How Do You Monetize OTT Video?

Even the most passionate creators hope to turn some profit on their project. In today's video marketplace, there are abundant opportunities to turn clicks into cash by monetizing your content and capitalizing on your audience. However, to truly monetize OTT video, you have to think beyond what the OTT video service offers you as a creator. Platforms also need to make money, and they do so at your expense. So, how can you monetize your OTT video and stay ahead?

How Do You Monetize OTT Video?

Leverage the Platform's Opportunities

The platform you choose to publish on will have a suite of options available for you to monetize your content. You should exploit these to the fullest as they will probably be your first source of income. From there, you can use earnings provided by the OTT video platform itself, for instance YouTube, to fund further expansion. However, each platform has its own economy. Consider publishing on multiple platforms. Doing so can give you the best of all worlds.

For example, YouTube will give creators a portion of ad revenue, but it also offers you the option to create memberships for fans who want to support the channel directly. Meanwhile, ad revenue on another platform like AppleTV or Amazon FireTV could be much more lucrative since it's not split with as many people. Spreading out to multiple platforms also helps you build an audience, which is crucial for the next step.

Seek Out Sponsors

Don't limit yourself to what the OTT platform offers. Every creator is free to sign agreements with other companies, and you should consider using your space to do so. A live-read advertisement from your star talent is worth much more than the scraps from the general ad revenue pool. Explore your niche and consider what products or services your audience might also appreciate.

When you seek out sponsors, instead of your viewers getting whatever the algorithm recommends, they get meaningful advertisement that produces a stronger impact. Successful marketing partnerships will give you data you can use in future negotiations. However, real wealth from OTT lies far beyond advertisements.

Build a Brand Outside the OTT Video Service

The most successful OTT creators have built a brand beyond their platform. When a creator reaches this stage, they no longer need the platform to survive. They sell merchandise, perform live events, provide their own services; activities which generate much more revenue than any advertising opportunity ever could.

Mark Rober makes more from his private line of engineering toys than from what YouTube pays for his views. Years from now, we will likely remember Letterkenny and its creator Jared Keeso much more than we recall the platform it first streamed on, the obscure Crave TV. The most successful content creators use platforms as a launchpad, not as their endgame.

Empower the Process

Key to this entire monetization process is building an audience. That obviously starts with producing great content, but getting that content in front of as many eyes as possible is just as important. Without an audience, there's no money. Modern content publishing tools can help you reach more people faster.