A STUDY ON PERCEPTION AND UTILIZATION OF

OTT(over-the-top) PLATFORM BY UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES

Index Terms - Search Engine OTT, Social

gratification, Habitual use, subscription
intention

1.1INTRODUCTION

Over the top (OTT) services media are provided directly

through the Internet to all video and streaming media, giving
users access to films or TV shows on their fingertips. Most
OTT providers have a specific application, website, or page
where a user can sign up for subscription to access the
particular benefits. All medium content is transmitted via the
Internet during the broadcast through OTT, without the
operator's involvement. India has seen a massive increase in
video content consumption on various platforms in recent
years. This article examines the perception of consumers and
the factors affecting people's preferences to use OTT platforms.
It presumes that a person strives for autonomy, learning, and
emotional instrumental satisfaction through OTT services. Our

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paper, therefore, covers the technology acceptance model
(TAM) and uses Gratification Theory (Katz, Blumler, and
Gurevitch, 1973) to investigate the ease of use and social
satisfaction of consumers and their ritualized, instrumental, and
social happiness, which influences the purpose in using this
technology. The paper begins with Introduction, and followed
by Literature review, Methodology, Data Analysis and
interpretation with a conclusion. Students are spending more
time on online platforms making the internet an essential part of
their lives. The time spent on digital media by an average adult
in the US and UK has doubled in just over four years from
2010 to 2014 [1]. When it comes to what exactly the users are
consuming online, the “content is king” phrase aptly comes to
mind. Forecasts regarding global video consumption expect it
to command 82% of the entire internet traffic by the year 2022
up from 75% in 2017 [2]. To harness such massive growth
potential in online video consumption, many content providers
such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. have come up
with the alternative model of subscription-based video on
demand services (SVoD). These lean and nimble over-the-top
(OTT) applications, enabled by technological advances such as
smartphones, super-fast IP networks, open source platforms,
innovative services, cutting edge functionalities and shift in
consumer preferences towards their “freemium” based business
models are seeing ever-increasing adoption rate [3]. With the
expected revenue growth (CAGR) of 5% and expected user
penetration rate of 10% by 2022, the current average revenue
per user (ARPU) of these OTT service segment stands at 44
USD marking its enormous success worldwide [28]. This
robust growth in OTT on-demand video consumption is
accompanied by a global decline in offline consumption in
terms of TV viewership and data operators’ subscriptions [4].

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However, this global consumption dynamic seems to lose its
track in India where despite the considerable growth and
potential in digital media consumption and entry of global and
local OTT applications such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar
etc., TV viewership rate has not only registered a steady growth
rate of 12% over the past two years but has revamped itself
[31]. The major drivers cited for such exceptional growth of TV
are family viewing habits, rural consumers, preference of local
and regional content, etc. Nevertheless, in a diverse and young
country like India which is the second largest online market in
the world (next only to China), simultaneous digital
consumption is on the rise and is bound to grow in the coming
future. This growth is backed up by the rise in the accessibility
and affordability of high speed and high-quality digital
infrastructure over recent years in the country that has
transitioned the media consumption from traditional platforms
(TV, Radio, and Print) to new media or online platforms
(YouTube, Facebook, etc.).
With increased internet and smartphone penetration, internet
users are spending more time on their devices with 2.3 h of
daily online consumption per capita estimated by 2021 [32].
Further, 21% of the total time spent on digital media goes to
audio and visual entertainment with the associated consumer
spending expected to grow by 2.5 times by 2020 [29]. A sharp
increase in video traffic consumption has been witnessed
revealing users’ preferences for on-demand multimedia content.
Much of this video traffic is composed of YouTube, OTT
video-on-demand services such as Hotstar and Netflix and
Mobile TV services such Ditto, TataSky with estimated
revenue growth of 3.9% worldwide and 5.3% in India by 2024
(Statista, 2020). Thus, the proposition of highly personalized
video content either aggregated or created for the tech-savvy

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internet users of India holds promising future for OTT service
providers.
However, OTT providers are currently way behind the telecom
operators when it comes to attracting and retaining users. Since
2016, almost 836 million new viewers have joined the
television platform in India as compared to just 60 million
viewers of the leading OTT video service provider in the
country (BARC Broadcast India Survey, 2018). Amidst this
counterintuitive market scenario in India, wherein the
traditional media is still dominating the media consumption
market with a strong foothold in the rural and regional corners
of the country, participants’ demographics may not be the only
explanation to strong foothold of television media. Also, with
over five years of entry into the Indian media market by large
OTT video service providers such as Hotstar, Netflix, etc., the
user penetration rate of only 4.6% as against the global rate of
16.2% reflects the need to better understand the target market
and their expectations from the SVoD providers in India
(Statista, 2020). The diverse socio-economic and cultural
backdrop of India necessitates a systematic inquiry into the
reasons for adopting or resisting SVoD.
Since, consumers' reasons for resistance and adoption can co-
exist during the life of innovation and can be explained by
similar factors [5], the present study aims to uncover both the
reasons for adopting and resisting the SVoD service in addition
to understanding the demographic profile of Indian SVoD
users. In particular, the study seeks to address two main
questions: (i) What are the underlying factors influencing the
willingness or unwillingness to subscribe to an OTT video
SVoD service? (ii) What are the demographic profiles of Indian
SVoD service users based on the reasons they provide for their
adoption of OTT SVoD services? Addressing the first question

