A recent yet widely discussed topic within the OTT community has been the growing trend for media companies to consider investing in creating fully programmed 'live' channels as opposed to apps. Smart, but is it necessarily right for you?
For the most part I would say that this is more than just a trend, but once again I think it is vital that content owners looking to move into OTT or improve their standing in OTT ask themselves one question first - IS IT RIGHT FOR ME? It is easy to follow others, but all too often you learn (too late) that the people you're following are just as blind and potentially walking you off a cliff.
On top of that are other more simple concerns -
1) Where do you plan for your channel to go? You have Pluto TV, Samsung TVPlus, FTV's On Now, Sinclair's Stirr, SBTV and a handful of other linear channel aggregators - but what level of certainty do you have that they'll include you?
2) How much power will you have to monetize your content? Different aggregators do business in different ways. Are you ok with how they'll want to work with you?
3) Do you have enough content today?
4) Do you create enough new content to keep the channel fresh?
5) Are you equipped with the tools and skills to program it? There's a plethora of self-serve solutions out there now - all of which need to be considered (Frequency, Amagi, Vemba etc). Then you also have the more boutique managed services.
6) IS YOUR CONTENT RIGHT FOR LINEARISATION?
This is where we shine at Origin. We have the answers to these questions. We know what the aggregators are looking for, we have the skills to make sure you build the right channel for you and we have the relationships in place to get the best distribution possible.