Understanding OTT(over the top) technology
Tags: computerscience, beginners, ott
Published: 2021-10-17 13:35:06

<div style="text-align: justify"> We all witnessed how the consumption of online content has drastically increased in the last few years, although it is happening around the globe there are multiple factors that catalyzed this trend in India, and that are yes very cheap internet provided by **Jio** and affordable Chinese smartphones also among all the devices available mobile devices are the major medium of content consumption, another major reason was the global pandemic which forced everyone to stay at homes and reduced the sources of entertainment, eventually people started to try out other sources of entertainment like Hotstar, Netflix and many more.

But among all these sudden changes something is missing and that is the actual technology that made all this possible and i.e. _**OTT video streaming**_.
</div>



---

### Overview of OTT

<div style="text-align: justify"> 
OTT (over the top) (originally used for devices such as Apple TV which uses the internet to stream the content), refers to the distribution of video content over the internet, bypassing traditional linear or pay-TV services to bring content directly to end-user on their internet-connected devices—their phones, smart TVs, and others

even though OTT has been there before but it's now becoming more popular as a media thing.
There are few terms associated with OTT and there are OTT Devices, OTT Services, OTT Platforms, and OTT Apps.
</div>


#### OTT Devices

These are any device which can bypass traditional methods and connect to the internet such as smartphones, smart TV's

#### OTT Services

These are the content providers such as Netflix, Disney Plus Hotstar that anyone can watch anytime, anywhere they want 

#### OTT Apps

These applications are built according to the hardware specification of the device and act as the medium that makes all things work as the apps make it possible to consume content on devices provided by the content providers

#### OTT Platforms

These are the companies that provide a platform using which anyone can  launch their own app for OTT such as uscreen OTT platform for their viewers to watch

---

### Benefits of OTT


Apart from the features like:
> on-demand consumption,
> high-quality experience,
> increased options to choose from.

OTT is much more than that and that is the reason big media houses are investing in the space, that less understood corner is the business side of OTT space.

<div style="text-align: right">OTT Apps utilities the machine learning models to identify the consumer's online behaviors and activities in identifying the demand in the market and based on these insights big players can decide what content to buy and what not for placing on the app, also the OTT Ads works in a similar fashion which makes use of AI&ML to gather the data and identify the needs of the consumer and based on the needs the ads are placed such that it aligns with the interest of the viewer leading to enriched experience for the user and better strategy for the business owners campaign </div>


Also, it is not that OTT is only for big players many new media houses and individuals are rising with the increased popularity which is heading to the establishment of business for content providers where they can provide content to the audience for consumption on their own pace.

---

### The Future

<div style="text-align: justify"> OTT does seem very interesting and it does have disrupted the traditional TV and entertainment industry, as during the Lockdown period many films that were supposed to be released on big screens either stopped or moved to the services such as Netflix, Hotstar, etc and the proved to be an absolute hit for the business of those movies.

It is already visible that many people have started to cancel their cable TV subscription since none watches it anymore.
also, there is some work going on in VR with the OTT area which is very fascinating, VR in itself is very exciting, and being able to stream it will open up a whole new space of both opportunities and experience.
if you are interested in VR and OTT do read this [pwc-vr-ott forecast](https://www.mesaonline.org/2018/06/05/pwc-forecast-vr-ott-video-among-major-me-growth-segments-through-2022/) </div>