Vibhu Agarwal Explains OTT Industry Transformations and Innovations Ahead
OTT digital platforms are up against adapting to the ongoing changes in how consumers find, access, and view content in the media and entertainment sector. Consumers prefer customised content access in the hyperconnected digital age. Therefore, the media and entertainment sector is going through unprecedented upheavals. The Founder and Group CEO of ULLU App, Vibhu Agarwal, discusses the significant breakthroughs and developments that have occurred in this sector as well as the impending disruption.
In the media and entertainment sector, OTT is a game-changing opportunity. There has been an astounding shift in the way that content is viewed due to the advent of over-the-top (OTT).The traditional model of Pay TV that relies on a linear TV viewing experience is losing its appeal because wireless technology and breakthroughs in bandwidth have enables people to access information anywhere at any time.
“Marketers are now delivering customised content and ads via methods like original content streaming, live video streaming, hybrid video streaming, or UHD (4K) streaming as a result of customers’ growing preference for personalised content,” states Vibhu Agarwal, the Group CEO of ULLU App. The content monetization, distribution, and positioning strategy have become crucial to the OTT platform as content flows through numerous stages—from content production to its final consumption across channels. The media supply value chain has undergone a change because of predictive and prescriptive analytics. Technology enablers including AI and Blockchain, are agents of transformation that let stakeholders restructure business models in order to build cutting-edge channels for distributing the relevant content.
The OTT space has advanced to the next stage, i.e. OTT+. Consumers have already been labelled ‘Cord Cutters’ in recent years, while millennials have earned the title ‘Cord Nevers’, as seen by their preferences. Business models are evolving in an effort to overcome the difficulties of price margins and move toward economyof scale. It has sparked a number of revolutionary shifts that are altering the way people consume content. The trends that are enabling the shift towards the OTT era include live and low latency streaming, adoption of cloud media processing and growth of virtual multichannel video programming distributors.
In recent years, AI has become a major force in completely changing how information is produced. In addition to focusing on human intelligence alone, AI/ML is being utilised to personalise services to an unparalleled degree. Effective personalisation also leads to more engagement, improved memory, and higher box office returns in the media industry as it does in all other sectors. AI is powered by customer data, learns from its prior customer data, and trains itself to predict customer behaviour. The users are then presented with pertinent content that is catered to their requirements and preferences. Vibhu Agarwal Ullusays, “To provide highly contextualised and relevant content, businesses use client behavioural and real-time data. It also helps to solve problems like video buffering and data loss and contributes to better engaging audience experiences by continuously learning from customer experience.”
Therefore, businesses must innovate in order to survive, and OTT gives players many options to do so. The rate at which digital disruptions are changing the M&E sector is accelerating the production of IP-delivered TV content. Players are gravitating to alter their distribution strategies, which is also having an effect on consumer behaviour.
As the consumption of material shifts from traditional broadcasts to the direct-to-consumer model, OTT will seize the spotlight over the ensuing 10 years. Despite the availability of digital platforms for content consumption, studios, TV networks, cable service providers, and new aggregators continue to dominate the conception, production, and distribution of shows.
