In Broadcast - July 2017 - 32

32

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 7 - Issue 6

In

Supplement

The Next Wave
of Streaming Video
Jason Friedlander, Director, Marketing Communications, Verizon Digital Media Services,
contends that it is time to move beyond the one-to-many model of broadcast
entertainment and move toward a one to one personalised experience...

T

he next wave of streaming video
has arrived. While the first and
second waves of streaming video were
all about duplicating the "lean back and
watch" television experience online,
this latest wave is different. No longer
is it just about matching the quality,
reliability, immediacy and breadth of
content offered by pay-TV services. It is
now also about leveraging the unique
technology infrastructure to create
the next-generation of television. The
future of TV, no matter the screen, is
all about personalisation.
Traditional TV has never been
good at personalisation. After all,
broadcasting is, by its very nature, a
mass-market medium. But, this next
wave of streaming video will offer
personalisation as a capability, further
differentiating the online world from
traditional television.
With the advent of social networks
and
recommendation
engines,
consumers have come to expect
uniquely tailored online experiences.
Whether it's Facebook, news on Reddit
or Netflix recommendations, viewers
purposefully dive into tailored content
among the ocean of information
available to them.
Interestingly, the delivery of one to
one experiences is now a trend that
has begun to reshape expectations
of television, too. Two-thirds of payTV customers sometimes or always
get frustrated when trying to watch
something on television, and nearly
half of them have or would like content
recommended to them by their
operator.
But, consumers aren't the only
ones to benefit from personalised
video experiences. Content providers
can benefit greatly from the direct
monetary impact on their business that
personalised experiences can bring.
For example, ad skipping is a huge
problem both on traditional television,

through a DVR and online, thanks to
ad-blocking apps, such as AdBlock.
An effective way to encourage ad
consumption is to make the ads more
relevant to the viewer. This just makes
sense; 39% say their top reason for
viewing an ad is because it is relevant
to them. And 20% say they would
uninstall their ad blocker if the ads
were more relevant.1
Delivering One To One Experiences
Consumer engagement data is the
lifeblood of next-wave video streaming
services. For broadcasters, getting
usage data has been a big challenge.
Traditionally,
broadcasters
have
relied upon multi-video program
providers (MVPDs) like Comcast and
Sky to distribute their content. In this
arrangement, the operator, not the
broadcaster, owns the relationship
with the viewer, and subsequently
the resulting insights into customer
engagement.
By requiring viewers to log in with
their pay-TV operator credentials,
content owners have begun to see
more transparency into viewer usage.
For example, during the Summer
Olympics, NBC viewers went online to
catch extended coverage of the games
using their MVPD credentials to log in.
However, fewer than one in seven U.S.
pay-TV households had TV Everywhere
access. As a result, programmers
wishing to scale their reach, and
get their hands on that data, have
launched over-the-top (OTT) services
targeted
directly
at
consumer
audiences. One example is CBS's All
Access OTT application. Launched in
2014, the television network launched
a D2C (direct-to-consumer) streaming
service, handling all user management,
subscription and billing. According to
PwC, 78% of U.S. consumers subscribe
to at least one OTT service, and this
number is expected to rise.2

Regardless
of
approach,
broadcasters require data to create
the individual, unique experiences
viewers demand. It is one thing to have
the data and quite another to use it
when creating a one to one experience.
In order to leverage valuable viewer
insights, a broadcaster must have
access to every aspect of the video
workflow and viewer experience.
This is the only way to guarantee that
viewers enjoy a customised experience
every time they interact with their OTT
service. Delivering that level of viewer
intimacy requires working with a video
platform that features one to one
session management.
One to one Session Management
An OTT video service provider knows
a lot about its viewers from their
content preferences - to what devices
they stream on and the networks
they frequent. To ensure that a
viewer receives a truly exceptional
experience, the service provider must
apply all this information to control
the video viewing session in real time.
And that requires one to one session
management.
One to one session management
starts at the very beginning of the
video life cycle and only ends once the
viewer closes the OTT application. It is
the "golden thread" that binds viewers
and all their personal information

and viewing data together to enable a
truly personalised viewing experience.
Only by spanning the entire video life
cycle in this way can a service provider
leverage the actionable information
necessary to deliver a true nextwave video experience. This new
capability will transform the way that
broadcasters will reach their audiences
in the online world.
One to one session management
has not been fully realised yet as few
video platforms can fully support this
fundamental technology across the
entire video supply chain. Here are just
some of the benefits service providers
and their viewers can expect with one
to one session management.
Consumer Benefits
Smarter Delivery: Streaming video
quality is improved with one to one
session management. Minimising
problems, such as buffering, latency
and poor video resolution, has a huge
effect on how long a viewer watches. A
quarter of people that watch premium
video say they frequently abandon
viewing sessions (half the time or
more) due to poor-quality experiences
when viewing on the PC. 13% of mobile
viewers and 11% of computer and
connected-TV users say they give up
trying to view at least one poor-quality
video almost every time they watch
online!3
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.verizondigitalmedia.com/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - July 2017
