Having great content is no longer enough to keep customers truly entertained and engaged. The totality of the user experience is vital as a differentiator for media providers in the heated OTT landscape.
Data has already taken root in advertising where dynamic targeted ads based on user profiles, buying patterns and internet searches are augmenting broad commercial branding. If users can be categorised based on their behaviours and possibly even moods, interfaces can be tailored to their needs, ultimately creating the ideal, custom journey for each viewer.
However, the biggest challenge the industry faces in the drive to optimise the UX is understanding all the available data. On the technical side this includes constant real-time monitoring of all network conditions, the ability to predict and manage issues such as peak demand and troubleshooting glitches before any negative fall out on social media.
With audiences increasingly expecting live streaming quality to match the highest live broadcast quality, there is growing pressure on OTT providers to deliver. Latency remains an issue, but developments at standards body and device vendor level will likely reduce this to as good as broadcast over the next 18 months.
While the growth of internet connectivity and the evolution of 5G technology is fuelling the expansion of delivery via OTT, media and entertainment companies have it within their grasp to truly ‘get to know’ their customers and create a digital experience which meets their needs.
