Licensing of high-profile IPs gives mobile gaming developers a severe edge. Due to this reason, we are seeing increasing partnerships between them and entertainment brands, contributing to the power of mobile gaming. A fascinating example of such a tie-up is between mobile gaming companies and OTT platforms. The pandemic situation has led to a massive exodus of mobile users seeking the comfort of entertainment in gaming applications. The Big Data generated out of the user activity is pure gold for both game developers and OTT players alike.
Games such as The Walking Dead, South Park, etc., have seen grand success among the gaming community in the past. Since the onset of the pandemic, users across the globe are sumptuously consuming OTT content on their mobile devices. There is an obvious overlap in high degree between OTT and mobile gaming popularity. This scenario has immense business potential for both the developers and OTT firms.
Let’s look at the key business benefits that can arise out of this strategic partnership and instances where this strategy has already been employed.
Big Data Generated From OTT
OTT majors like Netflix maintain a huge database of users’ viewing activity and preferences. Cutting-edge technologies like Machine Learning are leveraged to provide recommendations to users that will keep them hooked.
Research shows that viewers also multitask while watching their favorite movies and series on such platforms. Mobile gaming is right at the top in several countries, including South Africa, among those secondary tasks they perform. According to adcolony.com, over 51% of OTT viewers in South Africa play mobile games while consuming video content. For instance, mobile gamers enjoy card games like Blackjack with near realistic experience from the comfort of their homes on Casinos.co.za you will find the best online Blackjack sites. Experts have listed hundreds of well-researched gaming sites to choose from and plenty of welcome bonuses to grab, this is the preferred destination for Blackjack enthusiasts across South Africa.
Increasing Cross-Promotion Via In-App Features
A common login for OTT users to gain access to mobile games can prove to be a game-changer. In this way, OTT players like Disney could share user viewing activity with game developing teams, and the latter could share the mobile gaming preferences and activities with the former.
OTT companies can also gain access to the device IDs of users and analyze how many of them consume their content via mobile devices. This data can be used to understand the proportion and identities of users who enjoy mobile games while watching OTT.
Trump Card in The Streaming Wars
New and legacy entertainment players have been battling it out for the past few years to capture the throne of OTT market share. Incorporating the mobile gaming element can act as the differentiator between them. Bringing along the gaming crowd/demographics can be that X-factor that makes them ahead in the market.
Disney ventured into the streaming space by launching the Disney+ platform, which was launched in November 2019. They have also bundled their own IP with ESPN plus and Hulu, which supports ads. By no surprise, Apple also launched its streaming equivalent Apple TV+ around the same time.
Gaming companies are also trying to fit into the whole bundle. They are focussing more on partnering with Apple. Many major gaming titles like Electronic Arts’ Real Racing 3 and Crossy Road migrated to the tvOS platform with clear intentions of attracting OTT users to play these games. Every OTT provider is exploring and researching that extra bit of entertainment they can provide their loyal customers. Games can be the solution to this woe.
It is indeed high time OTT players need to think of making some serious investments in partnered IPs with mobile game developers. They quickly realize the pivotal impact mobile gaming can potentially bring to the table and its lucrative nature. The exponentially growing popularity of the mobile gaming market, along with its monetization capability, is definitely worth exploring. Combining that with OTT’s brand presence and digital distribution capability, you have a serious force to reckon with. The creation of the Stranger Things game in 2019 is an example of this growing trend. We expect a blissful time for users who share the love of OTT content and mobile gaming alike.