Answers
What is an OTT platform?
Video over the internet, straight to the viewer.
OTT means over the top: a film or show delivered over the open internet, on top of the networks that carry it, instead of through a cable box, satellite dish or broadcast antenna. Here is the plain definition, how OTT differs from cable and from YouTube, and what it means for a creator.
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By uncompressed.io · Updated October 2026
Short answer
What is an OTT platform?
An OTT (over the top) platform delivers films and shows over the internet straight to the viewer, without a cable, satellite or broadcast operator in between. The owner hosts the video, takes payment directly, and plays it in apps on TVs, phones and browsers under their own brand.
- OTT stands for over the top
- Delivered over the open internet, not cable or satellite
- Watched in apps on TVs, phones and browsers
- Sold directly by the service, title by title or by subscription
- Netflix is OTT; so is a filmmaker's own streaming shop
The definition
What over the top means
in plain words
Traditional television travels on a network the operator owns: a cable line, a satellite signal, a broadcast frequency. OTT video travels on the ordinary internet connection the viewer already pays for, on top of those networks, so the service needs no operator's permission to reach the viewer.
That one change moved control of the money. A cable channel sells to an operator, which sells a bundle to the household. An OTT service sells to the household directly, title by title or by subscription, and knows exactly who watched what.
For a creator this matters because the same structure works at any size. A documentary maker with two thousand fans can run an OTT service with the same parts as a national broadcaster: a catalog, a player, payments and apps, minus the operator who used to sit in between.
Side by side
Three ways video reaches a viewer
cable, YouTube and an OTT service
YouTube's share from YouTube's partner earnings overview, read 12 October 2026. The OTT column describes OTT services in general, not one product.
Business models
SVOD, TVOD and AVOD
that OTT services run on
SVOD: subscription
Viewers pay monthly or yearly for access to a catalog. Steady revenue, but you have to keep adding films so members stay.
TVOD: transactional
Viewers buy or rent one title at a time. Suits a feature film or a premiere, with no promise of new content.
AVOD: advertising
Free to watch, paid by ads. Needs very large audiences to earn meaningful money.
Where uncompressed.io fits
What OTT changes for creators
The honest trade
and what it does not
What you gain
The customer list, the price, the money in your own account and the picture quality are yours. On uncompressed.io films stream as exported, while YouTube and Vimeo re-encode (Vimeo states a 22 Mbps maximum for 4K).
What you give up
Discovery. An OTT service has no algorithm sending you strangers. You bring the audience, usually from social channels, a mailing list you already run, festivals and press.
An OTT platform for creators, in one table
Read from the live price list. Verified 2026-10.
| Commission on sales | 0 percent, at any volume. Buyers pay into your own payment account; your card processor's fee applies. |
|---|---|
| What you can sell | Purchases (stream forever), downloads, rentals with a viewing window, memberships with monthly or yearly tiers, bundles and series. |
| Member tools | Free trials per tier, coupon codes, gift memberships, refunds and free access from your earnings page. |
| Your storefront | A shop under your name at yourname.uncompressed.io/on-demand, or on your own domain. Buyers need no account. |
| Picture quality | Films stream as you exported them: no re-encode of video or audio, with an optional lighter copy for slow connections. |
| Viewing hours included | Lite 1,000, Pro 5,000, Max 15,000, Studio 25,000 hours a month, then USD 29 per extra 20,000-hour block. Playback never pauses. |
| Plans | Starter free (5 GB, one film at a time); Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month; yearly is one month free. |
| Leak Shield (optional) | Every buyer gets their own invisibly marked copy; the open web and torrent indexes are searched; a confirmed leak names and blocks the buyer and sends the takedown. USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year, any paid plan. |
| Inclusion window | The streaming platform is included with every paid plan for members who switch it on before 31 December 2026, and stays included for them afterwards; after that date new activations add USD 39 a month. |
Plans and add-ons: pricing. The whole cluster starts at the creator platform guide.
Questions
Frequently asked
What does OTT stand for?
Over the top. The video goes over the top of the cable, satellite and broadcast networks, delivered across the public internet straight to the viewer's device.
Is Netflix an OTT platform?
Yes. Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming services are OTT services: they deliver video over the internet to apps on TVs, phones and browsers, without a cable operator in between.
Is YouTube an OTT platform?
Technically yes, since it delivers video over the internet. In practice people separate it from OTT services because YouTube is an open, ad-funded platform where anyone uploads and YouTube owns the audience relationship, while an OTT service is usually a branded catalog the owner controls and charges for.
What is the difference between OTT and cable TV?
Cable sends a fixed lineup of channels over a private network to a set-top box, sold as a bundle by the operator. OTT sends individual titles over any internet connection to an app, sold directly by the service, on demand.
What is the difference between OTT and VOD?
OTT describes how video is delivered: over the internet. VOD describes how it is watched: on demand, when the viewer chooses. Most OTT services are VOD services, and some also stream live.
Can an independent creator have an OTT platform?
Yes. A hosted platform gives a creator a storefront, payments and TV apps without building software. On uncompressed.io a filmmaker sells purchases, rentals and memberships with 0% commission, paid into their own payment account.
Run your own OTT service.
Your films, your storefront, your TV apps and 0% commission. The streaming platform comes with every paid plan (Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month).
Sources
- 1.YouTube partner earnings overview (read 12 October 2026)
- 2.Guidelines for determining playback resolution, Vimeo help center (read 12 October 2026)