A Guide to Content Curation for an Improved End-User Discovery Experience
These days, video streaming services rely more and more on recommendation algorithms to surface content for their viewers. While this can be helpful in many ways, it also makes it difficult for viewers to discover content they may have yet to see or search for otherwise. This is where human content curation comes into play. By creating video categories beyond traditional genres, viewers can better discover and watch content they may never have known existed.
Curating content categories that are original and exclusive to your service is a fantastic way to boost brand identity and promote content discovery. For example, consider seasonal or topical themes or categories based on popular actors or films, making it easier for viewers to find the content they may miss.
Exploring user data to identify what types of content are most popular amongst your viewers (including in different markets) can be a great starting point for category inspiration. It’s also an excellent way to discover what existing content from your library is worth investing in further or resurfacing.
The Magine Pro CMS Console offers our partners fantastic flexibility for manual category curation. We enable operators to configure collections of content independently, including selecting specific video content, category titles and determining where collections appear on the discovery page. Our partners can also boost the prominence of select categories by setting larger thumbnail image sizes for featured content. Follow our step-by-step below within the CMS Console and configure a unique collection of content for your viewers.
Content Curation with Magine Pro’s CMS Console
To learn more about content curation and how categories can be configured within the Magine Pro CMS Console, head over to our knowledge base, and explore other comprehensive content curation and content design guides.
You can also get in touch with the team for more guidance on content curation and customising a Magine Pro-powered streaming service. Check out our blog for additional insights, including a recent post on why curation is key to reducing churn. And learn more about our flexible OTT platform and how we enable our partners to monetise their live events, linear and VOD content seamlessly.
Content Engagement Strategy: Why curation is key to reducing churn
A content engagement strategy will vastly improve user retention rates, which is critical for video streaming service operators where the cost of new customer acquisition is high.
Viewers who deem your streaming service and content engaging are much more likely to stick around and continue watching regularly. They are also inclined to share positive recommendations with their friends and family, leading to increased subscriber numbers and revenue.
At its core, user engagement is about driving viewers’ active participation. For streaming service operators, this means creating a content engagement strategy that offers a wide variety of quality programming and actively encourages users to explore the full breadth of your video streaming service.
Content Engagement & Curation
It’s not enough to simply rely on algorithms that recommend content based on a user’s past behaviour. To keep audiences coming back for more, streaming services need to offer a mix of content that appeals to users’ current interests and trends. Human curation can help bridge this gap by providing context and relevance that automated recommendations may lack.
At Magine Pro, we offer our partners the flexibility to curate their own content categories. Our partners can choose catchy and unique category names, decide what content appears in a category, and even how and where it is displayed in the service.
Manually curating content categories that are original and exclusive to your service is a fantastic way to promote discovery; here are a few of our top tips to get you started:
1. Review your user data and determine what types of content your viewers like to watch. This will help you build content categories that are more likely to resonate with your audience.
2. Create content categories that are seasonal and relevant to all users. Obvious choices include romance in February, horror during October, and family Christmas films during December, but also think outside the box and incorporate other important dates.
3. Create categories that are topical in response to current events. For example, you might want to consider building categories around well-known actors when their latest films are released in theatres.
4. Resurface older popular content from your library to fill new categories. This not only lets you make the most of your existing library but also helps keep the service discovery page fresh.
5. Based on user data, you can build categories that include the most-viewed content. People trust others’ opinions, and if they perceive content to be popular, they are more likely to engage with it.
There are countless other ways to increase content discovery and engagement in your streaming service. At Magine Pro, we offer a flexible OTT platform that can be customised according to your needs. And have a team of experienced experts on hand who can help you launch and grow your OTT business successfully. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you build and launch a successful OTT business, get in touch or book a meeting with the Magine Pro team today.
For more tips on building a content engagement strategy, check out our white paper ‘OTT Discovery: How to stand out amongst the crowd‘ which explores what new streaming services can do to enhance service and content discovery. We also have some useful insights and resources available on our blog.
