In Broadcast - January 2016 - 34

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 6 - Issue 1 | January 2016

InMedia

Streaming IPTV OTT Trends
The trend towards adding live-linear channel content and 4K streaming has the potential to be
a game-changer in the OTT market, writes
Contributing Editor Adrian Pennington...

he growth of over-the-top (OTT)
video delivery has been nothing
short of spectacular. It has shaken
established business models and
created completely new ones. But now
the game is shifting from a pure video
on demand (VOD) play as broadcast and
streaming industries merge. Offering
both VOD and live-linear channels will
be critical for OTT providers to gain
market share.
Let's re-cap what's at stake:
According to market data (Parks
Associates 2015), global OTT video
subscription revenues are forecast to
increase from US$9 billion in 2014 to
US$19 billion in 2019. Global OTT video
revenue is expected to double by 2019
(up 19.8% at the close of 2015.) While
still only a fraction the size of the
global TV industry, the rise of OTT is
inspiring a new gold rush, and an influx
of new services.
"In one area, we are beginning to
see the convergence of broadcast
and OTT workflows, which provides a
huge opportunity to simplify existing
systems, but also requires great skill
to navigate," says Fabrice Hamadie,

"...Opportunity to
simplify existing systems
but also requires great
skill to navigate"
Fabrice Hamadie
Piksel

President, Piksel. "Simultaneously,
the Internet has transformed video
from the exclusive domain of media
and entertainment providers, to a
vehicle that many industries can use
to reach wider audiences and generate
new revenues. The major challenge
for these new businesses... is to select
the right technology to activate it, and
turn it into a profitable service, while
focusing on their core business."
In Step
The trend towards adding live-linear
channel content is believed key to
the OTT game, with both breaking
news and live sports content leading
the way in terms of interest for OTT
service providers. However, OTT
platforms have historically sacrificed
synchronisation for reliability.
Net Insight believes it has the
technology answer, recently entering
the OTT market focused on live
streaming.
It argues that 'traditional' OTT
platforms adapt to each user's
connection by creating variable delay.
This typically ranges from seconds
to minutes. While not a problem
when binge-watching on-demand
content, it kills much of the potential
of live content. Today's OTT delivery
platforms and CDNs' best effort
solutions are not optimised for live, it
states.
"OTT TV has fundamentally changed
the media landscape, but few have
been able to monetise these new
changes, especially for live content,"
Net Insight provided
a 4K live proof of concept
for Tata Communications

Piksel 4K OTT app Image featuring Discovery content

says Per Lindgren, SVP of Strategy
& Business Development. "Net
Insight's ability to deliver true live OTT
services... is an industry game changer
that enables content owners and
service providers to restate the broken
promise of a social and interactive
future TV experience."
Net Insight claims to have developed
the 'world's first live OTT video
platform' which delivers frameaccurate
synchronisation
across
broadcast TV with any second screen
device.
The nuts and bolts of the offer is a
virtualised software solution, back-end
and streaming platform deployable in
the cloud. The terminating part of the
solution is a client SDK for application
development. This supports handheld
IOS and Android devices and contains
media decoding and rendering, (i.e. a
player).
Global
communications
service
provider Tata Communications is the
first to implement the solution. "The
OTT market is growing rapidly, driven
by people's hunger to watch their
favourite shows, anytime, anywhere,
on any device, but to-date, the time
lag with OTT content delivery has
prevented its widespread use with live
events," says Brian Morris, Tata's VP &

"...OTT TV has
fundamentally
changed the media
landscape"
Per Lindgren
Net Insight

GM, Global Media and Entertainment
services.
Tata has form in this space, having
recently completed a proof of concept
for delivering a live trackside feed
from the Singapore track to Formula
One Management's (FOM) Technical
HQ in Biggin Hill, with apparently no
lag between the live broadcast and
footage viewed on the app. The test
demonstrated how the Formula 1®
fan experience could be enhanced.
The live OTT video feed was delivered
using Tata Communications' global
fibre network converted into different
bit-rates over the company's Media
Ecosystem.
The merger of live feeds with VOD
assets needs management and is
where Haivision's Scheduler fits in.
This is a new feature to the Haivision
Video Cloud that helps organisations
create online broadcast channels
by scheduling live streams and VOD
content to play out at a specific time
throughout the day, or continuously
24/7. The Scheduler feature also gives
organisations the ability to target,
market to and connect with their
audiences, creating simulated-live
experiences for specific time zones.
"The Haivision Video Cloud and
Scheduler make it possible to break
through the noise and create a more
engaging and cohesive experience
for viewers," said Chance Mason,
EVP Global Commercial Sales &
Internet Media Services, Haivision.
"Organisations can create 'set and
forget' publishing workflows and
automatically distribute live and ondemand video across multiple websites
and social media platforms at the
same time."

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