创建一个伟大的视频流应用程序的10个基本要素

When Tim Cook introduced the new Apple TV in September by saying that “the future of TV is apps,“他处于苹果典型的追赶模式. TDG 研究的Joel Espelien早在2013年就表示，电视的未来是应用程序, 多年来，精明的视频出版商一直在通过应用程序推出他们的内容.

仍然, 库克的声明进一步强化了这样一种观点, 如果你是一个内容所有者，你还没有一个应用可以在多个设备上运行, 是时候解决这个问题了. We talked to experts across the gamut of the online video workflow to get their insights into what video publishers need to keep in mind as they create apps. 如果你已经有了一个应用, 您可能需要根据以下建议重新评估它.

1. 定义你的产品

“Create a crystal-clear consumer proposition for what it is that you are trying to achieve and stay laser-focused on that,安德鲁·洛克说, NBC新闻产品策略副总裁. “要想清楚该应用在该平台上的用途.”

NBC新闻的观众希望能在上午9点17分收看节目.m. 或者晚上8:42.m. 或者是3a.m. 也不用担心播出的时间安排或者他们想看的顺序. 因此，简单地在应用程序中重现线性广播并不能满足观众的需求.

“避免过于依赖你从网上学到的东西, 尤其是当涉及到像Roku或Apple TV这样的OTT平台时,洛克说. “如果你换了平台，很多经验教训就不会得到很好的应用.”

Almost everyone we spoke to emphasized the importance of planning every aspect of app development carefully. 如果有些东西不起作用，你总是可以修改的, building an app without planning out the necessary components can add significantly to costs.

“我们是新闻y的数字原住民. I think a lot of the time broadcasters and traditional content creators think they can just slap something on an OTT device and people are going to watch it; that’s not always the case,Blake Sabatinelli说, 在线新闻网站新闻y的总经理. “You have to make something that fits the platform and fits the audience, and it has to be good.”

Compelling content is just one part of the story; a methodical approach to the technology behind the content is another vital factor. 维亚康姆 has a central product group tasked with bringing efficiencies to app development across brands.

“我们为维亚康姆的所有品牌提供组件——喜剧中心、尼克儿童频道、小尼克., 我们现在也在我们的视频播放器上安装BET,丹尼尔·巴利斯说, 多平台视频产品高级总监, MTS全球, 维亚康姆. “It doesn’t make sense for all of these brands to be developing software components independently.”

2. 用户体验

视频应用的成功既取决于内容，也取决于用户体验. 这意味着要注意你的受众想要如何浏览你的内容, 从菜单结构到玩家传递再到内容类型.

Locke说道:“我们现在迎来了期待已久的手机开发与电视的融合. “The capabilities of the platforms are greatly increased over what we had 12 or 18 months ago. We are able to envision features and experiment with things that wouldn’t have been possible before.”

今年流行的功能包括开机自动播放, 连续播放, 跨平台查看器创建的监视列表, 现场回放, 推动警报, 服务器端AD插入. 用户还希望有一种简单的登录和支付方式, 还有一个大目录, 他们可以在哪里收藏并列出下一集要看的节目.

发行商如何让观众获得最佳体验?

在产品重新设计中, app development company WillowTree was able to increase market share for a client by about 10 percent in a 30-day period. The redesign improved three key areas: the payment system, stream quality, and the user interface. “我们没有改变内容，”WillowTree的创始人兼首席技术官迈克尔·普里查德(Michael Prichard)说. “我们创造了更好的体验，这增加了他们的数量.”

不管它是新的还是修改过的属性, 专家们的口头禅是“让观众快速进入内容”.”

“我认为移除UI层是一种势不可挡的趋势. 在我们(2015年)发布的所有游戏中, 已经有十几个了, 你可以一键进入主页上的一些视频. 这是一个转变[从2014年开始],卡莱姆·弗莱彻说, 应用开发公司UI Centric的北美高级副总裁.

The one-click approach is being driven by research that reveals Millennials consume an enormous amount of video content. 他们狼吞虎咽地看视频, 因此，应用程序的设计是为了让用户尽可能快地进入和浏览内容.