OTT: How to increase video content views
Streaming service operators are always striving to boost user engagement within their service and, more specifically, increase video content views. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways operators can leverage their content, service, and even experience to optimise discovery for their users, including maximising their metadata for search and running external marketing and social campaigns.
Optimising the User Interface and Experience
One of the best ways to increase video content views is to optimise the interface and enhance the user experience within the streaming service. If users have a positive experience, they’re more likely to return and recommend it to others.
There are several ways operators can optimise the user interface, including making quality content easy to find. Curating rich categories of entertainment and positioning content high up on the discovery page of the service is one such solution.
Magine Pro-powered streaming services allow operators to curate the discovery page thoroughly, including content category curation and selecting content to hero within the top carousel. Our partners can also use the CMS Console to select what artwork and poster sizes are presented and add engaging and informative titles and descriptions to entice users to choose particular movies or series. Adding additional content, such as trailers and even editorials, will also help expand the discovery experience and give users a clearer idea of what’s available.
Making the Most of Metadata
Another way operators can help to increase content views is to ensure metadata is as SEO-friendly as possible. Metadata is data that defines and describes the data object it is linked to. In this context, metadata describes, via text descriptions, the content of a video, making it readable for search engines.
Ensuring that metadata is SEO-friendly will help content appear much higher in search results both inside and outside a streaming service. To do this, providers should focus on using keywords throughout metadata descriptions, including attention-grabbing and descriptive titles, and adding content summaries that accurately reflect what users will see.
Using the Magine Pro CMS Console, our partners are able to upload, manually edit, and even use custom metadata to help enrich their user experiences and improve search results.
Running External Marketing Campaigns
Service operators can also look to increase discovery and views by running external marketing campaigns focusing on select content instead of the entire streaming service. A strategy like this works particularly well when the chosen content is well-known, sought after, and/or exclusive to the service itself.
Utilising digital channels is a fantastic way to generate interest and track a campaign’s success. Google ads and sponsored social media on audience-relevant platforms are great starting points. And can build out further to partnering with trusted companies or influencers who will promote the content to their loyal audiences and help penetrate new markets.
Magine Pro’s Data Insights toolset gives our partners a clear 360 view of their service’s performance, enabling providers to follow the entire user journey from marketing attribution to engagement throughout the customer lifecycle. Data-led insights like these give operators a complete view of a marketing campaign’s performance and whether focused external content strategies are cost-effective and capable of producing the desired outcome.
____________________________________________________________________________________
At Magine Pro, we offer a flexible OTT platform that can be customised according to your OTT business needs. Create a video streaming service with us and monetise your live events, linear and VOD content seamlessly through subscription, advertising, and/or transactional business models. What’s more, we have a team of experienced experts on hand who can help you launch and grow your OTT business successfully.
For more guidance on increasing content discovery, views, and engagement, check out our blog. And if you’re interested in learning more about how we can help you build and launch a successful OTT business, get in touch with us today.
WHITE PAPER | OTT Discovery: How to stand out amongst the crowd
In 2020, online video overtook pay-TV subscriptions globally for the first time, which means the competition for a share of the viewer’s time and wallet is at an all-time high. We explore what new streaming services can do to cut through the noise and stand out from the competition in our latest white paper, OTT Discovery: How to stand out amongst the crowd.
The white paper includes:
- Original research by Omdia exploring how today’s consumers discover content and new online streaming services and, in particular, what these services can do to influence how consumers behave.
- Overview of marketing foundations for new online streaming services to drive awareness, cultivate brand credibility and trust and increase conversion rates.
- Essential streaming service features that enhance the end-user experience, promote content discovery and increase subscriber engagement and retention rates.
- Specialist Magine Pro partners, including FlixOlé and paus, share their marketing experience and insights on discoverability and subscriber growth.
- Expert opinion on the future of OTT and what it means for content and discoverability.
