The rapidly evolving media and entertainment landscape necessitates constant OTT innovation as platforms fiercely compete for viewer attention. The pressure to innovate is immense with a saturated market and evolving consumer preferences. What’s next for these platforms? How can they stay ahead of the curve and deliver truly exceptional experiences?

This article explores potential avenues for OTT innovation, focusing on features that can enhance user engagement, drive revenue, and create lasting impressions. The possibilities are vast, from immersive shopping experiences to AI-powered personalization and community-building initiatives.

By incorporating these innovative elements, OTT platforms can differentiate themselves from competitors and redefine how audiences consume content. Let’s delve into the future of streaming and explore how these groundbreaking features can shape the industry.

Driving OTT innovation: key strategies for success

Innovation

• Live stream merchandising: Live shopping has become a $50 billion industry in the U.S. By integrating live stream merchandising with platforms like Apple Vision Pro, OTT platforms can offer fans a unique opportunity to purchase merchandise directly within the app. This eliminates the need to switch platforms, enhancing user experience and driving increased user engagement, longer viewing sessions, and significant boosts in average revenue per user (ARPU). Example: Users can purchase merchandise from a live NBA game Merchandiser without navigating outside of the app.
• Mood-based recommendations: By tailoring content suggestions to viewers’ emotional states, mood-based recommendations enhance user satisfaction, reduce churn rates, and increase click-through rates on recommended content. Example: Netflix uses mood-based recommendations for recommending content for the user according to their mood.
• Gamification: Transforming passive viewing into an interactive experience through features like points, badges, and leaderboards boosts user engagement, extends viewing sessions, and increases daily and monthly active users (DAU/MAU).  Example: A leading Indian streaming giant, JioCinema introduced ‘Jeeto Dhan Dhana Dhan,’ a contest that allows fans to win prizes every match.
• AI assistants: AI-powered assistants, acting as virtual companions, enhance user engagement by providing personalized recommendations, reducing content discovery time, and improving user retention.
• Multi-cam view: Offering viewers control over their viewing experience through multi-cam views creates a more immersive and engaging experience, leading to higher brand recall, enhanced viewer engagement, and increased session durations. Display ads featuring 360° video is reported to have a 300% increase in CTR and a 410% increase in ROI compared to display ads featuring regular or panorama photos. Example: A leading Indian streaming giant, JioCinema has started broadcasting 360 footage of cricket matches using JioDive 360-degree VR Headset.
• Interactive narratives: By incorporating interactive elements into storytelling, OTT platforms can create a more engaging and participatory experience, increasing user engagement and retention. Example: Netflix’s “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” introduced viewers to interactive storytelling, where they could make choices that influenced the plot.

Community-building

• Virtual watch parties: By bringing the joy of shared viewing experiences to remote audiences, virtual watch parties increase engagement, reduce churn rates, and drive user acquisition. Leveraging technologies like Apple Vision Pro can create immersive virtual environments for enhanced social interaction. For example, Amazon Prime Video offers subscribers a built-in Watch Party feature, allowing up to 100 participants to join.
• Connect with friends: Integrating social media features creates a more connected and personalized viewing experience, increasing user engagement and acquisition. Example: FLYX is the first streaming social network designed to recommend shows based on the trending list, friend suggestions, and user watch history.
• Collaborative watchlists: Fostering a sense of community and discovery, collaborative watchlists increase user engagement, DAU/MAU, and Net Promoter Score. For example, the Frenzi app allows users to share their watchlists with their friends and let other users join the share list.
• Social media integration: Seamlessly integrating social media channels within OTT platforms increases brand visibility, drives new sign-ups, and enhances user retention. Example: India’s popular streaming platform MXplayer has created a social channel on WhatsApp that lets users join the MXplayer channels and discover content easily, which then navigates them to the app for searching similar content.

User engagement

• Live streaming interaction: Transforming live streams into interactive experiences through features like real-time polls, live chats, and viewer participation creates a sense of community and excitement, enhancing viewer engagement and generating additional revenue through pay-per-view options. Example: Disney+ Hotstar, a leading Indian streaming platform, has successfully leveraged this potential with features like polls and emoticons, ranging from hearts and clapping hands to cricket-specific icons, transforming passive viewing into a dynamic, shared experience.
• Short videos: Short-form content caters to shorter attention spans and increases user engagement and discoverability, opening up additional revenue streams. For example, YouTube Shorts is now averaging a staggering 70 billion daily views, marking a 40% increase from the previous year. This meteoric rise underscores the growing demand for quick, engaging, and shareable content.
• User-generated content (UGC): Empowering users to create and share content fosters a sense of community, generates fresh content, and increases user engagement, content discovery, and session durations. Example: RCTV, a Spanish content video catalog, launched the #RCTVChallenge, a contest where subscribers can win $100 for imitating their favorite character within their chosen category. This innovative feature resulted in +250,000 subscribers in the first month and increased 80% engagement on the app.

User experience

• Vertical video: Offering vertical video options, which cater to mobile device users, increase engagement, and improve content viewing time. Example: Disney+ Hotstar, a leading Indian streaming platform, introduced the vertical video feature, called MaxView, during the 2023 Cricket World Cup. This innovative feature allowed viewers to watch matches in a vertical format, optimized for mobile phone viewing.
• Brand connect: Integrating brands into the streaming experience creates new revenue streams and fosters more robust relationships between brands and consumers. A leading Indian streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar’s brand tab for Mahindra, a leading Indian conglomerate during the 2023 Cricket World Cup, integrated the Mahindra brand into its live-streaming app, where viewers interested in buying a Mahindra vehicle can easily explore and book a test drive while watching the live match without switching to another website or app. This significantly boosted brand metrics, with purchase intent rising 62%, brand favorability up 56%, and brand awareness increasing 67%.
  

The future of OTT platforms hinges on OTT innovation and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing viewer preferences. By implementing these forward-thinking features, streaming services can create more engaging, personalized, and immersive experiences that transcend traditional content delivery.

Let’s collaborate to create a genuinely next-generation streaming experience that will captivate your audience and set you apart in the competitive OTT landscape – talk to us now!