IABM Member Blogs
Blogs written by the IABM Team
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By Lennart Broers, Sales Director Operator Solutions at 24i
This year, more than ever, most of us are looking forward to a new fresh start in the new year. I’m excited that 2021 sees me joining 24i as Sales Director Operator Solutions, responsible for driving the growth and momentum of a company I’ve been part of in the past!
YouTube recently announced support for HDR content. The Cobalt 9992-ENC is capable of transmitting live HDR content to YouTube, both in HD and 4K resolutions. While HDR is available for both H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC), YouTube elected to support it only for HEVC.
The appetite for compelling live content is soaring, particularly live sports programming. Rethink TV has estimated that global sports rights will grow by up to 75 percent between 2020 and 2024, making it clear that live content remains king. This trend is particularly evident among younger audiences, with Nielsen figures showing that two-thirds of 18-34-year-olds watching linear TV preferred to watch live content. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the same proportion of all consumers worldwide is now streaming online coverage of live events. This demand is, in turn, putting pressure on broadcasters and other rightsholders to adapt their workflows to meet greater and more varied needs for high-quality live content.
TVUp is a Spain-based company that has created TIVIFY OTT platform, a PayTV as a service with premium channels and content for both Spanish and international markets (B2B2C). TIVIFY runs via an Android TV set-top-box as the main device. The platform is distributed via two commercial models: Tivify (B2C) and Tivify PRO (B2B2C), enabling operators to give the best offer of linear and non-linear TV and to offer viewers the same advanced functionalities such as applications and games that big players in the market can provide.
The TVUp platform offers clients access to its own TV platform and channel bouquet and a wide variety of content through the Play Store, including YouTube, Spotify, Disney +, HBO, Amazon Prime and DAZN.
In setting up this service, TVUp required a partner with considerable OTT delivery expertise to ensure, above all, a premium viewing experience for its customers. As the leader in video delivery solutions for Broadcast, Cable TV, DTH, IPTV and OTT, ATEME’s expertise in delivering similar projects and best of breed technology in the form of its TITAN solution made it stand out to TVUp. “We have been closely following the evolution of ATEME and its encoding solutions for some time now. With a huge amount of experience and a strong local presence in Spain, ATEME was an obvious choice for us,” comments Francisco Sáez, CTO, TVUp.
Once upon a time, content was all that mattered for a streaming service to be successful.
It’s still the main concern, of course. But with the proliferation of streaming services, it’s no longer enough. Great content at the right price lets you in the game; great quality of experience differentiates you.
But delivering a high quality of experience on an OTT platform can be a challenge. And the challenges are intensifying with the emergence of next-generation video formats – with 4K and HDR entering distribution streams and a potentially embracing surround viewing, virtual and other extended-reality formats, volumetric holographic content and, eventually, 8K.
In 2020, all industries have undergone a sudden “stress test” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While digital transformation is providing a way out for businesses and organizations, it is bringing the same amount of challenge.
How to transform the business while reducing cost and improving efficiency? How to enhance security measures to protect core data assets? How to protect brands and the customer experience in times of uncertainty? Companies are on the lookout for more comprehensive and efficient digital solutions.
BaishanCloud (Baishan), a global edge cloud service provider specializing in cross-border content delivery and edge security, has upgraded its “Enterprise Secure Acceleration” service to a one-stop solution that will help businesses and organizations to accelerate their digital transformation.
With new lockdowns being announced across the world and travel restrictions in place (even between some states in the US), the world now has a second pandemic to add to COVID-19—boredom. For most of us, the cure for boredom is at our fingertips, and wowee—have we used those fingers!
From doom scrolling on social media to binge watching series on streaming services to video conferencing not just with colleagues but with our family and friends—technology has been a lifeline for us to find information, connect with others and keep ourselves entertained. And, of course, for many of us, it is how we get our work done.
The next 5-10 years could be a prime time for the global content delivery network (CDN) market, thanks to high-speed network rollout, reduced data cost, rising demand for video/OTT services, and the surging internet consumption in all formats during and post the pandemic.
While North America still dominates with the largest market share, the Asia Pacific region is showing the strongest growth momentum with a CAGR at 33%. The disruptive growth is due to the growing number of internet subscribers, the massive mobile internet consumption, and the thriving of eCommerce, live gaming, and online education in Asia, especially in India, China, Southeast Asia. As such, we see all major global CDN vendors investing in the region to cater to the rising demands. Meanwhile, a wider spectrum of local players is adding content delivery solutions into their service offerings, including local Telcos, hosting service providers, and all kinds of specialty-focused technology platforms.
Yet, not everyone can truly capitalize on this opportunity. Global providers need to understand what’s unique in the region and develop their service roadmap accordingly to compete in the Asia market. Now let’s take a close look at the uniqueness of the Asia market and how it’s driving the evolution of CDN services.
In this IABM TV interview, Gilles Mas (President, Video Experiences, Deltatre) discusses some of the innovations in OTT/streaming that he is exited about, how Deltatre has adapted to the challenges presented by COVID, and how believes the industry will change over the next few years for both customers and end-users. Gilles also dives into other topics such as the ‘streaming wars’, 5G, AI and AR.
Live streaming of sports and other linear content has gone mainstream as consumers increasingly turn to OTT services for programming they once could only get from traditional TV providers.
However, mounting losses due to media piracy, tempered only momentarily by the coronavirus-induced sports lull, have triggered demand for tools and procedures that go well beyond security systems optimized for on-demand viewing.
In this white paper we take a closer look at the audience and revenue of live streaming, the role of sports, the UHD/HDR factor, sensitivities to live streaming latency, and the impact of piracy and associated attack modes.
