Q&A: Luke Boyle on streaming success
Ahead of the SportsPro OTT Summit last month, Magine Pro’s CCO, Luke Boyle sat down with SportsPro Media to offer his thoughts on streaming success.
In the Q&A, Luke discusses among other things the hurdles still to cross before digital overtakes linear distribution, and the lessons Sport can take from other genres in regards to commercialising OTT services. Luke also talks about the challenges of dealing with scale – a hot topic for fast-growing video services.
“Don’t overcomplicate the deliverables. The absolute essential for all OTT platforms is the quality of the stream, and ease to navigate to viewing experiences for the end-user.” – Luke Boyle.
Head over to the SportsPro Media website to read Luke’s Q&A on streaming success in full.
About Luke Boyle
Luke Boyle is the CCO of Magine Pro, which enables partners operating globally to build thriving OTT businesses with live and Video-On-Demand platforms. He is responsible for business development, marketing and account management functions.
Luke has over 25 years of experience in sports, holding senior roles at Sportcal, Sportbusiness, Civolution, Kantar and the Press Association. More recently, Luke has worked in the sports OTT sector, running business development activities for NeuLion (now Endeavor Streaming) in the EMEA and APAC regions.
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If you missed the SportsPro OTT Summit in Madrid last week and would like to learn more about Magine Pro’s video services, and particular how we can help you build your own OTT business, get in touch. You can find out more about Magine Pro’s streaming success stories and our solutions here.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Magine Pro newsletter to stay up-to-date with our latest news, products, and to find out which industry events we’ll be attending next. You can book in a meeting now on our events page, meet the team and demo our video services firsthand.
IBC2019: OTT has arrived!
September welcomes one of the busiest calendar events for us here at Magine Pro and the entire OTT industry, IBC. The annual event has long been considered the leading go-to exhibition and conference for media, entertainment, and technology and as such, attracts industry professionals from all over the world.
This year marked our fourth year exhibiting in Content Everywhere hall 14 and was arguably one of the busiest we’ve seen. Without doubt, there were more buyers present than years previous, with a noticeable increase in production houses, smaller ISP’s and Telco’s all looking to go OTT for the first time. Not too surprising. In our post-IBC 2018 blog, we reflected on how the OTT takeover was looming, and how telcos could move into the OTT market by either vertical integration or through partnerships. Check out our reflections on last year’s event here.
This year, the impact of OTT services dominated most discussions at IBC2019. There were panel sessions dedicated to monetization models, niche content, and how streaming is driving a golden era of content creation. It certainly raised some interesting questions around how new market entrants could compete against big brands with much bigger budgets. A popular opinion being that new entrants would need to offer services tailored to niche interests and content. On the Magine Pro stand, we demoed a few of our partners who offer just that. If you missed it, check our experience page to learn more about niche services such as PassionFlix Docsville and True Royalty.
User engagement has been a nascent trend in the OTT space this year. Likely driven by SVOD user fatigue and competition, we’ve seen more content owners looking for innovative ways to monetize and engage their users. Many now want to focus on customer loyalty, engagement, and differentiation in the user experience around content. This also explains why recommendation tools (although not new) were a popular talking point at IBC2019.
We also noticed more interest and focus on analytics and business tools, as operators look to move on from just having OTT, to now successfully monetizing. There was also an uplift in SVOD and live event offerings, alongside traditional AVOD, and subscription and advertising led linear.
But, more important things you might have missed from Magine Pro were our live product demo’s on the stand, including demos of the Magine Pro Console. If you didn’t get a chance to stop by, you can find out more about our products here or download our white paper. Get in touch if you would like to learn more or try a demo.
With OTT being a hot topic at IBC2019, it’s no surprise that hall 14 will be expanding at next year’s event as organisers increase capacity for more vendors by adding hall 5. It seems the OTT takeover is no longer looming, it has arrived!