新闻y很好地概括了对用户体验的重视:“我们是视频创作者, 毕竟, and we should be proud of the work and we should be getting people into the experience as soon as possible,萨巴蒂内利说.

“我们在制作视频时考虑到了Facebook用户, 具体地说, with the user that has their phone in their hands and does not have the volume on but they still want to be able to watch the news,萨巴蒂内利说. “We produce stories 具体地说 with text on screen and subtitles on people who are speaking so viewers can get what they need to know and never have to turn their volume on.”

3. 大数据与体验定制

多年来，“个性化”一直是一个流行词, 在大数据的帮助下, 一家开发公司已经开始以一种独特的方式交付它.

UI Centric使用人工智能来创建基于人口统计信息的模型, 然后将这些信息应用到用户体验中. 利用数据来瞄准观众并不是什么新鲜事, but actually changing the user experience by segmenting out delivery and providing custom user experiences in apps is. UI Centric is taking the web-based practice of A/B testing to see what performs better and using this 信息 to help one of its clients serve up a custom experience.

The result is that UI Centric can deliver a different experience depending on what is more popular for the particular user type.

“[It’s] actually changing the user experience completely by changing the navigation model based on the type of user we think you are,弗莱彻说。.

While few publishers are doing this now, expect it to become standard practice moving forward.

4. 策划广告策略

用户增长正在推动收益机会, 这就是为什么我们看到越来越多的内容所有者对动态广告插入感兴趣, 取代或补充现有的商业广告.

“每个人都试图在用户体验和盈利之间取得平衡,弗莱彻说。. 我会说, make that a core piece of your strategy of how you are delivering advertising and how much of it. 这些政策需要从你的战略开始. A lot of the broadcasters have reduced the numbers on the preroll and then put a very early midroll that makes up those ad units. That’s one of the strategies to make people get into the content and stay into the content.”

一家开发公司评论说，发行商希望在游戏中加入广告, 但没有提供广告策划方面的细节. 有一些问题需要考虑，比如休息多长时间是最佳的? 你允许人们跳过广告吗, 或者你找到一个更奇特的解决方案, 就像YouTube对可跳过广告的做法一样?

Publishers have the chance to be as creative with advertising as some of the content they are delivering through different placement types, 关键字类型, A/B测试变化, 静态vs. 卷前和卷后广告. 请继续关注.

5. 广告技术

一旦你有了广告策略，你就需要一种技术来执行它. 服务器端广告拼接正变得越来越受应用开发者的欢迎. “它让你在所有设备上的体验更加无缝和

更高质量的,朱迪·约翰逊说。, 他是应用开发公司Bottle Rocket的产品管理总监. “We’re even talking about doing server-side ad stitching on live content in some cases within our native player, 不需要第三方播放器.”

“如果应用开发者想要使用服务器端广告插入, 他们通常不需要做任何特别的事情, because the advantage of server-side ad insertion is that the stream playlists [manifests] get modified on-the-fly before they reach the player, 使它们兼容[几乎]任何股票HLS或DASH播放器,Alex Zambelli说, 首席产品经理, iStreamPlanet.

App developers should still make sure their players can handle time-stamp discontinuities and codec changes that can result from server-side ad insertion.

Another great benefit of server-side ads is ensuring the advertisements bought for a particular spot get delivered. “This year we’ve really seen big brands stand up server-side ad insertion and make real money off of this,马特·史密斯说, Avanto的首席布道师. “If you’ve installed an ad blocker on your iPhone and you’re watching the NBC stream through their app, 有百分之0的机会，你将得到一个AD拦截器，以中断该流.”

不过，客户端广告插入也有它的支持者. “客户端广告插入的优势, 而不是服务器端, 方法是，它允许更大的灵活性和可扩展性的目标广告, 但这可能带来更高的应用开发成本,赞贝利说.

Implementing support for client-side ad insertion is a much more labor-intensive task for app developers, as it typically requires integration with third-party SDKs (such as Adobe Primetime) or developing homegrown solutions to ensure seamless transitions between main programs and ads.

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