In the early days of streaming, subscription costs were low, and viewers were spoilt for choice by series after endless series of top-quality content – think House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things to name just a few. It was this promise of low costs and a seemingly never-ending stream of top-quality content that helped to entice consumers away from cable TV. The steady growth in subscriber numbers allowed for an unprecedented number of new shows to be ordered, which in turn helped to bolster growth. Many dubbed this the era of Peak TV. Streaming services reached record breaking subscriber numbers in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. Netflix reportedly added an extraordinary 36 million subscribers in that period which led it to pass the 200 million mark for the first time.
Edgio – Driving media experimentation with flexible streaming technology
The media and entertainment landscape is changing rapidly, driven by increased fragmentation and growing competition. On top of constant pressure to report positive revenue growth with limited staffing and resources amid macro-economic challenges, streaming services need to be more flexible than ever to drive business success. Today, experimenting with multiple cost points, service tiers, and viewing models like SVOD, AVOD, and FAST is paramount to attracting and growing the widest audience possible.
Chyron – The streaming shake-up: what’s next for media companies and tech vendors
The rise of the mega streamer has brought the broadcast media industry into a period of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The acronym VUCA first described the complex and challenging geopolitical situation in 1987 following the Cold War, and now aptly defines the current media landscape. It’s an environment characterized by volatility in that challenges are unexpected and sometimes incomprehensible; by uncertainty in that change may happen, or not; by complexity in that it is influenced by numerous variables; and by ambiguity in that causal relationships can be difficult or impossible to define.
TAG Content Matching Technology – BaM Award winner, Support
IP, OTT delivery, and remote working environments have become an integral part of media companies’ workflows, adding significant complexity to production and distribution paths and challenging media and entertainment companies’ capabilities to deliver high-quality content. Solutions to simplify workflow insights, including visualization, while maintaining high quality are necessary factors in the race to remain competitive. TAG Content Matching technology provides a vital capability in the toolsets users require for more transparent workflows, allowing them to get to the root cause of problems faster and troubleshoot more efficiently, even in the most complex, elaborate scenarios.
Josh Arensberg elected new Chair of the IABM Members’ Board
Josh Arensberg was elected Chair of the IABM Members’ Board in July this year. We asked him to share his vision for where he sees IABM – and our industry – heading.
Agama – From Reaction to Prevention: How Telcos Can Manage Video Quality Proactively
As the telecommunications landscape continues to evolve rapidly, telcos face a multitude of challenges. These challenges, if not addressed strategically, can compromise customer satisfaction, inflate operational expenses, and hamper operational efficiency. One of the primary pain points driving these difficulties is the management and delivery of high-quality video experiences to end users. Here, we will look at how a video quality of experience monitoring solution, like that offered by Agama Technologies, can address these critical issues.
V-Nova – Sustainable streaming: the state of play and what’s next
Sustainability is undeniably a pressing concern within the video streaming industry, and the latest data about emissions generated by the sector underscores the urgency of addressing its environmental impact. As has been widely quoted, with between 2% and 4% of global energy usage accounted for by ICT and with more than 70% of internet traffic associated with video, it is clear that improving our energy footprint can have a significant impact on the problem overall.
Veset – How cloud playout is helping to ease the complexity of playout
I think most people would agree that we have seen more change in the broadcast industry over the past couple of years than we have for a long time. The accelerated shift to the cloud, transition to more ad-funded services than ever before, coupled with an evolution in consumption trends, are all having an impact throughout the entire industry, changing the way content is produced, managed, and distributed.
This is also causing significant challenges and complexities specifically for playout for a number of reasons.
Three Media – Driving towards business agility
I think it is safe to start from the assumption that every media business is moving from a smokestack approach – a production line of bespoke, application specific devices – to a software-defined, cloud smart architecture. This will include large elements of intelligent automation, eliminating the mundane to let people concentrate on where they generate real business value.
Simplestream – Needle in a haystack: the challenge of normalizing metadata
The world of video content moves quickly. It’s in ceaseless motion, and this goes hand in hand with technological advancement. In this scenario, it becomes paramount for operators and distributors in the streaming space to create seamlessly functioning architectures. It’s all about tech stacks that must normalize workflows and bring together data from multiple existing services. Of course, this is far easier said than done as content owners wish to enhance their offering with a feed of growing requirements which platform operators have for their own streaming services. Progress is perpetual, think of ratings for movies and series, specific categories for niche programming, or even broadcast identifiers.