We’re heading to the SportsPro OTT Summit next month. If you’re attending and would like to meet with a member of the Magine Pro team get in touch!
Introducing Skjár 1 by Magine Pro
Meet our latest Magine Pro partner, Skjár 1.
Our solution includes everything you need to set up and launch a branded OTT service for your live, linear and VOD content. But we also know you may want certain features or services that don’t come as standard. The great thing about our flexible solutions is that they can be tailored to your OTT business needs.
Take our latest partner, FilmFlex for example. They approached us looking to build Skjár 1, a premium service for their 12 linear TV channels. As standard, our solution supports web, iOS, and Android applications. However, FilmFlex was keen to launch on more than just mobile devices. They requested the service also be available in Iceland on the big screen via Apple TV and Android TV. This is where our flexibility comes in.
We can offer partners like FilmFlex more than just a template solution. Our solutions can be tweaked; whether you want to expand onto more screens, include customer service support or even have a dedicated project and account manager assist through the service set up and beyond. Just let us know what you need.
“We approached Magine Pro looking to expand into the OTT market and found their Premium solution the perfect fit for our proposed linear TV service. The ability to edit and customize the service independently and add extra features made them the perfect partner for Filmflex.” – Holmgeir Baldursson, CEO Filmflex & Skjár 1
The Skjár 1 subscription service is now available to download and enjoy on all devices, including Apple TV and Android TV in Iceland. The linear TV service features an intuitive EPG display that hero’s Skjár 1’s 12 available channels. You can check out our case study to find out more about our partnership with FilmFlex and the Skjár 1 build here.
Take a sneak peek at the new Skjár 1 service…
If you want to find out more about Magine Pro solutions and services, get in touch! We can help you enhance your existing services and/or launch something entirely new. You can also check out our experience and more of our case studies here.
Magine Pro Marketing eBook: 8 essential steps to launch
When it comes to OTT, content is quite rightly considered king, which can mean only thing, marketing is its queen. Sure, you need great content and a fantastic OTT service but if people don’t know a thing about it, how can you generate sales? Quite simply: You can’t. You may know everything there is to know about your OTT service, and in particular what makes it better than the competition but if you don’t communicate that effectively, you won’t see subscriber growth.
A well thought through marketing strategy is essential for any business. Not only does it help educate potential customers about your service it also builds brand awareness, can increase sales and reduce churn. In order to improve your chances of long-term success, put a solid marketing strategy in place before launch. Even a little effort can go a long way if you’re working to tight budgets or have limited resources. Engaging with customers (new and existing) on social media platforms, for example, costs nothing but is a great way to build your brand and business’s future.
In our latest eBook, we share our top marketing tips and tactics that can help you lay the right foundations for launch. In this guide, we take you through some marketing fundamentals that will help you generate leads and convert them into loyal subscribers.
You’ll learn:
- How to optimize your sales funnel
- Design your digital ecosystem
- Improve your conversion rates
- Reduce churn
- And much, much more
Download the eBook now!
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Looking for a little more marketing advice to get your OTT service off the ground? Check out our blog where we regularly publish articles that can help you build and grow your business. You can also get in touch with us and speak to an experienced member of the Magine Pro team.
To find out more about Magine Pro and our global OTT solutions and services, head here.
How to build an effective communications strategy for your OTT service
It’s vital for any new business to have a solid customer communications strategy in place before launch. For OTT services, how you choose to communicate with your users will have a direct effect on the long-term success of your service.
Take our own partner’s for example; combined they add over 650 hours of new content every month. However, without an effective communications strategy in place, no one would know a thing about it; not their current paying subscribers or new potential customers. And with content being the key reason people sign up to a service in the first place (and return every day, week or month), it’s pretty important it’s not overlooked.
One Magine Pro partner, in particular, will see on average around 30% of their paying subscribers active in a month when no new content has been added. By comparison, this will rocket to over 80% when new content is made available. But it only does so because they have actively promoted new content through their marketing channels.
