Make the Most of the Summer Slowdown: 5 Ways to Optimise Your Streaming Service
While summer doesn’t bring everything to a halt, it often creates just enough breathing room to focus on improvements that tend to get sidelined during busier periods. For streaming operators, it’s a valuable window to refine your platform, boost subscriber engagement, and prepare for the busier autumn and winter months when streaming activity typically climbs.
In this blog, we’re sharing a few practical, quick-win optimisations you can implement now – no heavy development required. Here are five areas to focus on this season, all easily managed through the Magine Pro Console:
1. Tackle Involuntary Churn with Payment Recovery Tools
Churn doesn’t always happen by choice. Failed payments from expired cards or missed renewals can silently erode your subscriber base, especially over the summer months, when people are travelling or distracted.
Magine Pro’s built-in dunning tools automatically trigger payment reminders and retry cycles. Operators can also send card expiry notifications to prompt users before issues arise, helping reduce revenue leakage without lifting a finger.
Want to know where your biggest retention gaps might be? Our Retention Checklist is a quick self-assessment to help you identify opportunities and benchmark against best practices used by Magine Pro customers.
2. Refresh Your Content Discovery Experience
If your homepage feels static or generic, viewers are more likely to lose interest. Seasonal curation and regularly updated rows help keep the service feeling fresh and relevant, even if your actual content library hasn’t changed.
In the Magine Pro Console, you can:
- Create custom content rows
- Curate by theme, genre, artist, or mood
- Set up time-based promotions (e.g. “Summer Picks,” “Holiday Favourites”)
It’s an easy way to make your platform more dynamic, and every update goes live instantly across all devices.
3. Experiment with Promo Codes and Offers
Need to boost signups or re-engage lapsed users? Summer is a great time to test promotional offers and measure what works before peak season returns.
The Console makes it simple to create and manage promo campaigns that:
- Apply discounts as a percentage or fixed amount
- Target specific countries or user types (e.g. new users only)
- Use viral (shared) or unique (one-time-use) codes
- Define duration, validity dates, and even bypass checkout entirely
Whether you’re running a seasonal campaign or an affiliate partnership, you can tailor your offers without touching any code.
4. Audit and Enhance Metadata for Better Searchability
Your metadata does more than just describe content, it powers discoverability and improves the viewing experience, especially on Smart TVs where users often browse by visuals and search queries.
This is an ideal time to:
- Fill in missing fields like title, synopsis, cast, and genre
- Update or add translations for multilingual audiences
- Optimise artwork (poster and 16:9 formats recommended)
- Use custom tags (if configured) to reflect seasonal themes or content types
All of this can be done in the Media & Metadata section of the Console, with changes published to your service in real time.
Better metadata = better engagement. It’s one of the simplest ways to increase time watched and reduce bounce rates.
5. Prepare for What’s Next
Even small operational changes made now can help you scale more effectively in the months ahead. Whether you’re planning a new content drop, entering a new market, or refreshing your onboarding flow.
Now’s a good time to:
- Review your user journey across devices
Especially on Smart TVs, where features like QR code sign-in can reduce friction and improve the user experience. - Enable anonymous viewing
Let viewers explore your content before signing up. It’s a proven way to increase engagement and drive conversions, especially for AVOD or hybrid services. - Build passive conversion funnels
Combine tools like anonymous viewing, time-limited promo codes, and targeted offers to nudge users toward becoming subscribers, all running quietly in the background once set up.
These small steps now mean less scrambling later, and a stronger foundation heading into the year’s busiest months.
Use Summer Strategically – Without Slowing Down
You don’t need to hit pause to make progress. By using this time to fine-tune your platform, you’ll be better positioned to retain subscribers, deliver stronger experiences, and scale smartly into autumn and beyond.
If you’re not yet on Magine Pro, or want to see the Console in action, we’d love to show you. Book a demo or contact the team to learn more.
Let Viewers Watch Before They Sign Up: Unlock Anonymous Viewing & Guest Access
Not every viewer is ready to register. Requiring sign-up upfront can create friction that turns potential viewers away. This is especially true for ad-supported platforms (AVOD). That’s why we’ve introduced Anonymous Viewing – also known as guest access or no-login streaming – designed to let users stream free content instantly, no account needed.
It’s a seamless way to expand reach, reduce bounce, and increase organic conversion by letting your content speak for itself. By removing registration barriers, you can also significantly grow your top-of-funnel traffic, boost ad impressions, and gather behavioural insights on new users who otherwise wouldn’t convert.
What is Anonymous Viewing?
The Anonymous User feature allows users to access and stream free content without logging in or creating an account. This kind of no-login streaming or guest access is increasingly common across OTT services looking to optimise the first-time viewer experience. It removes friction and offers immediate access to features typically reserved for registered users.
It’s especially useful for AVOD platforms looking to:
- Offer instant access to free content
- Lower the threshold for new user engagement
- Create hybrid models with both free and paid content paths
- Increase ad revenue by maximising impressions and session starts
- Capture interest from first-time viewers and drive future conversion
Why It Matters for Your OTT Service
- Faster Access = Higher Engagement: Viewers can dive into content immediately – no forms, no friction.
- Perfect for AVOD Models: Let users browse and stream ad-supported content via anonymous viewing or guest access, with zero login requirements.
- Flexible Modes: Choose between full anonymity or hybrid login options based on your business strategy.
- Business Growth: Increase acquisitions, extend session times, and create more monetisation opportunities.
How Anonymous Viewing Works
When Anonymous Viewing is enabled, a unique token is generated for every app session. This token allows the user to:
- Stream free content without an account
- Experience a fast, frictionless entry point
However, any content involving transactions (rentals, subscriptions, etc.) still requires users to log in or sign up.
Depending on how you configure the feature, the app will support two core modes:
- Fully Anonymous Mode
- Login and registration are disabled
- All accessible content is available without account creation
- Ideal for AVOD-first services focused on reach and ad-based revenue
- Hybrid Mode
- Login and registration are optional
- Anonymous users can stream free content
- Logged-in users can access advanced features like purchases and syncing across devices
What the Viewer Sees
- In fully anonymous mode, users launch the app and start watching immediately
- In hybrid mode, users choose between anonymous streaming or logging in to unlock more
- Settings and profile-based features are only available after account creation
This offers maximum flexibility while keeping the user journey seamless and fast.
Supported Devices & Versions
Anonymous Viewing is supported globally across all major platforms. It cannot be toggled on/off per device.
Currently Available On:
- Web (v15.33.0)
- Smart TV (LG, Samsung, Vizio) (v4.9.0)
Coming Soon:
- Android
- iOS
- Android TV
- Apple TV (tvOS)
Give Viewers a Taste Before They Commit
With Anonymous Viewing, also referred to as guest access or no-login streaming, you let content do the talking. It’s ideal for AVOD platforms that want to grow faster, boost watch time, and reduce friction, all while keeping the door open for conversion when users are ready.
Lower the barrier to entry by enabling Anonymous Viewing in your Magine Pro Console. Need help configuring it or exploring the right model for your service? Get in touch with our team. And don’t miss future feature announcements—follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates.