In the crowded streaming landscape, a large content library is no longer enough to guarantee success. Viewers are drowning in a "tyranny of choice," and the battle for their attention is fierce. For streamers to stand out, drive long-term loyalty, and maximize their revenue potential, they must move beyond generic experiences and embrace true personalization.
The future of streaming isn’t about what you show everyone; it’s about what you show each individual viewer. This shift from a broadcast mindset to a viewer-centric model is essential for thriving in the modern OTT (Over-The-Top) world.
The critical challenge: From choice paralysis to perfect discovery
The core challenge for any streaming service is content discovery. When users are faced with thousands of titles but no clear path to what they want, they experience choice paralysis. If a user can’t easily find something they want to watch, they stop watching. And when they stop watching, they eventually stop paying. This is why personalization, powered by smart data insights, is the solution.
By leveraging real-time behavioral data, enriched content metadata, and AI-powered algorithms, streamers can create an experience that feels intuitively tailored to every user's evolving tastes. This hyper-personalization translates directly into the key performance indicators that drive your business:
1. Maximizing engagement and watch time
A generic homepage is a missed opportunity. A personalized homepage, however, is a direct conversation with the viewer. By analyzing minute-by-minute viewing behavior—what they watched, how long they watched, what they skipped, and even the time of day they watched—the system can curate relevant content. This goes beyond simple genre matching. It includes:
- Contextual curation: Anticipating a user's current mood or environment. For instance, recommending a short, lighthearted series on a mobile app during a commuter’s peak travel time or a high-production-value movie for a weekend evening on a Smart TV.
- Deep discovery: Surfacing long-tail library content that a user is statistically likely to love, preventing an over-reliance on new releases.
- Retention tools: Automatically managing and prioritizing features like a “Continue Watching” row, personalized for each user to shorten the time to re-engagement.
This focus on relevance captures attention, keeps viewers watching for longer, and prevents the "doom-scrolling" that leads to platform abandonment. Data proves this works: 24i clients have seen viewers stay nearly 1.8x longer, leading to significant boosts in overall watch time.
2. Driving monetization
The increase in engagement directly impacts the bottom line through 3 primary models:
Advertising (AVOD/FAST) revenue
For ad-supported models, data-driven personalization is revolutionizing monetization. By enriching ad requests with detailed audience segmentation and behavioral insights, streamers can move past simple ad insertion to deliver highly targeted, valuable ads.
This ability to connect specific user profiles (e.g., “a parent who watches sci-fi and is likely to buy a car in the next six months”) with relevant campaigns means advertisers pay higher CPMs (Cost Per Mille). This delivers a better ROASI for advertisers and, critically, a less disruptive, more relevant experience for the viewer, balancing monetization with user satisfaction.
Subscription (SVOD) revenue
A personalized experience feels more valuable and, crucially, indispensable. When the platform consistently delivers content that feels like it was chosen just for them, the perceived value of the subscription increases dramatically. This significantly increases subscriber stickiness and drives down churn.
Attrition rates are a critical concern for all streamers; a data-driven personalization strategy can result in up to 43% lower churn, securing long-term recurring revenue. Furthermore, these insights can power automated viewer retention outreach, sending personalized emails or push notifications featuring content that will specifically tempt a lapsed user back to the service.
Transactional (TVOD / PPV) revenue
In the traditional premium release window, TVOD remains a vital revenue stream that anchors on urgency and exclusivity. By enabling users to pay for individual titles, often blockbuster premieres or niche, high-demand content, TVOD capitalizes on immediacy and audience passion. The same personalization engines that drive AVOD and SVOD success can also enhance TVOD performance by identifying viewers most likely to convert based on genre affinity, previous purchase behavior, or engagement peaks.
Additionally, TVOD is proving increasingly valuable for live event monetization, from concerts and sports to virtual premieres, where limited-time access and community-driven excitement justify premium pricing. When paired with real-time analytics and dynamic pricing models, TVOD offers streamers an agile, high-margin complement to their subscription and ad-supported strategies.
The 24i difference: A partnership in data science
A great personalization strategy requires a robust, intelligent, and flexible foundation. At 24i, we position our AI-powered personalization platform as the engine that powers this transformation.
The 24i personalization module is an advanced, flexible solution built on a sophisticated blend of AI-powered algorithms, including collaborative filtering, neural networks, and model blending, complemented by human analysis and editorial control. This hybrid approach allows for the system to rapidly evolve with user behavior while giving the streamer control over content strategy (e.g., boosting a newly acquired title).
Tailored solutions for diverse needs
In the fast-paced world of streaming, one-size-fits-all solutions simply don't work. The data needs of a global broadcaster with live channels (like our work with RTVE Play) differ wildly from those of a niche SVOD service. That is why 24i doesn't just deliver a technology platform; we forge a true partnership.
We offer flexible tiers, such as Essentials for services new to personalization, Advanced for deeper engagement, and Enterprise, which layers managed data science services on top of the platform. This enterprise model is ideal for established services that want to fully outsource their personalization to our experts, knowing that the solution will be continuously fine-tuned to their specific business KPIs, such as:
- Integrating with existing Infrastructure: The platform can integrate seamlessly via API into any existing streaming backend or content management system (CMS), making powerful personalization accessible to a broader range of providers.
- Solving the 'cold start' problem: We blend smart defaults (trending, editorial picks) with rapid feedback loops to ensure even brand-new users receive high-quality recommendations immediately.
- Driving discovery: Our personalization engine has led to a 340% boost in the number of titles users watch, broadening content discovery and increasing the ROI on the entire content library.
We believe that your data is your most valuable asset, and our mission is to provide the insights and tools that let you leverage it to its maximum potential. By working with 24i, you gain a partner dedicated to delivering a truly personalized, profitable user journey.
Ready to stop guessing and start knowing? Unlock the power of your data and create a truly personalized, profitable user journey with 24i.
