Over-the-top (OTT) content delivery has altered the way people consume video and audio content, and it appears to be here to stay. The majority of consumers are now utilizing home entertainment via Internet-connected gadgets so the landscape of video streaming and OTT services has shifted dramatically in recent years. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of streaming services has increased even further along with the role of AI in the future of OTT.
In fact, by 2025, the global OTT industry will be worth $194.2 billion, with a CAGR of approximately 14%. Customer acquisition and retention in the OTT space is complex, especially in a market crowded with companies that offer unique content, are reasonably priced, and provide a consistent user experience. Another issue is lowering turnover. It’s crucial to provide attention-grabbing content and an experience if you want your platform to succeed.
Using Artificial Intelligence to construct a powerful recommendation engine and content discovery mechanism is one technique to ensure a competent platform. This article will discuss the role of AI in the future of OTT and take a glance at trends shaping the future of OTT.
What’s the role of AI in the future of OTT?
In terms of content suggestion, AI plays a significant role. Netflix has been using AI to drive content suggestions for a few years. It’s crucial because AI-driven user experiences make it easier for consumers to explore and find relevant material. A solid AI-driven infrastructure ensures a lower bounce rate. Artificial Intelligence algorithms have been increasingly important in the OTT market, particularly as device computing power increases.
The Role of AI in the Future of OTT platform has also gained a sensory component thanks to AI. It recognizes how long content is consumed, what type of content is being consumed, what time of day content is being played, and when a viewer moves away from certain content to detect watching patterns.
Artificial Intelligence in the Future of OTT will provide better recommendations to users based on this information. The current recommendation engine is built around a broad trend so if you end up viewing two superhero movies on a Sunday, the system will suggest similar content. It may suggest watching superhero movies set in a different universe or purchasing a matching action figure. It is a terrific technique to keep users on your site for longer.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will recognize such time and event-based trends and make content recommendations to your customers. Depending on your favorite actors, director’s, or singer’s birthday or anniversary, it may also be able to run an artist-based content marathon. AI may also help platform owners make better predictions about the success of their content and perform better revenue analysis.
Four major over-the-top service issues solved with artificial intelligence
To demonstrate the capabilities of AI technology in improving OTT operations, let’s look at four challenging, time-consuming processes and the solutions AI brings.
Handling video adverts dependant on semantics
If your OTT platform is ad-supported, you know how critical it is to streamline all ad activities related to the content, such as ad detection, removal, and placement. In this case, AI technologies can provide unprecedented speed and precision in media content analysis. Increased operational efficiency equates to significant time and cost savings in this area.
Anomalies are successfully detected and separated using AI algorithms. In this scenario, AI uses a combination of markers to detect irregularities in external ad materials from OTT entertainment content, such as changes in lighting, color scheme, and scene semantics. After that, you can replace commercials with new ones or remove them entirely to reassemble the movie smoothly.
Metadata integration into content workflow
Metadata is supplementary information about what is being exhibited in every frame of every video in your platform’s content library. It includes the emotional state of the characters and the nature of their activities. Artificial intelligence (AI) can swiftly extract this information from many films and create thorough explanations for each.
The AI system assigns labels to each scene it analyzes, allowing users to visualize content structure and arrange scenes based on similarity. Various crucial OTT activities can rely on this trove of well-organized metadata, including content discovery, orchestration, and post-processing.
Automated content compliance is taken into account
AI can serve as a foundation for flexible quality control (QC) and compliance frameworks that will automatically ensure all of your media content complies with various regulations. These include technical content parameters, regional age-sensitive content restrictions, privacy violations legislation, and other rules.
An AI engine can easily detect unwanted aspects (smoking, nudity, violence, triggering events, etc.), flag movies, and live broadcasts with offensive indicators in real-time.
Offering viewers a hyper-personal experience
One of the most attractive contributions of AI technology to OTT platforms is the ability to tailor a service to each viewer’s tastes and preferences, allowing for hyper-personalized content consumption. User-driven content taxonomies and genre classifications are possible with a detailed analysis of a viewer’s habitual activities. Moreover, emotional journey prediction and semantics-driven recommendations are achievable as well with content selections inside your platform along with the contexts under which they occur.
Latest trends that are paving the future of OTT
Personalization & UX will take priority
Retaining viewers will be complex with the expanding number of OTT platforms on the market. It won’t be enough to simply offer outstanding subscription packages and high-quality, original content. Winners will be platforms with user-friendly interfaces, clever search options, and personalized content recommendations.
Would-be successful outfits will use machine learning (ML) to assess their subscribers’ watching patterns and preferences if they are about to create an OTT platform. Furthermore they should identify collective-behavior links between information that isn’t organically associated using artificial intelligence (AI) as well as ascertain that the platform provides a consistent and synchronized user experience across all devices.
OTT content localization
OTT platforms have benefited from increased internet penetration, which has helped them attract viewers from emerging countries such as India. It has also expanded the reach of OTT viewing outside major metropolitan areas. Many of the top OTT services’ viewers now come from Tier II and Tier III cities.
You must grasp the interests and preferences of different audience segments if you wish to cater to such a diversified audience. It’s also critical to create localized content that speaks to the hopes and struggles of young people in smaller towns and villages. This practice has already caught on in India, where top OTT platforms produce high-quality content for small towns.
Opportunities for immersive live streaming
The live streaming of sports, award shows, and other events on OTT platforms is a significant departure from traditional television. We’ve seen everything from airing a cricket league on Disney+ Hotstar to live streaming an award presentation on Facebook. As a result, it shouldn’t surprise more OTT media companies and publishers to try out this content format.
Particularly intriguing is how live streaming on OTT will compare to cable TV. The adoption of 5G will allow for the low-latency live streaming of high-resolution videos. It will also make 360-degree live streaming easier to access. In addition, virtual reality (VR) technology will enhance the immersive and entertaining nature of the viewing experience.
What could go wrong with AI and the OTT service market?
AI technology itself can’t actively do anything wrong, but the data associated with it can be exploited. Media companies and regulatory agencies must develop a structure to ensure specific security criteria are met to secure user data. Meanwhile, data is being used by OTT businesses to improve the customer experience with AI.
It’s being used to create a far more immersive and engaging experience. Artificial Intelligence in the Future of OTT platforms will adopt data-driven personalized content and services. This is precisely why improved AI systems can be regarded as a response to the massive amount of data being incorporated into them. Essentially, content aggregators, production houses, and pretty much anyone in the OTT sector are using AI to manage output and drive customization.