OTT Video Platforms: Build or Buy?
On the back of a previous post, I’ve had several people reach out to me and ask: "why should we invest our scarce product and engineering resources to build our own streaming platform? Would it not be smarter to have a variety of video platform service providers compete for our business instead?"
It’s a great question and something that I have wrestled with a fair amount over the last decade. I guess it all comes down to your appetite for risk and innovation. If media supports your business, the best thing is probably to outsource. On the other hand, if you are in the media business, it’s critical to control your own destiny. The industry and consumer behavior are literally changing in a daily basis. Not building and shipping your own products means that you'll never be the first to take advantage of new opportunities.
I must admit that I am rather biased towards owning and controlling the full stack. The reason is simple… When you control the full stack and work together with the best product, engineering and design talent, it provides real competitive advantages. It enables constant innovation, the ability to quickly test new features and to pivot when needed. Compare that with a world where your video service is held back by the lowest common denominator and new features require formal change requests and endless discussions with third parties. Not a recipe for success in today's fast moving world...
Unfortunately, some media executives still believe that all they should care about is the programing, branding and user-interface. In my humble opinion they underestimate that it takes a lot more to create a great OTT video experience. The magic happens when all the pieces across the stack are optimized and actually disappear into the background so that audience can find, play, share and engage with the stories that inform, educate and entertain.
....I suspect the strategy of tying Vevo so closely to YouTube had infinite benefits but trying to spin out a paid tier vs. the deeply entrenched/ingrained current Vevo free will prove difficult (perhaps why the delays?) .... there's plenty of hope though, if you find a proper bundle.... which should consider immersive (discussed w Jeff at MIDEM last year)--good luck, hoping for the best, miss what MTV used to mean....
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9 年I'm a little late to the party here. But thought i'd drop a comment nonetheless. I must agree with Erik Huggers here... Since our value proposition at Rabt is an agnostic white label solution to video personalization and content discovery, we find it more valuable to sit down with a party responsible for their own OTT platform. It's music to our ears when we hear that a media company owns their stack and has a development/product/operations team who understands both the product features and overall growth strategy. This allows us to better guide them in the right direction when looking at content discovery and personalization, NOT TO MENTION it allows them to better test, change, and/or pivot when necessary. Relying on a 3rd party to do all the work would be a headache; it would take more time and money. We all know that in a changing video and digital media landscape which is becoming more dynamic by the day ... time is money, and you cant afford to ride the coattails of competitors who win-out on tech.
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10 年There are no quick fixes or short cuts in delivering quality streaming! A good and inspiring read, though I will admit that I am very biased in this discussion. I fully understand and respect the strategic DIY argument. When it really works it makes perfect sense. Netflix has demonstrated the power of technical streaming insight and know how. But this has not been a quick and easy fix for Netflix. And I don't know many companies like Netflix. I very often experience media executives, their technical team members and their consultants underestimate the technical and practical complexity in delivering OTT live and on-demand quality* streaming to end viewer’s very different screens, OS’s and user situations. Then the value of the DIY argument erodes and in a best case they end up with a “me-too” streaming service without any real competitive edge and being a technical follower instead of a technical leader. Before going DIY I think media executives and their management should ask themselves questions like this; what is OTT streaming really? Is it just a bunch of protocols? What is convergence, year 2015 edition? Do we have all technical skills, expertise and resources needed today and in the future? What incentives do we need to keep this valuable technical team with us? How (much) can we differentiate when we build the streaming service on the same streaming technology/platform like our competitors? * "Quality stream" is also a relative and very flexible term within the streaming industry.
I agree -- from an innovation, being to act quickly, and also data analytics stand point. Curious why HBO decided to can their internal development and outsource to MLB Advanced?
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10 年I am on board!