The digital marketing channels you choose to utilize are important but don’t pit them against one another when you’re planning your CRM & communications strategy. Social Media marketing and email marketing are as important as each other. Sure, social gives you the best chance to reach large audiences instantly, but email enables you to nurture relationships and convert leads (generated through social) into actual paying subscribers.
You can use social as a tool to help drive traffic to your website, landing page or even service sign up screen. And it’s here you can encourage visitors to stay in touch by submitting their email address for further info your service and future updates on new content or features and service promotions etc.
At the very least your email communications strategy should include:
- Automated welcome email sent to all those who submit their email address.
- Onboarding emails sent to introduce new subscribers to your service.
- Re-activation emails sent after time period delay to encourage visitors to return, re-subscribe or complete signup.
- Automated customer service reminders to inform users when payments have completed or subscriptions are coming to an end etc.
- Weekly or monthly newsletters to update users on new features, content, and any service promotions.
Onboarding emails
At Magine Pro, we recommend all our partners prepare their onboarding comms prior to launch. Onboarding emails can educate customers about the service and also relieve some pressure from the customer service team. We also recommend our partners send a short survey to their users during their first week after sign up; this will not only help improve their experience but also the product in the future.
Proposed Onboarding Funnel:
- Day 0: Introductory welcome email
- Day 1: Welcome offer/promotion
- Day 3: Overview of devices to stream on
- Day 5: Overview of the services offered
- Day 7: Short survey to feedback on their experience so far
- Day 10: Deep Dive into the service and features
- Day 14: Upsell email that promotes additional content packages
- Day 30: Reactivation #1 (if a user has not returned and completed sign up)
- Day 50-70: Reactivation #2 (reminder if a user has not returned after sign up)
Onboarding emails can be set up before launch to send autonomously. You can also A/B test with emails to see which subject lines and messaging work best.
Email campaigns
Alongside sending automated onboarding emails, regularly reach out to your users. Email is considered a retention channel, designed to keep customers interested and engaged after they’ve signed up or subscribed to a service. A weekly or monthly newsletter, for example, is a great way to keep your users informed on service updates, promotions and new content.
Don’t let subscribers slip away either, entice inactive users back to your service with promotions via email. You can do the same for those who have recently canceled their subscription; remind them you exist, what they’re missing and make it easy to get back onboard!
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Looking for a little more marketing advice to get your OTT service off the ground? Check out our blog where we also cover how to convert leads into loyal subscribers, reduce subscription churn rates and optimize your OTT service for Search.
You can also get in touch with us and find out more about our global OTT solutions and services here.
How to optimize your OTT service for Search & boost subscriber numbers
Search Engine Optimisation, otherwise known as SEO is integral to building brand awareness and your online presence. Although SEO is commonly associated with websites, it can, in fact, be just as beneficial when applied to your web-based OTT service and apps. Making your content and service visible to search engines like Google, either organically or through paid activities, really is vital if you want viewers to find you and subscribe.
If you’re currently planning, curating or even updating your video service, now is the time to optimize and improve your SEO. Some of the key benefits of an effective SEO strategy include:
- Increased and higher quality traffic
- Better visibility online
- Creates credibility and trust
- Cost effective marketing
- Gives you a better insight into your audience and traffic
Here are a few of our top tips to help you get started:
Identify your keywords
Keywords are an extremely important part of your SEO strategy. To research short and long-tail keywords successfully, you’ll need to get into the mindset of your audience and consider how they may search online for your content or service. It’s also a good idea to check out what words your competitors are optimizing. That doesn’t mean you should optimize the same words though (it will cost more to do so, particularly if they’re already well established).
To research keywords, check out some helpful online tools, including Google Keyword Planner and Keyword Tool. Once you’ve identified your keywords, position them within the copy on your service and web page. Don’t overdo it though, Google, in particular, is great at sussing out keyword overuse and it will penalize you for it.
