With staying at home being the new normal now, we are experiencing a rising trend in the popularity of online streaming and OTT platforms. These platforms were born years ago, but lately, they have been adopted by almost the entire globe and the facts and statistics about their fame have proven it all.
A recent report published by Statista on Jan 13th, 2021, talks about the revenue of the SVoD (streaming video on demand) market in the United States. In 2019, the revenue reached 15.9 billion U.S. Dollars which is 10X to that in 2011. These facts clearly and loudly justify the rising demand for OTT and streaming platforms, Netflix being the largest quintessential in the industry.
What is an OTT or streaming platform?
An OTT (over the top) platform is a service that enables you to deliver video or LIVE stream with the help of the internet. These platforms allow the users to play or watch any video content on-demand and at any time.
Such platforms have become the primary source of entertainment for the public now. These platforms can be accessed over various devices, ranging from laptops, mobile phones (including Android or IOS), tablets, and now even the Smart TVs.
The open and broader concept of these platforms has led society to accept them widely. These platforms are doing so well that the movies initially produced to be released in the cinema are now released over such platforms.
The importance of integrating QA in an OTT platform and how’s it all done?
Developing a successful streaming or OTT platform is no cakewalk. The process can be long and complex, keeping in mind the perspective of delivering the best-in-class experience to your users. Consequently, integrating quality assurance into an OTT platform could yield the benefits of providing a flawless experience to your users. Quality Assurance is a crucial process between developing and delivering any software and analyzing the importance of the same for an OTT platform is a must.
Streaming or OTT platforms have become quite a hit lately, and users tend to buy multiple subscription plans from different platforms. However, it would be best to find out what makes your platform a choice for the users to make. Any streaming or OTT platform is judged on various factors like:
Video quality, streaming speed, data consumed, devices used for streaming, or any extra features your platform has to offer.
Hence, for your platform to deliver the above factors and provide a flawless customer experience, it is crucial to integrate QA into your platform. So, you must have a robust software testing as there are many aspects to be tested.
Every test has its importance and part to play for the platform. While integrating QA, platform owners should also consider the following practices:
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Prioritize testing of the features, most relevant to the users. This will reduce the testing time and enable timely delivery.
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Use AI/ML to find what’s most suitable for the viewers.
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Believe in the test automation process, as it will help you save time and money to identify the early-stage errors and bugs.
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Instead of holding the entire process for long, consider breaking into parts and follow an iterative approach while performing OTT platform testing.
OTT platform testing is complex and time-consuming due to the multiple features. Therefore, evaluating and following a strategic approach can make the process seamless.
Top 6 strategies to hit while performing OTT platform testing:
To continue being among the leading streaming or OTT platforms in the market, you need to follow a strategic approach to provide the expected results.
Here is a list of the top six strategies to target during the software testing process:
Delightful user interaction: While strategizing about the quality assurance of your platform, it is your responsibility to evaluate the kind of interaction your user is having with the platform. For example, how much time a movie takes to start playing once the user selects it or how many times the video buffers while playing. Any disappointing experience related to these can make you lose your users.
Responsiveness in fluctuating traffic: Just the way it is important to make your platform used to heavy traffic; similarly, it is important to make the platform work as desired, under fluctuating traffic. There can be times when traffic might rise and fall within minutes, and how does your platform respond to that, is important to judge.
Multi-browser activity: Any streaming or OTT platform should be made accessible through all the different types of browsers because multiple users have multiple browser options.
Specified data consumption: While performing quality engineering for your OTT platform, you should consider checking the amount of data your platform can consume, because heavy data consumption or unspecified data could result in a bad user experience.
How has Netflix aced its QA game to become one of the leading players in the industry?
Netflix, one of the leading giants in the media industry, has had its history. To explain the importance of QA, there could be no one better than Netflix.
By the end of 2020, Netflix had 203.66 million subscribers, as per the study published by Statista. With such a huge set of audience, there comes a huge responsibility for the platform to maintain the quality of its service. Because it’s the quality that has made Netflix what it is today.
Netflix believes in moving on with time; as a result, with every passing year, Netflix knows how to grow. The team performs continuous testing and delivers its updated features over the website. Some testers perform thousands of tests at the back of your screens so that you could continue to believe in the quality of its service.
Conclusion:
By this time, you would have understood the need for integrating QA to a streaming or OTT platform. As the QA process can be very time-consuming and require expanded resources, it is always an excellent option to seek advice and consider working with domain experts to help you achieve your desired goals. Just like you want your customers to have a wonderful experience while watching their favorite on-demand video, similarly, you too deserve a seamless quality engineering experience from trusted QA experts.