Making a streaming service is a great next step for an established entertainment brand. Streaming services are in high demand and, in particular, streaming to mobile is really popular. There is just something about watching your content whenever you want, whether that’s commuting to work, out in the wilderness, or with your black 60-inch screen sitting next to you.
But there is a lot that goes into optimizing your platform for mobile. If you’re an entertainment brand looking to cash in on this addiction to our phones, take a look at our guide to optimizing your streaming service for the mobile.
Don’t just think about the content
Whether you’re hosting your streaming service or a website, the host is as important as the content you’re streaming. How your site or app looks will reflect on the rest of the brand, like any other business website. You will want it to look professional so that the customer knows your brand is professional.
You will also want to make sure it’s well laid out so that your viewers can find everything they need to. You are likely to have a catalogue of content that needs to be found by the viewer. They should be able to see clearly on a tiny 6-inch screen, and physically navigate it as well, where they are going.
Internet users and fickle and impatient creatures. They won’t stand for an app they can’t use and won’t last long on a site that’s full of glitches. It would be enough to have you losing subscribers if they come across one too many bugs or long loading screens. Make sure everything around the content you showcase is optimal to keep your users.
Choosing a service
As for the actual content itself, it has to be optimized for use on a mobile phone. That means compressed into a smaller screen size and a more primitive audio output, without losing any discernable quality. And remember that the ear is more sensitive than the eye. The audio quality is definitely just as important as the visual.
Services like what Red Bee offers, namely Playout, will make this process a lot simpler. Playout is designed to transmit data to target audiences through various platforms and broadcast channels, including mobile, tablet and desktops. They boast speed and ease of scale without losing visual quality.
With this service, not only will you be able to broadcast through different channels, but to different platforms, if you were to outsource your content to a sister site, for example. Playout also offers the ability for live events, so you can make your streaming site as engaging as possible.
Portrait vs landscape
The ongoing “portrait vs landscape” has been around since we found we could watch on our phones. It’s a fierce debate online, with users even making songs about it. YouTube went for landscape, Netflix, the first streaming service, went for landscape, and other streaming services followed suit.
And yet, there has been a persistent attempt to buck that trend. While the streaming services were establishing themselves, social media stuck to portrait mode, with Vine and then TikTok eventually blurring the line between private and public content. Since then, there have been attempts to make portrait the streaming norm, with projects like the short form streaming service Quibi launching – and failing.
So, what perspective you go for tends to come down to what type of platform you’re making. If you are making a streaming service, you would be best going with landscape or take a big risk.