Use keywords effectively
Thoughtfully position keywords within the copy of your service and/or website. Scattering keywords all over the place really won’t be effective.
Of course, there are obvious places you should use keywords, such as in movies, series program titles etc. However, you can also utilize keywords in filenames before uploading new content to your service. Simply ensure video filenames match that of the film title or TV program. This will make it much easier for search engines like Google to locate your video content when it’s being searched for online.
Be meticulous with metadata
Metadata will not only help your users locate great content within your service but can also impact online search results. Metadata effectively tells search engines like Google, what the video is about and helps them to determine where it should appear in results.
Always use keywords in content titles, descriptions, and tags. But, as we mentioned earlier, try not to overdo it. Keyword stuffing is frowned upon by Search Engines and can result in lower rankings. It can also be off-putting to your users. When it comes to writing video descriptions or general web copy, make sure sentences flow and read naturally. You should also experiment with keyword variations, including synonyms as well as singular and plural keywords.
Promote, Promote, Promote!
Social media is one of the best ways to reach out to your target audience and promote your OTT service. Although it’s important to note that social media won’t have a direct effect on your Google ranking, it can still aid your SEO efforts.
Building a strong social community is one of the best ways to promote your service and content organically. Loyal followers will help build buzz by sharing the links you post on your social channels. These links should take followers directly to your service, new content, relevant web pages etc. In turn, this will drive more traffic to your website/service, which Search Engine’s like Google actually recognize. Links on social media that have been shared hundreds of times (if not more) have been known to improve web page rankings for keywords/phrases that are very competitive. In short, don’t overlook the importance of digital marketing and your social presence.
How can we help?
At Magine Pro we appreciate how important SEO is to launching your own OTT service. And in particular, the impact it can have on building your subscriber numbers. Because of this, we provide all our partners with the advice and the tools they need to effectively optimize their service for launch and in future. This not only includes digital marketing guidance but also access to the Magine Pro Console, our web-based management tool.
Using the Magine Pro Console, our partners can independently curate and manage their Pioneer or Premium video services. The Console enables them to edit their service’s start page, content categories and assets metadata with immediate effect. This gives them full control over where and how keywords appear in their service. Want to find out more about our global OTT solutions and services, or have an SEO-related question? Get in touch with the team today.
Our partners can independently edit their service’s content categories, titles, descriptions, tags and metadata using the Magine Pro Console
OTT Industry predictions for 2019
2018 was an exciting year for the OTT industry. We saw a lot of positive developments, most of which we encountered firsthand at IBC2018 in September. Check out our post where we summarised our findings and reflected on the event, here. Now that we’re heading into the second full working week of January, we’re all starting to wonder what could be on the horizon.
In this post, we’re laying it out there and sharing our top OTT industry predictions 2019 (with a few expected additions of course). Reach out and let us know your thoughts and whether you think we’ve missed something vital.
Service shutdowns and consolidations
In 2018 we started to see more OTT services consolidate or shut down entirely. This was largely due to market saturation, as the OTT industry grew so rapidly in the early days. Over the next year though, it’s likely we will see more of this affecting both smaller niche players and big incumbents, as the pressure to maintain sustainable and competitive OTT businesses increases.
In fact in 2018, WarnerMedia, for example, shut down its two-year-old indie and classic cinema streaming service FilmStruck not long after closing its Korean streaming service, DramaFever. WarnerMedia’s CEO John Stankey had announced only a few months prior to the closures though that the WarnerMedia division of AT&T has plans to launch a new ad-supported video streaming service by the end of 2019. We’re expecting the new service to launch in the fourth quarter and combine HBO (which AT&T picked up in its takeover of Time Warner in 2018) with other WarnerMedia brands including, Warner Bros, Turner, Cartoon Network and more.
New players from the big brands
We are also expecting to see Disney launch their much-hyped direct-to-consumer service later this year (the result of their acquisition of BamTech). It will certainly be interesting to see how well it’s received and the market uptake. We’re already wondering whether there’s going to be a Disney OR Netflix scenario. Or if subscribers will be willing to opt in and subscribe to both.
