In the contemporary digital landscape, the utilization of video content has emerged as a robust means of generating consistent revenue.
An Over-The-Top (OTT) platform stands as a primary avenue for video monetization, widely adopted by content owners and media streaming companies across the globe.
Constructing an OTT platform is no longer an extravagant choice but rather a necessity for independent content monetization.
The OTT realm presents a plethora of options, with numerous solutions vying for their portion of the market share. Notably, Muvi is among the prominent contenders.
This article will comprehensively delve into all the essential details about Muvi OTT.
We will scrutinize its key features, delve into Muvi’s pricing options, and even present some noteworthy alternatives to Muvi.
By the end of this read, you’ll gain insights into the following questions:
- Does Muvi live up to the hype?
- Is there a preferable alternative to Muvi in the OTT landscape?
- If so, what should be your Muvi alternative?
Embark on our Muvi review journey to find the answers!
What Is Muvi?
Muvi is a cloud-based over-the-top (OTT) platform designed for content creators, enabling them to create customized video-on-demand (VOD) and live streaming channels for web, mobile devices, and television. Established in 2011, Muvi has expanded to encompass more than 580 platforms, catering to diverse content types, including live sports, religious events, and radio broadcasting. While Muvi serves various purposes, its primary focus lies in catering to enterprises.
Functioning as a comprehensive end-to-end solution, Muvi takes care of all technical aspects related to content platforms, ranging from managing IT infrastructure to establishing payment gateways. Users can construct personalized websites to showcase their video, audio, and physical goods without the need for coding or development expertise. While the built-in templates are somewhat limited, the visual editor is user-friendly, enabling users to create a customized site that reflects their brand. Global deployment of unbuffered videos is facilitated through the use of AWS Cloudflare CDN.
Muvi provides native mobile and TV apps, extending reach to consumers across various devices such as iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Apple TV. The company undertakes the development and deployment of these apps to different stores with personalized branding, simplifying the process of establishing a multi-channel presence. However, it’s important to note that the applications are an additional service incurring charges on top of the standard subscription fee.
With a robust set of features, a versatile service offering, and an intuitive design, Muvi empowers individuals to broadcast on live radio or launch a video-on-demand channel comparable to platforms like Netflix.
Features Of Muvi
Explore the key features of Muvi and discover how they can elevate your business.
1. Content Management System
Muvi boasts an advanced Content Management System (CMS) that efficiently handles various content types. From Audio-on-demand (AOD) and video-on-demand to live streaming and eCommerce through Muvi Kart, all can seamlessly coexist on a single platform, delivering content effortlessly to your audience.
Prior to content addition, you must select display categories and assign a content format, distinguishing between single-part and multi-part structures. Proper format selection is crucial for making your video search-engine friendly. Muvi provides flexibility in content upload, supporting various formats, with .mp4 recommended for faster encoding. The platform accommodates uploads from different sources, such as your computer, server-to-server, Dropbox, FTP, or S3 Sync.
Muvi is advantageous for growing businesses, offering unlimited video uploads of up to 63GB, making it a cost-effective solution for expanding content libraries.
2. Website Customization
Muvi enables the creation of a branded, feature-rich website without coding requirements. Using a custom domain, static pages, and menu structures, you can easily tailor the site to match your branding. Six templates are provided for quick starts, but customization options extend to a visual editor and Muvi BYOD for those with HTML/CSS knowledge.
3. Marketing
As a comprehensive platform, Muvi facilitates content marketing through various channels, including email, SEO, and social media. Automated email messages, newsletters, and multilingual content translation cater to global audiences. Recognizing the importance of SEO, Muvi includes tools for optimizing site and content, integrating with Google Webmaster & Analytics, XML Sitemap, SSL certificate, and H1 tags.
Built-in social media integration simplifies content sharing across platforms, enabling businesses to harness the power of social media marketing for audience engagement and feedback.
4. Monetization
Muvi supports diverse monetization options, including subscriptions (SVOD), pay-per-view (PPV), and ad-supported networks (AVOD). Multiple payment options, currency support, and a variety of payment gateways, such as Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net, ensure flexibility in revenue generation.
5. Muvi Kart
Muvi Kart is a unique feature facilitating the sale of physical products alongside live streaming and VOD channels. While setup may be slightly complex, Muvi Kart offers flexibility in setting shipping prices, providing free products, and monitoring order status, making it a valuable addition to your content strategy.
6. Analytics
Comprehensive analytics tools empower businesses to evaluate different facets, from revenue and user behaviors to bandwidth usage and detailed video views. With preset reports and customizable filters, Muvi provides in-depth insights into device usage, viewer locations, and engagement levels, facilitating informed business decisions.
Muvi Pricing & Cost
Muvi.com provides a subscription service with three distinct pricing models. Moreover, the platform extends its offerings with a customizable plan called ‘Ultimate,’ specifically designed for large-scale enterprises and video-centric businesses. Explore the detailed breakdown of Muvi’s pricing plans and packages below.
Pros & Cons Of Muvi
Pros
- Seamless Live Streaming And On-Demand Content Delivery:
Muvi excels in providing on-demand content delivery and DVR-enabled live streaming, boasting a repertoire of over 1000 features and a highly scalable infrastructure. This service extends across 16+ platforms, devices, and ecosystems.