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will provide researchers and practitioners (telecom operators
and TV broadcasters as well as the OTT video service
providers) insights into the factors that they need to focus to
attract and retain viewers. Answering the second question will
uncover the consumers’ reasons for subscribing or not
subscribing to their service. This will generate clarity regarding
their target segments' needs and expectations from their service.
Along with providing insights to the practitioners, the study
contributes to the growing research on content aggregation and
sharing ecosystem by identifying the antecedents to OTT
subscription and non-subscription. The study also furthers the
vast literature on technology adoption by conducting
simultaneous exploration of both system 1 and system 2
cognition factors.
The next section covers the related literature relevant to the
study followed by a section on methodology. After providing a
detailed description of study design and method in
methodology section, the study proceeds with sections on data
analysis and results, findings and discussion, implications, and
conclusion.

1.2.SCOPE OF STUDY

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This research focuses on the OTT (Over the Top) or in other
words streaming service providing content online. The
development of IT has disturbed a traditional media
ecosystem, and new media has brought changes to the
market, such as Netflix [3]. The increase in media
consumption in the world has become the catalyst for
increasing OTT media subscriptions and consumer
accessibility to media contents around the world [6].
Similarly, the smartphone penetration in India is expected to
grow by 520 million dollars by 2020, and broadband
penetration from 14% to 40% in 2020[7]. OTT affordable
mobile phones and Internet plans, such as Reliance Jio,
launched in 2016 with low pricing plans, also boost the
growth of OTT platforms. Recently, the Coronavirus
Outbreak (COVID-19) pandemic and its social preventive
distancing measures have increased pay streaming
subscriptions [2]. Due to all of these mainstream Indian
channels, Alt Balaji, ZEE5, Hotstar, Voot, and others could
enter the OTT market easily. The number of Indian
consumers inclined to an OTT platform [6] and various
intentions is motivated by OTT technology, quality,
convenience, that consists of 70 million video viewers in
India and $1.3 million OTT subscriber payments. India has a
solid chance of expanding its market and improving brand
equity to attract new consumers. Yet, the past study found
does not include many variables, and there is not much
research on OTT in India to the best knowledge of the
authors. Therefore, only TAM and UGT are used for analysis
as TAM and UGT provide a better understanding of intent
[2].

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1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Challenge 1: More Power is Needed

The OTT platform handles high-resolution video data. As a
result, operating these platforms will require additional
power. The rising demand for storage capacity is due to
increased electricity, energy, and fibre capacity use.
 To handle the multiple versions that are generated, more
storage is required.
 Special IP switches capable of managing high line data
rates are required for higher-capacity fibre connections.
 This boosts clock speeds, which further increases
throughput latency.
The solution to this problem is multicasting technology.
Multicasting is an IP protocol mechanism for broadcasting a
shared data stream using reserved IP addresses. The usage of
OTT platforms for internet distribution is becoming more
common.
Challenge 2: Content delivery is poor (speed and quality)
Meeting client expectations is one of the most difficult
aspects of OTT content delivery. With each new experience,
piece of content, or feature, customers want more from the
OTT platform or the content itself. This is applicable not only
for new Ott platforms, but also for established Ott platforms
like HBO Go, Netflix, and others, who are concerned about
the ability to develop the next big thing.
Challenge 3: Using the incorrect revenue model

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In the United States alone, there are about 340 million
subscription-based revenue (SVOD) subscriptions. For a long
time, most people expected that transactional video-on-
demand (TVOD) would be the next big thing, and most
educational platforms were no exception. The subscription-
based VOD income model, on the other hand, has seen
continuous growth.
Understand that each OTT platform serves a different kind of
audience, and the best solution to this challenge is to
establish a dynamic revenue model that appeals to all of
them. Most OTT providers offer a variety of revenue models
from which to choose for your company. Always keep this in
mind.
Challenge 4: Problem with the Content
Content is at the heart of OTT platforms, even if it may not
appear to be the most important factor in attracting viewers. It
is also true that these services will fail in the long run if they
are unable to create and deliver the content that viewers
desire.
Giving niche content is a fantastic way to solve this
difficulty. WWE and Crunchyroll are two examples of niche
content providers that have excelled. This solution was
extremely successful for CuriosityStream and Dramafever.
So, exactly what is niche content? It all simply refers to
avoiding the pitfall of producing generic content. It involves
giving viewers something unique and different.
Challenge 5: Retaining viewers

