What is the importance of OTT platform testing, and how to conduct it?

Because various people find different things exciting and frustrating, developing and launching a successful OTT platform can take time and effort. However, the success of your OTT platform hinges on its user-friendly design and satisfying user experience, both of which can only be achieved if you have gathered and used customer data and feedback. Testing the OTT platform thoroughly and thoroughly is crucial for the delivery of video content. This post will cover how to test an OTT platform and its importance.

The importance of OTT platform testing

Numerous application components, networks, and infrastructure installations are interconnected to deliver a successful OTT service. OTT testing tests an online OTT app’s voice, data, video, and other features. It performs tests to guarantee connectivity, network speed, security, and client experience by digital experience monitoring.

The OTT platform must be tested to ensure a great user experience and provide high-quality video streaming services. It needs to be examined for the following:

• Regular Delivery: Consistent content transmission is crucial to the platform’s user experience.
• Streaming Quality: The streaming process should take a little time.
• Compatibility: To offer the optimal user experience, OTT must also be compatible with various devices. It should be tested in both portrait and landscape orientations.
• Several User Accounts: OTT systems are typically utilized by multiple users on various devices under a single subscription. Users must be allowed to create numerous separate accounts with custom watchlists and suggestions on the OTT platform.
• Offline media: On OTT platforms, there are times when viewers cannot watch the material because of a weak network connection. Many OTT services enable users to download material for offline viewing at a later time. One can test their apps offline if there is also a mobile app.
• Intelligent recommendations: The user’s watchlist history must be tracked by the OTT platform, which must also be able to analyze the data points and make pertinent suggestions for fresh content.

Challenges of OTT platform testing

Testers must consider various elements when conducting OTT Media testing, including the network, browser compatibility, device specifications, hardware, latency, and buffering time. Because even a tiny fault in any component can cause the entire system to malfunction, OTT testers must overcome many difficult obstacles.

The following are some of the typical difficulties testers go into when evaluating an OTT platform:

• Response Time in various networks: For OTT services, internet speed is essential. The content may take a long time to buffer if there is a low data transfer rate. Users may be inclined to discontinue using the product and go to some other brands due to slow-loading content. Therefore, testing the OTT platform’s performance at various network speeds is crucial.
• Cross-Device Problems: OTT platforms are made to function on any internet-capable device, including PCs, smartphones, smart TVs, and tablets. Because the testing team might only have access to some devices, OTT testing on all devices presents a significant barrier.
• Cross-Browser Issues: A browser can be used to access OTT applications. OTT applications must undergo cross-browser testing to guarantee their compatibility with various browsers. However, testing OTT applications on numerous browsers with multiple versions might take much work.
• Problems brought on by user interaction: The OTT application’s users may need to be sufficiently technical to comprehend the application’s underlying issues. For instance, problems with network speed may result in bad feedback from customers who need to understand the cause of the problem.
• Traffic Overloads: Due to popular events and streaming shows, it is usual to malfunction due to traffic overload. However, this can receive unfavorable comments. Estimating the maximum number of viewers for popular content can take time and effort.

How to conduct it?

Let’s talk about various methods in this area to overcome the difficulties listed above:

1. Automated testing: OTT Test Automation is one of the best ways to address most QA issues. The following ways that it can be helpful:

• It boosts test coverage.
• Cross-device and cross-browser testing.
• Without adding extra testers to the team, scale the entire testing process.
• OTT apps can be debugged more quickly than manual testing, which speeds up the deployment of new goods or changes to already-available ones.

2. Network Testing: It is crucial to examine how well OTT streaming services perform in locations with poor network access, high network latency, low bandwidth, and other unique network conditions. By doing this, the OTT platform is guaranteed to operate effectively across all network scenarios.

3. Cross-Device Testing: The OTT platform should be tested on a variety of gadgets with different operating systems, screen sizes, and resolutions, among other things, to make sure that the services are presented in all of these devices as expected.

4. Cross-Browser Testing: The OTT platform should also be tested on various browsers with various browser versions to ensure that the services are rendered correctly across all browsers.

5. Load testing: OTT testers must determine the maximum traffic the OTT platform can support. This ensures that in the event of a large traffic load, the OTT platform does not crash. As the number of program users rises, it primarily aids in monitoring the stability and response time of the software system.

6. Functional testing: A specific type of software testing called functional testing ensures that all the features and capabilities of the product are operating as intended. Functional testing comes in various forms, including sanity checks, usability tests, and unit tests.

7. UI/UX Testing: UI/UX testing must be carried out by the testing team to guarantee layout consistency and easy navigation. It is mainly done to ensure the user interface is steady and clear.

8. Performance testing: Testing the OTT platform to look for potential bugs is essential. Examples include the application crashing and the application becoming unresponsive.

9. OTT video streaming test: It is necessary to perform streaming testing to look for signs such as error rate, start time, buffer time, and bit rate.

10. Security testing: The OTT platform creates an account for the user using personal information like name, address, and bank information. The OTT platform must be examined for data security.

11. Geolocation testing: The OTT platform offers services on local consumer demand. The testing team must confirm that the payment currencies, linguistic precision, and other factors are accurate across nations.

12. Integration testing: Several external functional modules may be needed for an app to function effectively. Integration testing ensures that individual available modules interact with one another as intended.

Conclusion

Media streaming shows signs of future expansion with the development of technologies to achieve higher bandwidth, such as 5G.

A satisfying user experience is crucial to the application’s success. The standards for user experience are typically very high. You can give clients the best-in-class streaming platform experience by empathizing with and listening to their feedback.