This past period has been quite different, to say the least, affecting both our professional and personal lives alike. We have all been through several global health scares but it always remained somewhat distant and more of a “people in charge are gonna take care of it” type of situation, and life just moved on. Well, this looked like it would end up being the similar case and we carried on with our business as usual, planning the events to organize, planning the trade shows to attend and everything around it. Then, day after day things got more serious, trade shows started getting canceled and moved to later dates towards the end of the year, and we ourselves had to make do the same with our events due to recommendation from the health professionals. At the same time, social networks started filling up with articles on the predictions and the effects this situation is going to have on the specific markets, as well as global economy. It is safe to say, these are challenging times therefore, in our business, we started looking into the effects of COVID-19 on the OTT market.

In the situation where schools, colleges, and kindergartens are temporarily being closed, limitations on social gatherings and similar events are being imposed, and more and more people are working from home it is expected that there is going to be a rise in the use of the OTT platforms. We have definitely seen it with our clients. With people spending much more time at homes it is to be expected that they are going to turn to entertainment to pass the time, or to simply stay on top of news with the current situation. This brings a whole new dimension with a slogan lot of OTT providers use: Your content anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

With so many family members being together for a prolonged period of time, being able to reach them through different devices like connected TVs, web browsers, smartphones, tablets on different OS is a must. Availability on different devices as well as several other factors will differentiate available OTT platforms (and content providers) viewers are using.

So, which platforms are going to stand out in the crowd? As already mentioned, the more devices are supported more are the chances they are going to pick your content to consume. The platform has to offer all of the standard functionalities and more (hEPG, multi audio, multi subtitle, ABR, bookmarks, thumbnail seek, universal binge, PiP, nPVR, offline viewing, watch later, and many, many more). However, it is essential for a content provider, to be using a platform that can actually support an increased number of users while getting up to date reports on how the service is performing and how it is actually being used to the very last detail.  Finally, let us not forget that although you might have a great platform that offers linear channels, VOD catalogs (SVOD, AVOD, TVOD) or a combination of both it is crucial to offer enough content. Because, well, content really is king (and queen). So, to prevent churn you have to have enough content to offer to your viewers especially in times when it is going to be consumed more than usual. Hopefully, the current, limiting situation in which the content creation has come to a halt globally as well will not last too long. If it does, there’s always plenty of reruns to revisit, I guess.

Thinking about OTT predominantly is associated with the entertainment industry, however the benefits of its usage in education are just as important. A provider of good OTT platform can be really beneficial as an integral part, and in times like these a trusted, strategic partner in situations where broadcast of classes is becoming a national strategic decision in more and more countries with the goal of keeping the negative impact of the COVID-19 on education system as low as possible. Any educational institution can find the use for a good, flexible, quality OTT platform. Possibilities are really numerous. With experience and the know-how in these use cases we can definitely be of help to any educational institution.

In conclusion, if we take a standpoint to try to make the best out of a current situation, we can use these times to gather useful information on the usage of OTT platforms, and how to make it even better and even more efficient and appealing to the viewer. So, if you are exploring an option to utilize the advantages of the OTT or if you are already offering OTT services make sure that you are able to reach wider audience through maximum number of different devices. It should be on a platform that is reliable, flexible and can handle bigger number of concurrent users, and that offers both live (linear) channels and VODs (SVOD, AVOD, TVOD) and even an option of Live to VOD and VOD to Live with all the features that viewers are expecting today.

For more information or help regarding the OTT platform, especially if you are an educational institution looking to deliver classes to your students feel free to drop us a line at info@aviion.tv We will do our best to help you with your questions.

Stay safe, hopefully we shall all be back to our normal lives soon.