It’s also not too far fetched to expect Apple to launch their secretive yet expected streaming service later this year. We’re curious to see if they’ve managed to secure content partnerships that to date others haven’t been able to. It’s also going to be interesting to see Apple’s interpretation of the best UI/UX and find out whether they are able to truly revolutionize the TV experience. Stay tuned!
Partnerships with Telcos & Operators
This year, we think we’re also likely to see more telcos and operators move out of their own-operated OTT space and begin partnering with existing and better-established OTT players. In the last year, the increased customer value propositions enabled through partnerships have become more apparent, so it’s likely Telcos and Operators will be less inclined to view OTT Players as a threat going forward. Our former Head of Commercial Operations, Fredrik Engdahl spoke on the subject at IBC 2018. Check out the video of his talk here.
AVOD to mature
Advertising (AVOD) models for OTT are also likely to mature this year and become much more feasible for new and existing OTT Players. John Stankey, CEO of WarnerMedia, said himself at their November investor event, “Consumers clearly like the breadth of content that is available today. They like the choice. And a lot of that choice comes on the back of ad-supported models,” But added, “Things have to change [with ad models]” and suggested that less intrusive and more targeted ads are the way forward if AVOD is to really become a serious standalone model for OTT players in future. We couldn’t agree more.
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It’s certainly going to be an exciting year full of developments. To keep up-to-date on the latest, sign up to our monthly e-newsletter and check back in to the Magine Pro blog.
OTT services: Classic content makes a comeback
The linear TV schedule is flooded with Christmas film classics this time of year. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu also pad out their libraries and curate categories dedicated to the season’s favorites. What often starts as an afternoon couch slouch with the family enjoying ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ can soon turn into a mega classic movie marathon.
It’s not just during the Christmas period either, recently there’s been a more noticeable effort by some of the leading streaming giants to cater to the classic film enthusiast crowd. Some services even have dedicated categories and sections to make it easier for users to discover the classic content they want to watch.
Those looking to launch their own OTT service certainly shouldn’t overlook securing rights to older, classic content. There’s plenty of great content to source, even with the likes of Netflix and Prime snapping up some of the more popular picks, and as classic content isn’t as in demand as the latest releases, it can be easier and cheaper to obtain the rights for distribution.
Our partner FlixOlé, the home of Spanish cinema online, features thousands of titles, including classic Spanish films and series. In fact, FlixOlé was designed to encourage curiosity, preserve and introduce younger generations to Spanish cinema history. Thanks to restoration, FlixOlé users can enjoy classic content on demand in high quality (both HD and 4K) with clear sound.
Before you embark on securing rights to classic content though, you will need to consider quality and the cost of restoration. The quality of older content can be questionable, especially if it has yet to be digitized. Fortunately, at Magine Pro we are able to help our partners through part of the process by preparing VOD source files for distribution with our encoding and quality assurance services. Our proven process ensures classic VOD content is viewable in high-quality on all platforms and devices, including computer, tablet, and mobile. You can find out more about our encoding services here or get in touch to discuss your needs specifically.
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To learn more about FlixOlé, check out our case study. You can also head over to the OTT Platforms page to find out more about our branded OTT solutions and services.
Top 5 OTT Content Strategy Tips
Planning to build your own OTT service now or in the new year? Check out our top 5 content strategy tips that can help you prepare for launch:
1. Get to know your target audience
Identifying your target audience may not be an obvious content strategy tip, but it’s important nonetheless. Before you should even begin to consider creating content or securing rights to some, get to know your audience. Understanding your key demographic’s interests and viewing habits will help you create a much stronger content strategy. It can inform decisions regarding the type of content you should invest in when and what time to release it and the best marketing channels to promote through.
