How to Test Your Digital Platform: QA for Media and Entertainment

The media and entertainment industry is on the increase. In a way, we can say something like this about various niches. Still, taking into account easy entrance to technology and the internet, restrictions about social interactions, an abundance of content published every day, and an increasing number of choices for digital entertainment, one can say without a doubt that entertainment apps and services are amongst the most frequently used.

Brief Overview of the Entertainment and Media Market

In 2017, 67% of smartphone users employed gaming, entertainment, news, and sports apps, coming back to the apps 2x to 3x times a day, as per Ipsos MORI research. 55% of people reported utilizing entertainment apps while relaxing. 

PWC predicts that through the next five years conventional TV will lose up to 25 million subscribers. While, the OTT sector (over-the-top media services, such as streaming platforms, etc.) is required to see a 6.9% CAGR rise by 2025. While the fast internet is becoming a popular thing in more and more regions, traditional gaming becomes overtaken by social and random gaming (it happened first in 2020).

In other terms, the media and entertainment landscape is very competitive, and this case is not going to change in the coming future. On the one hand, those who come up with the new E&M services have a large prospective audience. On the other hand, it is simple to get lost in the abundance of digital entertaining choices. 

To generate a product that stands out, a company requires to begin with thorough research, maybe hire QA entertainment technology consultants to further brainstorm the ideas or test the viability of the concepts. Then comes discovering the USP and highlights, accompanied by the development and quality assurance.  

Testing for media and entertainment is of the highest importance. It becomes one of the key competitive advantages that support to win over users utilizing competitors’ services for a long time. Needless to remind you that a digital platform with defects and glitches is rather stressful than entertaining – in other terms, it doesn’t fulfill its objective.

QA for media and entertainment: How It Works

The variety of E&M services is enormous. News websites, multimedia players, social media, photo, streaming services, and video editing apps, virtual tours, video, reading apps, and mobile games, edutainment resources – those are simply the ones on the top of mind.

Naturally, the quality assurance processes will differ considerably depending on the type of product a QA company gets to examine. It won’t be possible to incorporate all the details and differences in one article, so we’ll concentrate on the general aspects. 

Types of Testing for Media and Entertainment Resources

Usually, QA for entertainment and media begins with functional testing. Its objective is to examine what a product does.

QA specialists test features and functions, checking against the customer requirements. Functional testing includes the following:

• Feature testing – the evaluation features defined in the requirements as present or not, discovering what behavior is a feature and what is a defect.
• UI testing – the review of the frontend elements that allow interactions with functionality on the backend (text inputs, links, buttons, forms, checkboxes, etc.).
• API testing – the check-up of integrations with the third-party services, operating systems, libraries, databases, etc.
• Acceptance testing– the final examination before release, when a product is delivered to users outside the development team: they can glance at it from a fresh perspective and give the initial feedback.

Non-functional testing– concentrates on various aspects of software behavior. It helps to learn how a product operates, evaluating its speed, usability, accessibility, and so on. In a way, it helps to discover whether a product meets end-user expectations. Some of the commonly used activities that fall below this category are:

• Performance testing – the set of tests used to determine a product’s ability to handle different user loads, learn how it works below heavy traffic, how it scales, etc.
• Compatibility testing – the testing, run on devices with various hardware specifications, browsers, operating systems, and their versions, etc.
• Localization testing– the inspection of a product from a viewpoint of a certain audience, regularly residing in a specified region, employing a particular language, and with some cultural peculiarities.
• UX testing – the check-up intended to show how easy and pleasant to use a product is, regarding both design and implementation logic.

Post-Release QA for E&M

It is significant to recognize that QA activities for media and entertainment services don’t end with the product release. After the release comes software maintenance and upkeep. Most companies continue developing and updating their products. It can include improving an app with new features, appending more content, improving the design, accessing new markets, and so on. Some of the QA processes that can take place at this step are: 

• Smoke testing – a minimal set of tests for obvious bugs carried upon receiving a new build after defect fixing or update.
• Regression testing – the type of testing meant to find bugs in already tested functionality after code modifications(bug fixes or implementation of new features).
• Business analysis – the evaluation of a product’s features and performance, operating with trends and user feedback and looking for methods to scale and enhance the product.
• QA audit –  the method of systematic estimation of the product quality managed by an independent department or company to accurately access product performance.

Things to Focus On

• Main functionality

Every service and application appears with another set of features. It is necessary to test the core functionality – features and highlights that deliver your product special and are supposed to attract users.

• Platform performance

The loading speed, response time, and related parameters are essential for all the E&M services, not simply streaming platforms

• Smart personalization

Users are getting damaged. They assume that service providers will become aware of their interests and preferences immediately, showing the appropriate content and suggestions.

• Payment functionality

The payment gateway should be reliable and offer a kind of payment method. It is also necessary to ensure that billing works perfectly.

• Privacy

Last but not least, users are bothered a lot about their privacy and security on the web. E&M service providers deal with plenty of sensitive information, and it is of the utmost significance to block any leakage or security breaches.

Also Read: A Guide To Test A Social Media Application

To Sum Up

The media and entertainment sector allows limitless chances for software and content providers. However, these opportunities come with a large number of competitors. In such an environment, software quality becomes one of the highlights that support a product stand out. That’s why it is important to test the software before it goes live. If you’ve already released a product without learning how important testing is, ensure to discover a QA provider that will examine it as soon as possible. 

At TestUnity, we strive for the highest quality in every project, and our professional QA specialists are ready to ensure it. Contact us if you’re looking for a dedicated team to enhance your product’s quality.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.