OTT, or Over The Top media services like 420TV and Netflix, are subscription-based media platforms within which providers deliver media content through streaming websites. The content is treated as a standalone product and is directly distributed to users across the globe through the magic of the Internet, therefore avoiding the hassle of dealing with traditional broadcasting platforms like television and telecommunications.
Apart from 420TV and Netflix, other popular OTT platforms include Hulu, Amazon Video, fuboTV, Now TV, Sling TV, MercTV, and Sky Go, while some of the less popular (but with equally great content) include: Shudder, Mondo, Nerdist, CuriosityStream, etc.
Now, even though streaming platforms are slowly but surely taking over dominance in the media content distribution landscape, there is one overarching issue that is currently hindering both small and enterprise-level studios and streaming services, and that is the depreciation of physical servers.
Main Problems with On-Premise Media Supply Chains
Studios and streaming platforms like 420TV require an infrastructure and media library models capable of storing, managing, processing and delivering content as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Those who are still using on-prem servers are facing numerous issues that directly influence their overall ROI in a, you guessed it, negative way.
Here’s where operating on physical servers falls short:
- They require regular software updates (this is typically done manually)
- They require hardware upgrades every 3 to 5 years
- They require an in-house team that handles security issues manually
- They require regular maintenance and optimization in order to streamline their workflow properly
- Both CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) and OPEX (Operational Expenditure) costs are not optimized with on-prem servers, which means the companies are most typically overpaying for physical servers without being able to fully streamline their workflows and optimize workloads
This negative trend triggered Dan Goman, the team leader behind OWNZONES, to approach and tackle these issues from the cloud-enablement standpoint and come up with an all-round solution in the form of a cloud-native media management, delivery and monetization platforms called Connect and Discover.
Their class-leading products offer cloud-native services that obviate all the major pitfalls that come with physical servers and provide their clients with solutions that are much more:
- Efficient in terms of workflow streamlining due to IMF (Interoperable Mastering Format) utilization
- Scalable (in terms of leveraging servers)
- Accessible
- Globalization-friendly
- Versatile in terms of media management, content processing and automation due to AI utilization
- Cost-effective (they deploy the pay-as-you-go pricing system in which you only pay for the server instances you actually need at that particular moment)
Helping Platforms Like 420TV Scale and Reduce Costs
Smart and streamlined media storing, management, and delivery is the main focus that drives the team led by Dan Goman to come up with cost-effective and scalable solutions that are already vastly improving the media supply chain industry. In order to provide their clients with the most versatile and most user-friendly OTT utility, the company joined technical forces with several big names within the media supply chain niche, which include: Netflix, Amazon Web Service (AWS), Microsoft, Dolby, GrayMeta, Fotokem, and Virtual Post.
However, the best way to depict how this cloud-based infrastructure improved the workflow and ROI of some of their biggest clients like Metro Goldwyn Mayer and 420TV is to delve a bit deeper into how Magnolia Selects managed to save up to 40% of their monthly/yearly costs by moving from on-prem servers to the cloud-native platform.
“We still have ways to monetize with different partners, but to be self-sufficient, going directly to consumers was a very big deal,” says Jeff Cuban of MS. “And what was great about that was one-stop shop with going to Ownzones who developed this great product called Connect. I know how much money I am paying (due to on-prem servers) to deliver the assets to all these different players … and the cost was ridiculous due to multiple vendors, subtitling, closed captions and metadata, and it was just overwhelming.”
“With Connect, we are combining all of our assets into a final deliverable, and it’s happening in minutes. We are really excited about what they are doing. The cost savings are immense, it has reduced our costs by 40% in a lot of cases, which is significant. It is not cheap to deliver an asset, and when you deliver thousands like we do across subscription channels, across transactional platforms, in the aggregate and the sheer volume, it saves us a ton of money.”
Summing Up
Companies like 420TV, Magnolia Selects, and Metro Goldwyn Mayer are a great example of how a cloud-native platform helps both small and enterprise-level OTT companies reduce costs and streamline their business. Storing, managing, delivering and monetizing content quickly, easily and cost effectively is only possible through the process of cloud enablement.
