What are AVOD, SVOD and TVOD? How are they different? What are their characteristics? What are some examples?
What is AVOD?
AVOD stands for advertising video on demand. It is a content delivery business model where the user has free access to the service’s video content, but these videos contain advertising inserts. By using this advertising approach, the content owner can monetize its videos without charging the end user.
Features of AVOD
The advertising clips used in AVOD, known as video inserts, are played while the user watches the content. They are generally played before the video and are then called pre-rolls. They can also be shown at some point during the video (called mid-rolls) and, to a lesser extent, at the end of the video (post-rolls).
The length of the advertising clip is usually in the seconds; and oftentimes the user can decide to skip the advertisement after it has run for few seconds. This is how the price the advertiser will be charged per ad is determined.
YouTube is the best example of a platform using AVOD as a model for content monetization.
What is SVOD?
SVOD (subscription video on demand) is a business model that offers customers access to content through a subscription. With the subscription model, customers pay a monthly or annual fee in order to access the service’s content without advertising.
Features of SVOD
Generally, access to premium content such as premieres, exclusive content and an extensive video catalog is available only to subscribed customers.
Some SVOD services allow users to download content in order to watch it later without the need for an Internet connection.
Netflix epitomizes the SVOD model.
What is TVOD?
TVOD (transactional video on demand) is a model that allows consumers to pay only for the content they want to watch, in other words they pay per transaction, where a transaction represents a piece of content that has been accessed. If the content is a live event, like a football match or concert, it can be accessed in “real time” (often under the “pay per view” label). Customers can access the service’s other video content for a pre-agreed period of time, in a model that is similar to renting a video (often called DTR or download to rent). Finally, customers can also purchase videos to own (known as download to own, DTO, or electronic sell-through, EST).
Features of TVOD
The user can choose certain content to consume without having to buy a full subscription and pays only once per content item.
TVOD is commonly delivered as pay per view approach where the user pays for the individual events or the movie they want to see (but with pay-per-view there are often time constraints associated with the viewing).
iTunes and Amazon Instant Video are the most-commonly known TVOD platforms.
Many video service businesses will leverage a hybrid approach to their model, offering some content per subscription, some content per transaction and even including advertising with some kinds of content.
Learn here how to know if your video service is successful and which are the KPIs to Track OTT Subscription Video Services.