2. Offer Unique content
Subscribers are signing up for more than just one OTT service these days as their appetite for high-quality and original content increases. In fact, Digital TV Europe’s 2018 annual survey revealed that 62.9% of respondents agreed original content that’s not available elsewhere is the most compelling reason to sign up for an OTT service in the first place.
To attract potential subscribers, offer content they won’t find as easily elsewhere. We’ve seen this work particularly well with our own partners, Passionflix which provides exclusive and original romantic content and True Royalty, an SVOD service dedicated to premium royalty-related content.
3. Be original
You don’t have to produce your own content for it to be original. Secure rights to original content with content owners instead. Try exploring markets that are often overlooked, such as local or regional content for expats and niche sports content that’s not being widely distributed. Don’t rule out purchasing the rights for older content that can be digitized either. Our partner FlixOlé is home to Spanish cinema and features new as well as classic movies that are particularly popular with their subscribers.
4. Promote your content
No matter how great your content offering, if it isn’t easy to discover, you won’t see the viewing figures you expect. To get a good return on your content investment, carefully consider how and where you promote it, both in and outside of your service.
Our partners are able to promote new and old content in their Magine Pro Pioneer and Premium services wherever and whenever they like. Our templated OTT solutions can be customized via the Console, enabling them to independently curate featured content on the start page and even content categories.
Promoting content outside of the service is equally as important. Create an engaging communication strategy that maximizes your marketing channels and don’t overlook SEO. Content metadata that is SEO optimized is a great way to boost awareness and traffic. Potential customers, for example, could find your service simply by searching online for a particular TV show or movie.
5. Keep things fresh
Even those that launch with a large library of content should refresh their service at regular intervals. Updating your service with new content not only encourages user engagement but also helps to reduce churn. Frequent changes give users a reason to return regularly. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to invest in new content. Promoting older content that has previously been overlooked is a great way to refresh the look and feel of your OTT service without incurring any additional costs. Magine Pro partners can do this independently using the Console, which gives them control over content positioning within their service.
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Want more advice and support on your OTT content strategy? Get in touch with the Magine Pro team and find out how we can help. You can also download our latest white paper – Turn your Content into Cash to learn more. Check out our branded OTT solutions and services here.
Magine Pro Hackathon 2018
At Magine we pride ourselves in offering innovative OTT solutions for all our new and existing partners who operate Magine Pro Pioneer or Premium services. Hackathon events are a great way to bounce around ideas as a team, develop our products and come up with creative concepts of tomorrow.
Not only do events like these promote team building but they also enable our Magineers to share, develop and learn new skills. There are no set rules, and everyone has 100% freedom in the way they organize themselves and work together. We promote a relaxed atmosphere during Hackathon and Magineers are also able to participate in a range of engaging activities that help inspire creative thinking and development.
This month’s Hackathon event was themed ‘User Engagement’. The theme was inspired by one of our partners who recently won a grant to promote European movies. In fact, they challenged us to innovate around gamification. The teams then went to work on multiple different topics that could increase service awareness, user gamification, rewards systems and user experience around content.
At the end of the Hackathon event, the teams delivered four innovative, yet very different projects that each met our partner’s initial request. As a result, we will be presenting them to our partner in the coming weeks and determining which may be developed further and adopted into their service. That’s not to say the ideas generated during Hackathon won’t be adapted in the future and made available to our other partners. This will happen once we have developed the minimum viable product (MVP) and demonstrated a real interest from the community.
Without a doubt, this month’s Hackathon event has been a real success. We’re committed to staging an event within each of our development sprints going forward, enabling Magineers to engage long-term with the development and build of features of they like and think could revolutionize the market.
Don’t forget to check back here or on LinkedIn to find out which idea from this month’s Hackathon made the grade. You can stay up to date with all our latest developments and products by signing up to the Magine Pro Newsletter. And, if you interested in getting involved with our next Hackathon event why not join the Magine team? Check out our careers site for our latest openings.