industry gained traction across segments. GlobalWebIndex reported that 40% people streamed more videos, 28% streamed more music and 24% played more games as a result of the pandemic. In fact, the number of active live streamers of gaming content tripled from 3 million to over 9 million between November 2019 and November 2020.
So if OTT is crucial to connecting with your customers, should you build your OTT presence yourself or take the help of a SaaS partner? Can the different approaches lead to different outcomes? Let’s explore –
1. Getting Started
BUILD: Start Heavy & Tread Steady
Get your resources together to handle:
-
- CDN partners
- Multiple devices
- Multiple platforms
- Different coverage areas
.. and much more
BUY: Start Nimble & Be Agile
A SaaS partner like Enveu already has the resources to launch you across platforms and devices with fewer resources. When you can go live depends on when you’re ready with your uploaded content.
2. Planning & Packing the Right Goods
BUILD: Bulk Up Your CAPEX
Amassing the large human and tech resources to start from scratch will mean you have to spend time getting all your available options ready and allocated for ongoing implementation.
BUY: Get a Leaner OPEX
Have you ever asked yourself — if only I had more time and money? A SaaS partner will enable you to work with a leaner OPEX, allowing you to execute those ‘more time and money’ ideas.
3. The Long Journey Ahead
BUILD: Plan and Budget for a Launch in the Long Term
Once you hire a tech team to handle this multi-platform and multi device universe, they will need time and money to build an optimal and reliable service. This approach definitely requires patience and deep pockets.
BUY: Launch Quickly. Get Ahead. Spend a Minimal Monthly Fee only
Even if you have deep pockets and resources, your competitors may capture the market by the time you build, learn, test and launch. A SaaS provider allows you to launch quickly and helps you get ahead of your competition. With Enveu, you can start reaching your customers within weeks, not months or years.
4. Taking Detours Along The Way
BUILD: Long Wait Time for All Platforms To be Ready
Spending marketing dollars on OTT? You’ll have to keep your content available across devices for a seamless user experience. When building in house, you will have to wait till the team for each device has built, tested and is ready to launch your content.
BUY: Launch Simultaneously Across Platforms
A SaaS partner can enable a simultaneous launch across all multiple devices without any wait time. You can put your marketing $$ to work from day 1 and start seeing user engagement grow much earlier.
5. Finding Success
BUILD: Launch. Fix. Learn. Repeat
When something inevitably goes wrong, your teams will be all hands on deck to fix the bugs.To ensure consistent user engagement, your mantra will be — launch-fix-learn-repeat. During this time, your new feature launches may take a hit.
BUY: Add New Features and Fix bugs Simultaneously
A new platform is being launched? You don’t need to hire new subject matter experts. With a SaaS partner, your customers will automatically get access to your content on the new platform. Partners like Enveu have dedicated teams to ensure that bugs are fixed while simultaneously new features are launched.
So which path fits your business better?
If you are a business considering launching your own OTT business or someone who is looking for a SaaS partner, we would love to have a longer (no-obligations!) chat with you. Let’s connect!
