How to Compete with Netflix: Beyond the Streaming Experience

Streaming means watching videos on the internet without downloading them. The streaming industry grew with advancements in internet technology. The pandemic further boosted its growth globally.

Like how VCRs and DVDs did when they were introduced, streaming captured eyes across the globe. In their early days, people used streaming services only as an alternative to their cable services.

Over time, streaming services have evolved from being merely cord-cutters to being a part of our lifestyle. Smartphones have made streaming portable and ubiquitous, thus increasing consumption.

As the industry grew, it became more crowded and competitive. Having been launched in 1997, Netflix has become a synonym for streaming.

However, success always attracts followers. Other companies__followed Netflix's lead when it showed__ the feasibility of the streaming strategy in the market. Netflix is now up against a slew of competitors, including YouTube, Hulu, Disney +, Amazon Prime, and several new entrants.

This article will explain how the new entrants can try to break into the saturated streaming market. And how they can leverage technology to stay ahead of the pack.

Streaming Wars

The streaming industry juggernauts like Netflix and Prime are investing heavily to cement their position as the industry leader. Stranger Things and Patriot are examples of their effort to capture the market with original content.

There is no doubt that the new entrants without deep pockets cannot compete with the giants when it comes to content.

Although it is true that content is the key to a streaming service’s success, a great content library that is not easily accessible is a failure. After all, people turn to streaming platforms for entertainment and a bad UX is definitely a turn off.

Did you know that

“55% of consumers look for something new to watch every week but 62% of them struggle to find it!”

What is a great user experience?

A good user experience is subjective and varies from user to user. There is no one size that fits all. Fortunately, there are several factors that contribute to creating a great experience for every user.

• Content Recommendations
• UI-UX
• Friction-free Streaming

Content Recommendation

It is no secret that a recommendation system solely relies on customer behavioral data. To understand a user’s taste and preferences we need to classify and analyze data in two aspects.

• Movie or video metadata
• User profile

The two aspects should be blended and fed into the recommendation system to make the right recommendations.

Movie Metadata

The more detailed the metadata is, the easier it is to reach the right viewers.

A video without metadata is like a person on the airport without a boarding pass or money – they ain't going anywhere.

Apart from helping your videos rank on search engines, metadata is also an opportunity to inform your viewers of the details about the content they are watching. This is a great way to earn their trust.

Moreover, it helps them discover content that they might have missed otherwise.

Take for instance the X-ray view on Amazon Prime videos. As you watch just click on the button to know about the people who worked on it - and the best part is that you can discover other works of the artist.

User Profile

A user profile is simply asking users for their region, preferred languages, genres they like, etc,. In fact, this could be a great starting point for recommendations – when you do not have enough data to analyze their interests.

You can come up with recommendations only based on their interactions with videos,

For example, if a user is opening a drama but passing it on in a minute or two – it could possibly mean that the user is not interested in dramas. Opening a video does not ensure they like it. Understanding their interaction is the key. A powerful analytics engine is the best source to power your recommendations.

Analyzing views based on what % of the video was watched, also understanding how viewers search for content and what time of the day they prefer to watch is key to creating a good user experience.

Also, keeping track of the video ratings given by a user and monitoring their comments and other video interactions play a major role in recommending the right video to a user.

Creating the buzz by recommending a show

Apart from recommending based on user preferences, recommending stellar content, that is sure to be liked by all is a great way to create a buzz about the show and if the content is entertaining and marketed right on social platforms it would sure make a trend – and thereby acquire more audience

UX Matters!

Netflix and the other big players like Prime and YouTube have definitely set the bar high when it comes to content and user experience – thanks to their deep pockets. Though competing with them in respect to content needs serious money working on an equally good if not a better user experience is possible.

For OTT platforms, a good UI/UX should be simple, appealing, easy to use, and make the customer feel at ease.

This is precisely the success secret of Netflix – it just showcases what you are looking for.

A good UI/UX is not just about displaying the content attractively it is about creating an easy flow – in and out of videos, ease of search, and, creating an enjoyable experience.

Tips to Improve the User Experience

• Organize: Keep your content organized. Organize your content like shows, seasons, movies, and other categories - this makes looking for content easy.
  
  
• Keeping things simple: The interface has to be simple and friendly. Apart from showcasing content with carousels and listings, it is important to empower your users with the ability to define their own watchlist where they can keep track of their favorite shows and resume watching a previously watched video
  
  
• Communicate: Send notifications and emails. Push notifications are the best way to invite your audience to watch your content. The more creative and tempting your push notification is the better chances of opening it
  
  
  
  

Personalization is no longer the differentiation factor that acquires an audience, it has become the de-facto requirement to retain the acquired audience.

Friction-free Streaming

Imagine you are watching your favorite show and suddenly your video pauses and you see a circle spinning on the screen. There could be nothing more irritating than this moment.

Now, this spinning wheel makes viewers leave almost immediately. Studies show that the higher the general buffering is within a session, the shorter that session will end up.

One of the most commonly used methods to reduce buffering issues is encoding.

Encoding is compressing and converting video content into a form that is compatible with various devices and internet speeds.

For viewers to view videos without any buffering issue it has to be compressed. But compression can reduce quality. Would you trade off video quality for reducing friction? Well..that isn’t a good idea.

So what’s the solution? It isadaptive bitrate streaming.

To keep it simple consider your viewer’s internet connection as a pipe. The faster the connection is the wider the pipe is – the slower, the narrower.

Now you have to transmit a video file to your viewers through the pipe. The video simply glides through the wide pipe, but it gets blocked several times on the way in a narrower pipe. So it is not advisable to send uncompressed files on narrow pipes.

This method of compressing the video based on the capability of the receiving device is called adaptive bitrate streaming.

You would have definitely adjusted the video quality settings or witnessed the auto change in quality with YouTube at least once.

Youtube has done this to reduce its churn rate. This is one of the fundamental lessons to learn from Youtube

Apart from other benefits, adaptive bitrate streaming is the critical reason for you to encode all your videos before distribution.

Takeaway

Regardless of how amazing your content is, if there is friction in accessing it – your viewers would leave. To reduce the friction you need to understand your users and distribute your content to them just the way they want it.

So the only secret is to understand your audience. Create amazing content and distribute it the how-where-when your audience likes it. That’s the basis of a good user experience.