Prevent Churn with OTT Data Analytics: Understanding & Optimizing Subscriber Retention

‍The Importance of Reporting and Data Analytics in OTT Service Management

Keeping your OTT service interesting to the viewers requires constant fine-tuning and analysis. Let's explore the importance of reporting and data analysis in your decision-making process in OTT service management.

‍You have just set up your new OTT service and month after month you keep getting more subscribers and things are going well. Predominantly, you are focusing on marketing your service to get new users. Then at some point, you start to notice that the numbers are starting to stagnate with that ominous monthly churn starting to appear. This is the time when you really need to start fine-tuning your service in order to keep it interesting for your customers in the long run.

Fine-Tune Your Marketing Strategy

The first thing you need to check is if your marketing strategy is properly prepared. If you are not sure you have covered everything, you can always download our free, step-by-step manual for building your marketing strategy for the OTT/IPTV service. After making sure you are doing everything on the marketing side you will get into figuring out if your business model is bringing in the expected results. You will be looking at the bundles you offer, their pricing, and if there are any corrections that can be done.

Evaluate Your Content Strategy

Additionally, you will probably look into your content strategy and ask yourselves several questions. Are you offering enough content? Are you adding enough new content on a regular basis? Is that content interesting for my target audience?

For you, the operator, it is extremely important to run a data-driven OTT service.

You’ve asked the right questions, now how would you get the answers to your questions?

Well, the beauty of having an OTT service is that with the right OTT platform, you get a management system that also includes a wide array of stats and reports covering, pretty much, every aspect of viewers’ usage of the service. Being aware of the importance of getting detailed information about the service UniqCast turnkey IPTV/OTT/DVB solution provides you with plenty of real-time and historic data to keep your decision-making process based on data sets and not on a hunch. To get more info on what content dataset you can get just get in touch with us to learn what data the solution provides and get advice on how to utilize that information. That will put your marketing, sales, and content management efforts in the right direction.

Monitor and Analyze Your OTT Data

For you, the operator, it is extremely important to run a data-driven OTT service, meaning that you spend enough time on a daily basis looking at the reports generated by the OTT platform about your service being used and how.

You can get information on pretty much everything. You can see which location provides the most viewers, how is your daily subscription rate, how many users registered daily, what type of devices were used, which age groups are most active (providing age group data), which EPG/VOD/AOD event was watched, and how much and, very important, for how long; which channel and the assets within the channel are most popular and details like which movie genres (like animation films) are most popular and so on. The list and the possible combinations are extensive.

Good OTT services will be your business data sources and will provide you with the ability to generate custom-made reports with video service data for your specific needs.

With the right OTT platform, you get a management system that also includes a wide array of stats and reports covering, pretty much, every aspect of viewers’ usage of the service.

Use Data to Improve Your Service

With the OTT analytics provided by the platform, you can track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as monthly active users, customer acquisition cost, average revenue per user, customer lifetime value, churn rate, conversion rate, abandon rate, inactive users, and more. These KPIs can help you understand how your service is performing and identify areas that need improvement.

Beware of OTT Churn

One important KPI to track is the OTT subscription churn rate. The churn rate is the percentage of subscribers who cancel their subscriptions in a given period. A high churn rate indicates that your service is not meeting the needs of your subscribers and they are choosing to cancel their subscriptions. To reduce the churn rate, you can use OTT analytics to identify the reasons why subscribers are canceling their subscriptions and take steps to address those issues.

Bring Your Content Strategy A-Game

Another important aspect of running a data-driven OTT service is using data to improve your content strategy. With OTT analytics, you can track which channels and assets are most popular among your subscribers and use that information to create a content strategy that is tailored to their preferences. You can also use data to identify gaps in your content offering and take steps to fill those gaps, which can help to keep your service interesting and engaging for your subscribers.

The Big Picture

Why is all of this important? Well, getting the right information on what content is being watched and for how long can directly define your future content purchasing choices. If you have a clear idea, of which devices are being used the most, where, and when, will help you with the advertising targeting at certain times and focus on certain platforms and specific regions. In short, having data-driven insights helps you to stay ahead of your competition, boost your customer experience and engagement rates, deliver sales, provide actionable data for marketing teams to work with, intelligently allocate funds and entice advertisers, and increase your ROI.

