OTT UX Trade-Offs: What’s Worth the Investment?

In an ideal world, the UX of an OTT platform should always engage audiences, meet evolving needs, and seamlessly adapt to the latest technologies. Yet, the reality is far more complex: audience preferences shift, technological advancements move at lightning speed, and every enhancement requires trade-offs - innovation versus familiarity, functionality versus simplicity, and so on, all under budget constraints. As OTT services grow or expand into new areas, these choices become even more critical.

This Q&A features Nikki Perugini, our Director of Product Design & Advisory, as she shares her knowledge on how OTT businesses can make the right calls on which components of their platforms’ UX to prioritize in different scenarios. By understanding the limitations and navigating through these trade-offs, video streaming businesses can achieve a seamless and effective growth transition without losing sight of what matters most to their audiences.

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When an OTT business prepares for expansion, what key UX components should be prioritized to ensure a seamless growth transition?

Understanding your audience is essential to expanding any business, and OTT is no different. To ensure a successful growth transition, it’s important to understand where this new audience is coming from and what their drivers and needs are. 

Video businesses need to feel confident that their product will meet the new audience’s needs. Validating these needs through user research is a great place to start, followed by making small improvements or adaptations to the UX to suit those needs. Based on this, the main areas we prioritize tend to be onboarding, product offerings, discoverability, and scalability of the UX.

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In the face of rapid technological advancements, increasing user expectations, and tightening budgets, how do we decide between enhancing current features and introducing entirely new ones?

That’s a great question! I always revert back to asking, “Why?” What is the underlying reason behind wanting to change the application? Is it no longer meeting your audience’s needs? If so, why or why not? Once you have those answers, it’s much easier to understand which direction to take. 

Completely overhauling an app can be challenging to justify; often, small UX adjustments to existing features or flows can effectively meet customer needs. With tight budgets, introducing new features - especially untested ones - can be a tough call.

That’s why we always recommend a detailed user testing phase for new features before investing in development. It’s a great way to validate the feature and determine if the value proposition is positive or negative.

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What are the key steps in constructing and implementing a UX differentiation strategy that balances innovation with user familiarity?

It is essential to first develop a deep understanding of the audience and their needs, and equally important is aligning this with the business goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure that the strategy supports broader objectives. Budget considerations for innovation also play a significant role in determining the extent of new features and improvements. 

You need to prioritize the implementation of features that will genuinely enhance the user experience, focusing on elements that users are likely to appreciate rather than just appealing to an innovation trend. When working in an innovative space, especially in OTT, the design must suit both the content and the methods of consumption. 

For instance, while designing an Apple Vision Pro app for a streaming service in New Zealand, our focus was first on getting the core functionality and interactions right before exploring more innovative 3D spaces and storytelling techniques. Balancing innovation with familiarity and functionality ensures a smooth experience while also leaving room for creativity and future development.

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Social media has given rise to short-form content and brought about major changes in users’ viewing habits across multiple devices and platforms. Is there anything we can learn from social media user engagement tactics that could be implemented in OTT UX?

One of the main drivers of this shift is that newer audiences, particularly Gen Z, have a rapidly decreasing attention span for digital content. OTT platforms can adapt to this consumption pattern by supporting snackable content and bite-sized teasers as part of their service, sharing show snippets to attract and engage users, cultivating a dedicated following, and generating hype for content. 

Another tactic is the integration of interactive features, such as likes, shares, and comments, which foster a sense of community and engagement. OTT platforms can implement similar features to allow users to interact with content and each other in real-time. 

A key factor in all these cases is the importance of personalization. Social media platforms excel at tailoring content to individual preferences, and OTT services can mirror this by offering personalized recommendations that reflect each viewer’s habits and tastes—an approach in line with the design principles for Gen Z, who demand content that feels curated and relevant to them.

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There are signs in the industry that show OTT services are evolving beyond just video streaming these days. Platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ are expanding beyond video to include games, music, podcasts, and interactive content, providing a one-stop entertainment hub. 

What do you think of the trend? Could it be widely applicable to other streaming services of lower scale/with lower resources?

We have been tracking this trend for a while, particularly in Asia, where we refer to this phenomenon as a “super app,” where customers can even order food from the same app they are streaming a movie on. I do think there are elements of this trend that can be widely applicable. 

Many media companies have fragmented brand experiences traditionally covering different entertainment verticals such as news, radio, podcasts, and OTT.  It makes complete sense because in a world where technology advancement is fast, we can now combine these entertainment verticals without a huge amount of overhead. This shift allows for more streamlined tech stacks, easier content management, and more opportunities for cross-promotion between sub-brands of the same parent company. However, this approach lends itself to a more complex user experience, making UX strategy a key driver of the success of this trend.

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With immersive experiences like those offered by Vision Pro gaining traction, what are the biggest challenges in integrating these technologies into OTT platforms? How do you see immersive experiences evolving in OTT?

One of the biggest challenges in integrating immersive technologies like Vision Pro into existing OTT platforms is device penetration, primarily due to the high cost of ownership. Another significant hurdle is the expense involved in producing truly immersive content, which is where these headsets excel. 

However, as the technology rapidly improves and prices decrease, I anticipate a much higher adoption rate, creating more opportunities for OTT services to deliver super-premium experiences in the extended reality (XR) space. Apple is also making strides by supporting as many apps as possible on Vision Pro, allowing iPad versions of most apps to run on the headset. While this helps broaden app availability, it presents its own set of challenges for many OTT providers seeking a seamless transition.

Accedo has worked closely with Apple Developer Labs to test and optimize this user experience, making it easier for companies to bring their existing iOS apps to Vision Pro. With our experience in XR solutions, we’re here to support OTT providers ready to explore immersive streaming—whether it’s taking that first step or enhancing what they’ve already built.