What Is Audience Segmentation and Why Does It Matter for OTT Streaming Platforms?

Viewers of a given TV show or movie tend to have similar characteristics. Producers and advertisers alike try to understand those similarities and identify the most effective way to target their audience with more content and better ads. This process is called market segmentation, and it has huge ramifications for live streaming services as well. In fact, OTT TV platforms provide even more opportunities to dig deeper into your audience and learn more about your viewers.

What Is Audience Segmentation, and Why Does It Matter for OTT TV Streaming Platforms?

Audience Segmentation Drives Live Streaming Services

If you compare OTT services to traditional cable, it's easy to see that OTT gives you access to a wider variety of viewers. Traditional cable channels could only survive if they had a large enough audience to justify the high expense in production. In contrast, modern media production can be done much more affordably without an expensive studio backing the work. As a result, interests that would have been considered too niche for TV can flourish on OTT platforms.

This is especially true for live streaming. Given its extremely low up-front cost, virtually anyone can broadcast themselves. Podcasts have begun to broadcast live on set. Talk shows have taken off on OTT. Instructional and educational content has also seen significant growth on live streaming platforms. With such a broad selection of content, OTT platforms attract a wider array of viewers, resulting in more segmentation in the audience. This increased segmentation actually makes it easier to target the right people.

You Can Target Your Audience on OTT Platforms

The key to OTT's success is the use of algorithms to recommend content and keep viewers engaged. These algorithms understand the individual user's preferences and compare them to similar individuals. Essentially, algorithms rely on audience segmentation to determine what to recommend next. You can take advantage of that as a content creator. When you upload content, you can tag it according to both topic and audience characteristics. These tags help push content to the right viewer.

OTT allows you to be much more specific with your targeting. You can factor in location, education level, and other interests. If you film a show in a particular town, tag it! Capitalize on another program's success by targeting people who watch that program. If you live stream academic debates, target college students down to their major. Targeting your particular segment of the global audience will help you build a loyal fan base quickly.

Each Platform Caters to Specific Segments

One of the challenges with OTT platforms is that they've become increasingly segmented themselves. For example, YouTube's audience tends to be made up of more young adults. Meanwhile, fewer than 10% of Twitch users are over 45. However, your content's target audience might have some viewers on each platform. To reach as many people as possible, you'll want to publish your content on multiple platforms. With the Lightcast Media Cloud, you can do this in one easy upload.

Request a demo of Lightcast to speak with one of our streaming media consultants and see how our Media Cloud can help you get your content in front of the right people every time.