- Easy Set-Up With Zero Coding:
Launching your streaming service is a breeze with Muvi, eliminating the need for extensive coding knowledge. The platform features a user-friendly interface and intuitive tools, ensuring a fast and hassle-free setup process.
- Flexible Content And Monetization Models:
Muvi allows you to seamlessly combine various types of content, including videos and audio, and distribute them either together or separately. Furthermore, it empowers you to customize your monetization methods to align with your specific business needs.
Cons
- Restricted Variety of Website Templates:
Muvi offers a rather limited range of website templates, potentially constraining your ability to create a distinctive and visually appealing video streaming platform. This limitation is primarily attributed to Muvi’s less-than-impressive visual editor.
- Limited Marketing Features and Integration Choices:
In comparison to its counterparts, Muvi’s marketing capabilities are somewhat restricted. The native app does not seamlessly integrate with external email marketing providers such as MailChimp and AWeber, posing a potential obstacle to your marketing endeavors.
- Complex CMS Workflow:
For some users, particularly those new to the platform, Muvi’s Content Management System (CMS) workflow might initially appear perplexing. The Muvi CMS is somewhat sophisticated, requiring a learning curve for efficient navigation.
Muvi vs. the Competition
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In our evaluation of Muvi against its competitors, let’s delve into a comparison with two prominent alternatives.
Muvi vs. Uscreen:
Uscreen empowers content creators to launch a profitable video-on-demand service featuring pay-per-view and recurring subscriptions. With a starting cost of $149/month, it presents a more economical option compared to Muvi’s $199/month plan. However, Uscreen lacks support for audio channels and the sale of physical goods.
Both Muvi and Uscreen assist content creators in building fully branded websites, but the template selection on these platforms is somewhat limited. While Uscreen’s basic customization tools fall short, Muvi stands out with extensive branding options, going beyond color and layout to include a channel logo, favicon, banner, and featured sections. Muvi also provides greater flexibility in monetization and payment methods, allowing for an additional advertising-based revenue stream, a feature absent in Uscreen.
Despite Uscreen’s Collaboration feature, facilitating cooperation among content creators, Muvi’s flexibility, comprehensive features, and reasonable cost position it as a strong contender, especially for those venturing into video-on-demand.
Muvi vs. DaCast:
DaCast serves as a live streaming platform for on-demand videos, offering monetization through subscriptions, pay-per-view, or ad networks. In contrast, Muvi, functioning as an OTT “hybrid” platform, accommodates various content types (live video streaming, video-on-demand, audio-on-demand, and physical products) for combined and monetized distribution.
Both platforms offer an “out-of-the-box” solution, featuring a fully functional website, customizable HTML5 video player, and an integrated paywall. However, Muvi’s impressive feature list extends to marketing tools (SEO, email) and native TV and mobile apps, albeit at an additional cost.
While DaCast proves to be a cost-effective choice, starting at $19/month compared to Muvi’s $199/month entry point, larger organizations seeking a more comprehensive software solution for combining and monetizing different content types may find Muvi’s offerings more suitable.
Is Muvi Right for You?
Muvi stands out as one of the pioneering “hybrid” platforms, allowing publishers, broadcasters, and content creators to monetize diverse content types simultaneously. The introduction of Muvi Kart creates a unique ecosystem, enabling businesses to maximize revenue by selling physical goods alongside digital content.
With its hassle-free “out-of-the-box” approach, Muvi simplifies the launch and management of multiple content channels, freeing up time for business growth and audience expansion. While Muvi’s “hybrid” model may incur a slightly higher cost, its flexibility proves highly scalable in a global market context. The company’s esteemed customer support and regular updates facilitate quick adaptation to market changes and the seizing of opportunities not readily available on other platforms.
If Muvi intrigues you, kickstart your journey with a free 14-day trial today.
FAQs
What Is Muvi?
Muvi is a cloud-based over-the-top (OTT) platform designed for content creators, enabling them to create personalized video-on-demand (VOD) and live streaming channels accessible on the web, mobile devices, and television.
What is the pricing structure for Muvi?
Muvi offers various pricing plans, starting from $399 per month for essential features and a shared server, up to $3900 per month for the comprehensive Enterprise package.
What tools does Muvi provide?
Muvi includes a range of essential tools:
- Content management system
- Website customization
- Marketing
- Monetization
- Analytics
Experience the convenience of Muvi as you explore these diverse tools to enhance your content creation and streaming capabilities.
Final Thought
Muvi is a standout OTT platform known for its versatility, providing a wide array of features at a reasonable cost. However, there are instances where alternative platforms may be more fitting.
Businesses with particular requirements might find Muvi’s features lacking. Superior alternatives include Vimeo OTT, VPlayed, Kaltura, and Brightcove platforms. These alternatives may offer specialized functionalities or customization choices that better align with unique business models.
Muvi is particularly well-suited for those seeking to establish their own streaming platform with a one-time investment and no recurring user charges.
Ultimately, the decision between Muvi and its alternatives hinges on the specific needs, budget, and objectives of the content owner. It’s crucial to thoroughly assess each platform’s features, pricing, customization options, and support to make an informed decision.