Using Data Analytics to Enhance User Experience on OTT Platforms

The video service industry is still incredibly young, but it's already seeing massive growth and changing at a rapid pace. With shifting expectations from viewers, video service providers need to find opportunities to stay ahead of the game. In addition, companies should focus on scaling and monetizing their service, and continually look for ways to optimize UX so that it feels relevant and impactful for each viewer.

‍What is considered to be a good OTT user experience?

We have heard a million times before that content is king, but what about UX? While having a rich and unique catalog is key to any successful streaming service, the right user experience matters more, especially when the goal is to increase engagement and reduce churn. Before a service provider begins optimizing for UX, understanding what a good user experience entails is crucial. As optimal UX differentiates depending on the target audience, considering regional and cultural differences, tailoring user experience might be tricky. 

Simply said - an engaging user experience is simple and streamlined, but most importantly, it should be highly relevant to each user. That's why it is crucial that service providers test UX iterations often to understand what users want and leverage this information to optimize and customize an experience that will make an impact.

Just as it’s important to ensure that the content catalog is designed with user preferences in mind, video-based companies also need to help consumers efficiently find the content they desire to watch. An easy way to provide an intuitive user experience is to understand users’ preferred search and navigation processes. Mapping out and designing a content discovery journey that aligns with what consumers want will enable users to access content quickly - thus improving their experience and making them more likely to return in the future.

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The link between data and experimenting & testing

Video providers should continuously improve their services to provide a transformative experience and outperform their competitors. By testing the success of different user experiences, the company can understand what works for certain subsets of users, then work to optimize and adapt as necessary. The key to doing so begins with collecting and analyzing the right user data. 

Most video service providers have a wealth of vital information and invaluable data surrounding their content, including increased visibility into consumer viewing habits. However, very few of these companies make use of user analytics to grow their business. Utilizing the data collected is the first step in assessing how experimentation impacts the user experience. A survey commissioned by Accedo revealed that only 27% of participating service providers have metrics in place to track how new features and changes to the product affect usage. And only 24% of those collecting metrics can attach results from experiments to their product roadmap and feature priorities. Service providers can only fully comprehend the impact of their experiments when they're not only tracking and collecting data, but also analyzing its overall significance.

The next vital step to conduct testing for your video service is segmenting and analyzing the user data. Accedo’s CEO, Michael Lantz, wrote an article highlighting how video service providers need to utilize both user and behavioral data to plan, carry out, and evaluate the benefits of experimentation. 

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The need for the right flexible OTT data analytics tools

While we have established that we need robust processes for data collection and analysis, it is also essentially important to have the right tools along the process that facilitates flexible and responsive experimentation. 

‍Accedo One enables OTT video companies to make data-driven decisions and optimize performance by aggregating and displaying service analytics based on user data. Additionally, the platform’s Marketplace allows Accedo One customers to respond to user and business needs by harnessing flexible integrations of various vendors and tool sets without impacting the end-users or the current applications.

In a series of blogs, we have discussed several crucial considerations for continuously growing and evolving a video service. To learn more about Accedo One and how the SaaS platform enables you to provide and optimize top-notch user experiences through experimentation, book a demo with one of our experts.