The Rise of Internet Video and the Future of OTT Multiscreen Delivery
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Over the last decade, the rate of growth and innovation of video technology has been staggering as video transitioned from analog to digital. Now with high definition (HD) video services being offered across the globe, video is already pioneering its next frontier: multiscreen video...
Over the last decade, the rate of growth and innovation of video technology has been staggering as video transitioned from analog to digital. Now with high definition (HD) video services being offered across the globe, video is already pioneering its next frontier: multiscreen video.
Multiscreen video, which ranges from Over-the-Top (OTT) video services in the home to streaming video to computers, mobile phones or tablets, is growing at an impressive rate. Nielsen reports that US consumers watching video on the internet and on mobile phones have grown 5% and 41% respectively over the last year.[i] There is no doubt that multiscreen is at the epicenter of a new video revolution.
The rate of growth of video as a portion of total Internet traffic is explosive. It is estimated that 58% percent of total Internet traffic by 2015 will be video streaming.[ii] This growth is not limited to the United States. In fact, over 75% of global consumers watch video content over the Internet via connected devices.[iii] While much of today’s internet video traffic is generated and consumed in mature video markets, the impending growth of Internet video will come from developing regions. When looking at international regions with the largest forecasted growth, the Middle East and Africa region is projected to have the strongest consumer internet video traffic growth with a 105 percent compounded annual growth rate through 2015. Latin America is expected to have the second largest growth rate at 65 percent, followed by Central and Eastern Europe at 63 percent.[iv] These growth rates greatly outpace the global consumer average growth rate of 48 percent, meaning that these regions are the true engines of growth for Internet video.
Improving the Customer Experience for Multiscreen Video
To take advantage of the opportunities of multiscreen video services, providers need to be able to address some significant challenges to customer experience. Customer experience is the essential factor in reducing churn in the multiscreen world. Unlike traditional linear services, multiscreen consumers are not locked into a fixed network; they have the entire internet and an ever-increasing number of video providers. The harsh reality of the multiscreen business model is that when consumers encounter bad experience, they move on to a competitor to get the video they desire. Providers need to implement Video Service Assurance solutions to manage their video services and improve customer experience. To improve customer experience, there are three challenges providers must overcome.
Utilizing Adaptive Bitrate Technologies for Connected Devices
The first main challenge is that multiscreen services utilize adaptive bitrate (ABR) technology to stream video to connected devices. ABR technologies adapt the size, and thus quality, of video streams to the available bandwidth of the internet connection to the connected device. Each video asset is sent through a segment encoder to create different bitrates file chunks for streaming. This way, the chunk with the best bitrate for the available bandwidth is sent to the connected device. Providers must monitor for Quality of Experience (QoE) at the segment encoder to ensure that the video assets have not been corrupted during the encoding process, which could lead to macroblocking or black screens.
Complex Content Delivery Networks
Secondly, delivering multiscreen services requires entirely new network technologies. Multiscreen video is pushed to the internet through Content Delivery Networks (CDN), which introduce many new network components. Most significantly, providers need to monitor the communications between origin servers, which store all video assets, and caching servers, which send video assets to connected devices. QoS metrics designed specifically for ABR, like VeriStream, are essential for ensuring these devices are communicating and delivering video assets properly. Without effectively monitoring these complex networks, providers risk serious quality degradation and a negative impact on customer experience.
Large, Diverse Number of Connected Devices Over an Unmanaged Network
The third main challenge for multiscreen video is the immense number of connected devices receiving and displaying video. This unmanaged network of devices, ranging from computers to connected TV’s, mobile devices and tablets, is incredibly diverse and can cover a very large geographic area. Providers have little control over what kind of device will access their network, from which area of the network the device will be used, and the capabilities of these devices. In order to truly understand end client experience, providers need to monitor QoE and QoS from within the end client devices in real time and aggregate and report on this information from the cloud.
Multiscreen video is positioned firmly in the center of the video everywhere transformation. The ability to watch video on multiple devices, across large geographic areas and from multiple providers is a huge opportunity for the video industry. In the coming years, the most significant growth in this market will come from developing regions, most significantly from the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe. These opportunities also present some significant challenges to customer experience. To overcome these challenges, providers must employ cutting edge Video Service Assurance solutions to improve customer experience and assure their revenues.
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