AND MUCH MORE…
Download the white paper: OTT Discovery: How to stand out amongst the crowd here.
You can also watch our recent webinar, OTT Discovery: Expert insights on how to stand out amongst the crowd on-demand now. Join Magine Pro, Omdia, Digital TV Europe and experienced OTT operators for in-depth analysis and discussion around Omdia’s research on consumer behaviours relating to online streaming services and content discoverability.
To find out more about Magine Pro’s thematic OTT partners, including FlixOlé and paus head to our experience page. You can find out more about our flexible OTT solutions and how we can help you build and launch a successful OTT business here.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Magine Pro e-newsletter to stay up-to-date with our latest news, partners, products, and to find out which industry events we’ll be attending next.
WEBINAR | OTT Discovery: Expert insights on how to stand out amongst the crowd
In 2021, online video is firmly at the centre stage of a global audio-visual industry that was once dominated by pay-TV and physical home video. The rapid propagation of online video services means it’s a more competitive market for up-and-coming OTT services than ever before.
Watch our latest webinar, where we explore how today’s audiences discover new online video services and content and what OTT providers can do to stand out amongst the crowd.
Join Magine Pro, Omdia, Digital TV Europe and experienced OTT operators for in-depth analysis and discussion on consumer behaviours around online streaming services and content discoverability, based on original research by Omdia on behalf of Magine Pro.
The session features:
- A first look at Omdia’s research into consumer behaviour and discoverability.
- How consumer behaviour is evolving; the key trends and differences between European countries and the US.
- How today’s audiences are discovering new online video services and content, and what OTT operators can do to influence how customers behave.
- Expert OTT operators share their experiences of improving service and content discoverability and discuss the opportunities and challenges for new operators.
Webinar speakers include:
Matthew Wilkinson is CEO of Magine Pro, which enables partners operating globally to build thriving OTT businesses with live TV and Video-On-Demand platforms. Matthew is responsible for the sales, innovation, delivery, and development of the Magine Pro product globally.
Matthew has over 18 years of experience in Telecom & IT, working with clients in the IT & Cloud, and Media Domains, with deep experience in software development & delivery, SaaS and enterprise solutions, and previously held various leadership roles in strategy & delivery.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Rishi is an experienced professional in film distribution both UK and Internationally. A former executive at Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and Disney. After many years working on distribution deals with Netflix, Amazon and Apple, he turned his attention to the Independent film space, supporting independent filmmakers at paus.tv.
___________________________________________________________________________________
As part of Omdia’s media and entertainment team, Tony Gunnarsson covers the global online video sector, with a specific interest in direct-to-consumer video services, across both subscription and transactional video, as well as online video aggregation.
His main research interests are in the premium, paid-for subscription online video (SVOD). Tony provides analysis of the key developments in the global online video market, consumer insights, and business intelligence.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Stuart is Editor of Digital TV Europe and digitaltveurope.com, the leading source for news and analysis on the digital video business internationally.
With 20 years’ experience as a leading journalist covering pay TV and digital media, Stuart is an authority on topics ranging from the growth of OTT TV, multiscreen and multi-play offerings to the IP-based convergence of video and data services.
Stuart is a familiar face on the industry conference circuit as a moderator.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Watch the webinar: OTT Discovery: Expert insights on how to stand out amongst the crowd
Run time: 69 minutes
_____________________________________________________________________________________
You can also download our latest white paper now, OTT Discovery: How to stand out amongst the crowd, which features Omdia’s full report, as well as, an overview of product features and marketing essentials for new online streaming services to drive awareness, cultivate brand credibility and trust and increase conversion rates.
To find out more about Magine Pro’s partners, including FlixOlé and paus head to our experience page. You can find out more about our flexible OTT solutions and how we can help you build and launch a successful OTT business here.
Subscribe to the Magine Pro e-newsletter to stay up-to-date with our latest news, partners, products, and find out which industry events we’ll be attending next.