How to build IPTV business in an expat environment

When launching an IPTV/OTT service, local operators try to reach as large an audience as possible, but they often overlook one of the free niches of potential customers — expat clients

People move abroad for various reasons: they travel (as tourists), move to another country for permanent residence (as emigrants) or leave for educational purposes or professional development (expats). 

Expats (expatriates) move to another country for a period of time or for permanent residence for a specific purpose. Often this is to get an education, build a business, undergo medical treatment, or wait out unfavorable events happening in their native country. Some expats eventually return to their homeland, while others choose stay on, maintaining a close bond by continuing to speak their native language and keeping up with national and regional news back home. 

Understandably, expats often feel nostalgic for their motherland, and want to watch content that interests them in their native language. On the other hand, many expats also try to integrate into the culture and customs of their destination country, learn the language quickly, and immerse themselves in local events.

What is clear is that while launching a service for expats is almost the same as creating any other project, an operator that is looking to create a digital television service for them should take into account the peculiarities of this particular audience, as well as some technical and legal aspects. Let’s look at the main stages of launching interactive televisiousen for expats.

Market analysis

This is one of the key steps that will help you, as an operator, to build an overall project strategy and avoid unnecessary expenses.

First of all, it's necessary to assess the potential success of the project, otherwise there is a possibility that a proposal will turn out to be unsuitable or uncompetitive for the region, with the associated risks to your investment. That’s why, before planning further steps, you should make sure that the audience will find your content attractive, potential customers will agree to pay the requested service price, and the number of subscribers will be sufficient to recoup the investment and further improve the service quality.

Study the expatriate entertainment preferences and their willingness to subscribe to a new service. Specifically, find out:

• on what terms people are willing to deal with you
• what they expect from your project
• what channels and content your target audience is interested in

Also take into account the language and cultural preferences of expats. Analyze the proposals of your competitors. Once you have all this information, match it to your capabilities and calculate whether your project will pay off.

You can analyze the market, competitors and consumers on your own or order market research from a specialized agency.

How to start: must have kit

If the analysis has shown that your project is promising, start implementing it with the most important things as this will help you avoid unnecessary investments at the start and launch the project in the shortest possible time. First, we recommend you provide the following components of the project:

Content and license. Relying on the data of your research, determine what kind of content you will offer to subscribers. International and local channels, as well as rebroadcasting content from expats’ home countries, are likely to be a successful solution. Ensure that all segments of your audience can find content relevant to their interests: broadcast global and regional news, TV shows, serials, sports, kid content, and other categories. Try to provide subscribers with as many channels in their native language as possible and the opportunity to watch VoD. Music channels and radio stations will also be important. 

One of the most important broadcasting points for expats is language-specific IPTV channels. As mentioned, do your best to provide your audience with the maximum number of channels in their native languages and pay attention to IPTV content localization. Add subtitles: not all your subscribers speak the language of the country they moved to. Subtitles will not only give your audience the opportunity to understand local news and programs, but will also provide subscribers with new language options that will allow them to adapt to the new country more quickly.

Once you have your checklist of channels and content ready, contact your content providers to agree on the channel broadcast rights. Make sure you have all the necessary IPTV content licensing agreements.

IPTV technical infrastructure: this is one of the essential items in building a service for video streaming broadcast. The quality of your service essentially depends on the data rate and software capabilities, So pay close attention to the specifications of the equipment you will be using for signal reception and transmission – your task is to provide a stable high-speed Internet connection for fast content delivery.

Customer devices. To understand whether you need to purchase customer equipment (TV set-top boxes), use the data obtained from market and audience research. It's possible that some of your customers will be attracted to this option: buying or renting a set-top box and connecting a TV to it will be cheaper for them than buying a smart TV. Some manufacturers, such as Infomir, provide operators with the opportunity to customize set-top boxes: they can place their logo on the cases, remote controls, and packaging, as well as branding the interface. This is an opportunity to strengthen the video service’s brand and make it more recognizable.

Technical support and maintenance. Provide quality technical support to customers from the first days of the service. If possible, connect several communication channels: online chat, phone support, e-mail, and messengers.

Office and premises for servers. You should take care of this before launching the project: buy or rent premises. If you’re not using cloud solutions, you’ll need hardware — as well as a place to put it in. You may also need a storage space to keep inventory, equipment, and subscriber devices. If your employees (support specialists, accountant, lawyer, marketer etc.) work offline, you will also need an office space with organized workplaces, furniture and appliances. 

Middleware. An operator needs middleware to effectively manage all components of the IPTV service. It can be developed independently, but this option requires time and significant investments at the initial stage. A less expensive way is to use already available ready-to-use solutions. This will also reduce the time required to launch the service. 

Advertising strategies

Advertising should become a permanent item of the operator’s expenses. At the initial stage, the number of subscribers will depend almost entirely on competent marketing and, going forward, the operator will also need to develop customer retention strategies. Use the maximum number of channels and different approaches as this will help you reach all audience segments.

Digital marketing. As the Internet and digital technologies evolve, targeted advertising in social networks, messengers, and on various websites is becoming increasingly important. The audience in these areas is constantly growing and the targeting of advertising to a certain segment allows you to show it to those who could potentially become your customers. This is especially important in building TV for an expat audience.

Pricing and service packages

Carefully consider packages for your service. This will allow you to segment your audience and offer customized services for each segment, increasing the number of monetization models.

When calculating prices, you should also take into account three parameters: the business must return the investment (capital expenditure), recoup operational costs, and make a profit. The payback period depends on the number of subscribers and the customers’ ability to pay.

Data analysis and feedback

In order to understand the interests and needs of the audience, it's necessary to constantly receive feedback from users. An operator should make it a rule to survey customers on a regular basis. This can be conducted via messengers and social networks, as well as through the software interface. Encourage users to leave feedback and suggestions as this will help you customize the service to meet their expectations and reduce customer churn.

Don’t neglect data analysis. Pay attention to the following indicators:

• the most popular channels, serials, movies, and broadcasts
• certain times of day when the number of connections reaches a maximum
• tariff plan and service preferences
• advertising viewing statistics
• data on the number of new connections and service cancellations (try to find out the reasons why customers leave, turn down subscription devices, switch to other tariff plans, and other information).

All this will help you better understand the values, interests, and reasons of current and potential subscribers to improve your service.

Growth strategies for IPTV businesses 

Once you have launched your project and set up basic processes, you can think about expanding the service range. Survey your customers and find out what new channels or services would be interesting to them. Remember that a successful business requires time, attention, patience, and persistence. Monitor sector news and be prepared to adapt to changes in the industry, technology, and new demands from your customers. This will help you create successful growth strategies.

In order to launch a successful project for the expatriate IPTV audience, an operator needs to have a clear understanding of competitors, the expatriate TV market, and expatriate entertainment preferences. Give subscribers the opportunity to watch language-specific channels from their homeland. Localization will make it easier for your customers to understand the content. Subscriber feedback and a well-built marketing strategy are the tools you need to grow your customer base and scale your project. By meeting the needs of the audience, providing customers with a top service level and high-quality technical support, you will minimize the risk of subscribers canceling.

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