Integrate OTT Data from Other Sources

It's also worth mentioning that, in addition to the analytics provided by the OTT platform, it's also important to integrate data from other sources such as Google Analytics, subscription billing data, and ad server data to get a more complete picture of your service's performance and subscriber behavior. This can help you identify patterns and trends that may not be immediately apparent when looking at the data from the OTT platform alone.

Make it Personal

Another key area to focus on is the personalization of the service. With the data available through OTT analytics, you can segment your audience based on demographics, viewing habits, and other factors and then tailor your service to meet the specific needs of each segment. This can include personalized recommendations for content, tailored marketing campaigns, and customized pricing and packaging options. Personalization can help to increase engagement and reduce churn by ensuring that each subscriber feels that the service is tailored to their specific needs and preferences.

Monitor and Improve Streaming Quality

One of the most important factors in preventing subscriber churn is providing high-quality streaming. Use data to monitor streaming quality, such as bitrate, resolution, and buffering rate. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify areas where the streaming quality is lacking and make adjustments to improve it. This can include upgrading your servers, optimizing your network infrastructure, or adjusting your encoding settings. Additionally, it is important to monitor the overall user experience, such as the time to start, zapping time, and picture quality. This can help to prevent buffering and other issues that can lead to subscriber churn.

Implement a Robust Customer Support System

Another important factor in preventing subscriber churn is providing excellent customer support. Use data to identify and resolve customer support issues quickly. This can include tracking ticket volume, response times, and customer satisfaction rates. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify areas where customer support is lacking and make improvements. Additionally, you can use data to identify patterns in customer support issues and proactively prevent them from happening in the future.

Monitor and Adapt to Changing Viewer Preferences

Viewer preferences change over time, so it's important to use data to monitor changing viewer preferences and adapt your content and service offerings accordingly. This can include tracking which content is most popular, which devices are being used to access your service, and which features are being used the most. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify areas where your service is not meeting viewer preferences and make changes to better serve your customers.

Use Data to Optimize Pricing and Packaging

Another important factor in preventing subscriber churn is providing a pricing and packaging strategy that meets the needs of your customers. Use data to optimize pricing and packaging, which can help to increase revenue and prevent subscriber churn. This can include tracking the number of subscribers per package, the average revenue per subscriber, and the churn rate for each package. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify areas where your pricing and packaging strategy is not meeting the needs of your customers and make adjustments to better serve them.

Use Data to Identify and Address Potential Technical Issues

Technical issues can lead to subscriber churn, so it's important to use data to identify and address potential technical issues. This can include tracking the number of error messages, the number of crashes, and the number of users experiencing buffering or other issues. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify areas where technical issues are impacting the user experience and take steps to address them.

Use Data to Identify and Target High-Value Subscribers

High-value subscribers are more likely to stick with your service and be less likely to churn, so it's important to use data to identify and target these subscribers. This can include tracking subscriber demographics, viewing habits, and revenue generated per subscriber. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify high-value subscribers and take steps to retain them, such as offering them exclusive content, discounts, or special promotions.

Use Data to Improve Marketing and Advertising

Marketing and advertising can play a big role in preventing subscriber churn, so it's important to use data to improve these efforts. This can include tracking the effectiveness of different marketing channels, such as social media, email, and paid advertising. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify which channels are most effective at acquiring new subscribers and focus your efforts on them. Additionally, you can use data to improve the targeting and messaging of your marketing and advertising campaigns to better resonate with your target audience and reduce subscriber churn.

OTT Data Analytics is a Must!

The importance of OTT data analytics doesn't end once you've set up your service. Continuously monitoring and analyzing the data can help you identify new opportunities for growth and improvement and ensure that your service remains relevant and engaging for your subscribers over time.

Overall, OTT data analytics is an essential tool for managing and improving an OTT service. By utilizing data to understand your audience, track key performance indicators, and make data-driven decisions, you can fine-tune your service to meet the needs of your subscribers, reduce subscription churn and increase revenue.

UniqCast turnkey solution is a multiscreen choice for operators on 4 continents. Our user-centric solution provides you with all the necessary tools to run a successful, data-driven service backed by our extensive experience and know-how. Let’s get in touch and get you started on this exciting, premium user experience multiscreen journey.