Tell me about a time you needed to make a product tradeoff.

Situation- We were launching a new streaming services app with a combination of AVOD and SVOD monetization. The product needed a balance of both models since the quality of content would not allow of large subscription revenue. AVOD only model would result in high engagement but low retention. Hence a right pricing model had to be defined which would encourage subscription for a small segment of users

Task- Define the optimum pricing model that would allow for small subscription revenue still allowing for advertisements to be streamed. The question was should we make subscription sign ups difficult for users so that we dont a large number of low paying subscriber who would demand ad suppression.

Action- We had data from previous products that subscribers preferred signing up with credit card vs app store/google store. Hence we intentionally didnt have a credit card sign up feature on the mobile/OTT app but had it on the desktop platform. This trade off allowed us to maintain a balance between SVOD + AVOD vs pure AVOD subsribers.

Results- The app was extremely successful with 43 Mn downloads till date. Its still far from being profitable but is able to achieve an operating margin