Categories: Technology

Why collaborating with competitors is a win-win in the world of OTT content players

“The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” – Henry Ford

For many businesses, competition is a constant motivator to stay ahead and improve their offering, ensuring that their customers stay well away from competitors. However, for some industries collaborating with competitors can yield better results than competing against them. While this might sound weird, for Over The Top (OTT) content players, this is a very prosperous strategy.

According to a recent article in Business Line, content creation requires a lot of time, strategy, ideas, and investment. Thus, to increase efficiency and to share content more easily, OTT players are partnering with each other. For example, AltBalaji has tied up with OTT platform YuppTV, and SonyLiv has joined hands with Arré to reach out to a larger audience base with differentiated content.

“The main aspect in these collaborations is access to good quality content. Most OTT companies today are content players as well as delivery engines. In that scenario, it is about widening reach as well as revenues. And that can happen faster through tie-ups than through competition,” Mritunjay Kapur, Head – Technology, Media and Telecom at KPMG India, told BusinessLine.

James Patrick

To get a better understanding of how this works and why this industry is unique, we spoke with James Patrick, who works in Growth & Content Strategy for Unreel.me, the leading platform for networks and publishers launching OTT streaming services, who says “On its face, seeking out opportunities to lend content to competitive  streaming services might seem counterintuitive. The truth is, if the content is compelling, leveraging the audience of a rival to market and supplement revenue can be a boon for any OTT streaming service.”

He adds “With such a fragmented market, a significant portion of viewers on a rival’s streaming service are not on your own.  By exposing a competitor’s audience to a some, but not all of your content, you suddenly increase your reach and have the chance to attract new users to your streaming service.”

While there is no doubt that top OTT services like Unreel are making their own businesses better all the time, it is clear that there is also plenty of opportunities to do so while collaborating with potential competitors, creating a win-win for everyone involved.

Sam Brake Guia

Sam is an energetic and passionate writer/presenter, always looking for the next adventure. In August 2016 he donated all of his possessions to charity, quit his job, and left the UK. Since then he has been on the road travelling through North, Central and South America searching for new adventures and amazing stories.

View Comments

Recent Posts

MWC 2025 Barcelona was the ultimate experiential marketing dream

Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona is the biggest annual event in the mobile technology…

13 hours ago

GAN, Tec de Monterrey partnership highlights cross-border startup ecosystem building in Latin America amid trade dispute

Despite recent tensions between the United States government and Latin American countries over migration and…

5 days ago

This founder started out with US $5K to his name. Now, he owns a multi-million-dollar global business

Meet Nitin Seth, the Co-Founder and CEO of Screen Magic (SMS Magic), a messaging leader…

5 days ago

Building smarter: AI, the ultimate tool transforming an old-age industry

In this Brains Byte Back, we sit down with Hari Vasudevan, founder and CEO of…

5 days ago

When AI Goes Rogue: 8 Lessons from Implementing LLMs in the Healthcare Industry that Could Save the Future

By Santosh Shevade, Principal Data Consultant at Gramener – A Straive company All pharmaceutical companies…

6 days ago

Digital Public Infrastructure will enable public, private entities to control your access to essential goods, services & mobility

Digital Public Infrastructure is a top-down agenda coming from unelected globalists, bureaucrats, and their partners…

2 weeks ago