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One of the most challenging problems that OTT providers
face is keeping their audience. Among the various concerns
in this issue are:
 Providing the content that viewers seek
 Providing high-definition video
 Advertisement content should be non-intrusive and
allow viewers to bypass it if they so desire.
It's simple to understand why getting these components right
is so important. Intruding advertising and poor video image
quality are two significant reasons why consumers skip
specific content.
It’s clear that the OTT industry is growing more and more
competitive and that providers need to actually offer if they
want to attract and retain viewers. This is more than just
providing excellent content; it also includes creating an
outstanding overall experience. Many providers are
partnering with an OTT platform to resolve these issues and
produce content that users want to see.
Challenge 6: Management of expectations
This is no less of a problem since it is an internal matter. Just
because some companies have succeeded in OTT operations
does not mean that everyone will. There's no assurance that a
company will be as profitable or earn returns as quickly as its
investors expect.
To summarise, a company can increase its subscriber base
and even make a profit, yet it will still be killed out since
internal expectations were set too high.
Challenge 7: Moving Forward in a Competitive Market

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For starters, national smartphone usage, which is a major
measure of digital adoption in developing countries, is
predicted to reach. Everything is falling into place for Indian
OTT providers, as they stand to benefit from a big potential
market of over 100 million customers, which is growing at a
rate of 35% per year. OTT platforms have a bright future in
our increasingly digitising society – but only if they can
satisfy the demands of their consumers and quickly fix
current user experience concerns. Otherwise, even if market
conditions are favourable, businesses may lose more users
than they gain.
Challenge 8: Video quality
OTT providers must provide consumers with a seamless
viewing experience free of jitters and delays in order to
compete with broadcast television. India's current internet
infrastructure, on the other hand, prohibits a consistent
experience across the country. Because of the slower than
average Internet bandwidth, buffering costs OTT players
about a quarter of their audience.
To overcome this issue, OTT providers are teaming up with
telecommunications companies to combine their
entertainment offerings with 4G capabilities.
Challenge 9: Piracy of videos
Since the beginning of regular television, piracy has been a
concern. Video piracy affects a business a lot of money, as
well as users and reputation. User data and content leaks are
both at danger when OTT platforms are hacked. In the United
States, about 21% of the population watches pirated
television.

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Piracy of video can be overcome in a variety of ways. Using
DRM, digital watermarking, encryption, and other security
technologies to improve the security of your OTT platform
can dramatically reduce this risk.

1.4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 To study the factors which influence the usage of OTT

Platforms among the students.

 To compare the usage of OTT platforms based on

gender,age and locale.

 To compare the usage of OTT Platforms before,after and

during lockdown.

 To understand how the the increase in screentime by

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 binge watching content in OTT platforms has affected the
sleep cycle.

 To understand the likely preference regarding OTT

platforms or theaters among the students.

1.5.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

We present Figure 1 to describe the overall research

framework of this study below.

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 FIGURE 1. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

As shown in the research framework, we identify seven

variables to test the proposed seven
hypotheses. The variables are described in turn next.

1.5.1.POPULATION

1.5.2.SAMPLING METHODS

1.5.3.SAMPLING SIZE

The data were collected from students attending a public

university in the SASTRA UNIVERSITY,THANJAVUR.
Respondents were enrolled in either graduate or undergraduate
programs in a
variety of business courses, and were likely to have
encountered or used a form of OTT services in their daily
activities. The survey questionnaire consisted of () questions,
comprising the
individual items listed above. Responses to these questions
ranged from ‘strongly agree’ to
‘strongly disagree’ on the scale of 1-7. The remaining two
questions pertained to demographical
information. We gathered () completed survey questionnaires.
After screening the data, two
unusable responses were dropped, therefore the final data
sample is ().

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The majority of the sample (%) are female; %() of the
respondents are male, while the
remaining ()% chose not indicate. As well, ()% of respondents
belonged in the 18-22 years
age group (1), followed by 23-28 years (2) at ()%, 29-33years
(1) at ()%, and finally 34-40
years (5) at ()%.

1.5.4.TOOLS

To further study our model/theory, we ran various regression

models. By doing this, we were able
to pinpoint more clearly what factors and/or combination of
factors impact the decision to switch
from Cable/Satellite TV to OTT services, and what devices are
used for TV entertainment. To
explain the Intention to Use OTT services, we propose a
general multivariate statistical model as
follows:

Y1 = β0 + β1X1 + β 2X2 + β3X3 + β4X4 + β5X5 + ε

where Y1 = Intention to Use
X1 = Perceived Ease of Use
X2 = Perceived Usefulness
X3 = Price Value
X4 = Quality
X5 = Entertainment

In addition to the above, we employed two simple regression

models to address particular

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hypotheses. To test Hypothesis 1, we proposed the following
model:

X2 = β0 + β1X1 + ε
where X1 = Perceived Ease of Use
X2 = Perceived Usefulness
To test Hypothesis 4, we developed the following model:
Y2 = β0 + β1Y1 + ε
where Y1 = Intention to Use
Y2 = Adoption of OTT

1.6.LIMITATIONS

In this analysis, the system was used to conduct the self-

administered questionnaire. Some biased respondents were
registered, and some did not understand integrated OTT
platform technology.

o The educational and technical knowledge acted as an

impediment during the collection of the data.

o Area coverage is limited to a sample size of

THANJAVUR only.

o There is a unstability of realability in the study due to

biased method of research study.

o The derivation of this research may not be covering every

interests and problems faced by the OTT platform using
students.

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1.7.CHAPTERIZATION

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