Digital TV Europe’s 2018 annual survey found that 84.9% of respondents would choose to outsource all or parts of their OTT build and management to a platform provider.

If you’re thinking of building an OTT service but you’re still on the fence about whether to do so in-house or outsource, we can help! We’ve outlined five reasons we believe outsourcing to be the best option for both big and small new market entrants.

QUICK RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Building an OTT service in-house requires considerable up-front investment. Implementing technical infrastructure and hiring experienced teams, that are capable of building and managing an OTT platform, will burden even the healthiest balance sheet. The setup costs alone represent a good chunk of capital that could be better used for content production and marketing. And even after launch, it will take some time to build a subscriber base, so it’s unlikely you’ll see a return on your investment for a good few months.

Outsourcing the build to a proven OTT platform provider, like Magine Pro, is the most cost-efficient way to create a video streaming service. Providers like us already have the tech and professional teams in place to help you build and launch your OTT business for a more manageable fixed or flexible fee. You’re certain to see a much quicker return on investment.

SPEED TO MARKET

Setting up an OTT service from scratch isn’t just costly, it’s also time intensive. It can weeks or even months to put the tech in place and build your teams, and that’s before you’ve finalised content rights or planned a launch strategy.

Speed to market should be a priority, especially if you need to start recouping some of the initial in-house investment costs. Rushing to launch a new service, however, means you risk releasing a sub-par service that’s not been effectively tried or tested. And although subscribers will sign up, they may not return.

Outsourcing to an experienced service provider relieves a lot of the time pressure. With their existing tech and support, you’re guaranteed a much quicker time to market, enabling you to focus your time and capital on launch and marketing efforts.

REGULAR DEVELOPMENT & INNOVATION

The cost of running and maintaining an in-house service can be high, particularly as your subscriber numbers will take a while to elevate after launch. And over time you’ll also need to invest more capital to cover development costs. That means leaving enough in the kitty for necessary service changes, updates or new features based on your user feedback and behaviour.  

Outsourcing your OTT service build to an experienced provider means this is all taken care of as part of a fixed setup fee. You’re also guaranteed a tried and tested service that’s market proven.  

PROFESSIONAL CUSTOMER & SERVICE SUPPORT

It requires experienced teams to build and maintain an OTT service as well as trained customer support agents to keep your subscribers happy and engaged. Good customer care, in particular, is essential as it builds trust and loyalty, which ultimately reduces churn and can even encourage customers to make additional purchases, such as package upgrades, later on.

As a full end-to-end OTT service provider, Magine Pro offers more than just the tech. We give our partners all the support they need to set up and maintain a great service, including guidance on marketing, sales, and customer care.  

PROVEN EXPERIENCE

An experienced team will help you build a strong in-house product alongside give you a greater understanding of the industry and market. And as your service expands, your team will also need to. Building a team of engineers, marketing professionals and customer service agents come at a cost, whether you do so in-house or outsource to multiple service providers.

One experience provider who offers a full end-to-end service will already have the teams in place. Magine Pro, for example, has over six years experience operating direct-to-consumer businesses in Scandinavia and Germany. Because of this, we have close relations and a deep understanding of the content industry and consumers. We also use data generated by our analytics platform to ensure the continuous and rapid development of all our partner’s services based on our in-market consumer services.

You can find out more about Magine Pro’s global OTT platforms and services here and read more of our references. To get updates on our latest news, products, and blog posts, sign up for our monthly e-newsletter.

Share post