With more people ‘cutting the cord’ than ever, the delivery of audio and video content over-the-top (OTT) has clearly entered the mainstream. The numbers tell the story; As per Media Partner Asia, there are more than 66 million active OTT users across India today, and the number of video subscribers is projected to grow to 105 million by 2020. This presents a fantastic opportunity for service providers to generate new revenue from video-on-demand, catch-up TV and interactive applications. However, bringing an OTT offering to the market isn’t as simple as having video content and a server to deliver it.

One of the key network challenges that users in India face is slow speed coupled with sporadic surges. The current infrastructure simply doesn’t provide good connectivity. Recent studies show that just a five second delay in the start of a video turns off most users, many of who won’t come back for another look. Another obstacle is payment mechanisms. The payment methodology in India is still not digital-friendly, which is holding back OTT subscriptions. The ability to have seamless, frictionless digital payment systems is key for growth over the long term.

Despite these limitations, there’s still plenty of opportunity for OTT players. With the startup boom and the availability of services online such as banking, retail, and entertainment, more Indian citizens across age groups are using the Internet. There’s also an upward trend in smartphone adoption, which allows customers to be ‘connected’ on the go.

But what does it take to bring an OTT offering to market? How do you differentiate services from the competition? What’s needed to attract and retain customers? Here are a few factors that OTT providers can’t afford to ignore:

Content is Still King

If you don’t have the content your audience wants to watch, you won’t be successful. Many providers in India today offer the same TV shows and movies, so how do you gain attention? Whether you’re producing your own content or licensing from third-parties, niche content is becoming popular and can set you apart from the competition. A huge opportunity exists due to the large number of languages spoken in India. Having content available in many languages beyond the most popular ones will be a differentiator. If you’re licensing ‘run-of-the-mill’ content that’s available on multiple platforms, consider fine-tuning your target audience by acquiring more exclusive niche content.

Get Sticky Through QoE

If you want a sticky, engaging OTT platform where viewers return time and again, ensuring the best quality of experience (QoE) possible is critical. Why? Viewers expect broadcast quality from online video. They want the OTT service to operate just like television does in India -- sit down, turn it on, and it ‘just works’. For instance, nearly 50 percent of respondents from a recent State of Online Video research report said they will stop watching the second time a video buffers. As a result, many companies are building a single, integrated user interface that supports their specific business requirements, making it much easier for viewers to consume, discover, and share content. Others are using multiple content CDNs to help mitigate the risk of congestion or failure at critical nodes and help prevent upstream congestion on the internet.

Companies are building a single, integrated UI that supports their specific business requirements, making it much easier for viewers to consume, discover and share content

Any Where, Any Time

OTT customers are often mobile viewers and consuming content from a variety of places – waiting in line at the store, during a long cross-country flight, and even while on vacation. A unique aspect of the Indian OTT market is the large population base living outside India. Although you may be considering an OTT platform for a specific region, users will find it, subscribe to it, and expect content delivered whenever and wherever they need it. So instead of investing in infrastructure and separate service providers, a global CDN may be the best option. It can eliminate the need to pay for costly foreign hosting and save your business a lot of money.

Economies of Scale

Can your video infrastructure handle a flood of incoming requests when a video goes viral? When that happens, thousands of users may flock to a single URL. Servicing all those playback requests requires scale, enough servers with enough capacity, and bandwidth to handle the load. Upgrading scale is a direct result of two things – equipment and bandwidth. One option is to purchase the equipment. With a load balancer, you can ensure that requests are spread out across your entire server farm. Or you can employ cloud services, allowing capacity to grow dynamically to meet your needs and only be charged for the amount used. Another answer is to use a third-party CDN with a strong, global presence that already has the capacity to service flash-crowds and sudden increases in requests.

Multi-device Must-Do

OTT providers in India are now battling for control of the connected consumer. Viewers are watching content from a variety of devices such as Smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, and other devices. Delivering content to multiple devices is no longer a ‘should I?’ It’s a ‘must do’. And these devices require different formats today including Smooth Streaming, HLS, HDS, MPEG-dash, and Flash. One way to upgrade this part of your operation is using a technology provider to handle the content conversion on the fly by looking at incoming requests.

Whether it’s employing new technologies, better delivery infrastructure, or the latest in end-user analytics, OTT providers must continue to iterate or face the inevitable – subscriber churn. Success in the OTT market in India isn’t just about the content, it’s about the user experience. From video quality to multi-device support to global reach, viewers want their online video to be television-like. And that means continually upgrading your OTT offering to ensure the highest QoE.