How to achieve a reduction in total cost of ownership for your streaming service

Whether you've recently secured a budget for your OTT service or are already navigating growth amidst tight constraints, maximizing every dollar is crucial. Streaming businesses can face hidden pitfalls that lead to escalating costs. 

This is where a cloud-based OTT platform service provider comes in. 
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What are the hidden costs that can drain your OTT budget? 

Many streaming services find themselves caught in a web of operational expenses that weren't initially apparent. Are you experiencing any of these challenges?

• High in-house operations: Maintaining servers, investing in software systems, and the costs of scaling up as your subscriber base grows. What starts as manageable infrastructure quickly becomes a resource-intensive operation requiring constant attention and investment.
• Keeping up with technology:  From the moment you launch, you need to keep an eye on your tech stack. OEMs release new OS versions or introduce new certification requirements, integrated vendors change their APIs. The right SaaS solution offloads these operational burdens.
• Talent acquisition & retention: The ongoing need to recruit and retain specialized experts across IT, engineering, support, security, and operations. 
• Resource diversion: Time and resources that should be focused on content acquisition, marketing, or core business innovation are instead tied up in infrastructure maintenance. 

These challenges become more pronounced during peak viewing periods, such as during the launch of a popular show or a live event. Using a cloud-based SaaS OTT platform you can accommodate surging viewer demands, then scale down during quieter periods without escalating costs.
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How does a cloud-based OTT platform lower your costs? 

By avoiding large upfront expenses, you can allocate resources more strategically, leading to a lower and more predictable Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for your streaming service: 

• Predictability: Decision-makers gain better control over financial outlays, facilitating swift responses to market shifts. Instead of being reactive to infrastructure demands, you become proactive in market opportunities.
• Scalability: SaaS platforms provide OTT businesses with the advantage of scalability. This agility allows them to optimize resource utilization during peak and off-peak periods.‍
• Lower development costs: SaaS providers stand for continuous development, testing, and deployment of new features or updates. This slashes development-related costs, and reduces time-to-market. 
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Selecting the OTT platform that is right for your business

When evaluating potential SaaS OTT vendors, focus on partners that can demonstrate measurable TCO reduction through transparent pricing models and comprehensive service offerings. Look for vendors who provide detailed cost breakdowns that clearly show how their solution eliminates the hidden expenses outlined above. 

Key evaluation criteria should include: 

• Pricing transparency and predictability.
• Comprehensive feature sets that meet your business needs.
• Proven scalability and performance during high-traffic events.
• Robust security and compliance capabilities.
• Quality of ongoing support and operational assistance.
• Integration capabilities with your existing content and business systems. 
• Proven investment into innovation and development, keeping your platform relevant. 

The right vendor should be able to provide concrete examples of how they've helped similar businesses reduce their TCO while improving operational efficiency.

Think also about future needs for your business: Where do you see your strategy going in one, five or ten years? Given the product-centred nature of cloud businesses, most OTT partners have a defined offering aimed at their target market. 

During your conversations with the vendor, make sure you understand the limitations of each platform: 

• How flexible is the platform in accommodating monetization models?
• How does pricing scale with your growth - will costs remain predictable?
• What level of customization is possible without compromising the SaaS model's cost benefits?
• How quickly can the platform adapt to regulatory changes in different international markets?
• What happens if you need to integrate with new third-party services? 

Understanding these factors upfront will help ensure your chosen platform can grow with your business while maintaining the TCO advantages that drove your initial decision.

Don't just focus on initial costs - examine the total relationship value, including how the vendor's solution will evolve with your business needs and market changes. The best SaaS OTT partners become strategic allies in your growth, not just technology providers.
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Discover Accedo One: The flexible SaaS platform that evolves alongside your streaming service. Our customizable end-to-end solution gives you the freedom to choose and adapt as your needs change.

Meet us at IBC 2025 in Amsterdam this September 12-15th - book a meeting here.

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