In Broadcast - July 2017 - 35

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

Supplement

The Next Wave of Streaming Video
each and every viewer and delivers
a manifest that describes what content
segments to download and play
back. During the session, the session
manager is constantly re-writing the
manifest (playlist), in increments as
small as four seconds of content. This
constant, real-time updating allows for
changes in content and experience at a
very granular level, optimised for each
viewer.
Content Management System: The
content management system (CMS)
is the gatekeeper of our digital media
platform. It stores metadata (data
about the shows and movies), enforces
business rules, checks content usage
rights (blackouts), verifies and
validates a viewer's credentials, and
connects to subscription and billing
systems, amongst other things.
Greater intelligence comes when the
CMS taps into a huge pool of data
to select the best content to stream
at the right time. This data includes
metadata, business rules and policies.
Additionally, it can integrate with
recommendation
engines
(like
ContentWise or MediaHound), richer
sources of metadata (like IMDb), and
even genre and mood classifications
of content. This deeper classification
of content helps broadcasters build
a unique, personalised streaming
experience that is much more likely to
engage the viewer than any traditional
broadcast TV channel that is based on
a TV listing schedule.
Content Delivery Network: No
aspect of the video delivery chain can
impact the viewing experience more
than the CDN. It needs to deliver the
best-quality video that is optimised
to the viewer's connected device,
while overcoming any bandwidth
constraints. TV-like quality streaming
can only be ensured when real-time,
adaptive bit rate adjustments work in
conjunction with a globally distributed
CDN that delivers content to the edge
and close to the viewer.
Verizon Digital Media Services'
Edgecast Content Delivery Network,
is built on a next-generation
1
2
3
4

5
6

architecture, which integrates with
Smartplay. Every part of our CDN,
from our routing algorithms to the
hardware and storage, is optimised
to reduce latency and improve
quality. The Edgecast CDN is purposebuilt to deliver TV-like quality,
individualised experiences to millions
of simultaneous users on every screen.
Ad-decisioning System: When it
comes to making smarter decisions
about what ads to display to viewers,
the ad-decisioning system plays an
important role. For every viewer, it
receives the personalised data that
Smartplay collects - device type,
geography, user ID - and maps it to
available pre-sold inventory or goes
out to auction on a programmatic
exchange. The corresponding ads and
creatives are then stitched into the
video stream by the session manager.
The Verizon Digital Media Services
platform is pre-integrated with leading
industry ad servers and ad-decisioning
systems to deliver personalised
experiences to viewers. Our advanced
capabilities allow for sales rights
management, audience guarantees,
competitive exclusions, frequency
capping and many more - all of which
add up to higher revenue for our
customers and a great experience for
their viewers.
Player and SDKs: The video player
is the final touch point between the
viewer and content. It is essential
that the player and corresponding
SDKs load quickly and render video
unobtrusively. Behind the scenes, the
player performs a crucial function
in communicating with the session
manager to deliver needed data,
interpret the manifest file, interact
with plug-ins and capture essential
information from the viewer.
Our player libraries are lightweight
and designed to be implemented in
our customer' apps and websites in
a matter of hours, not days. Updating
player libraries and adapting the
codebase for different playback
devices and operating systems is a
job done by the Verizon Digital Media

Services team. New devices are
opportunities to reach new viewers,
not another costly integration.
Conclusion
With OTT services firmly established
in over half of American homes, it
is safe to declare the first wave of
streaming video as over and done.
And although some work remains, the
fact that Netflix has over 86 million
subscribers in the U.S. alone (as of
October 2016) shows the second wave
of streaming video (to match the
reliability and quality of the television
experience online) has largely been
achieved. Now, the next wave of video
streaming is here, and this time, the
focus is on how to improve upon
the television experience by moving
beyond the one-to-many paradigm of
broadcast entertainment toward a one
to one personalised experience.
The transition to deliver the new
wave of streaming video services is
not an easy one for broadcasters.
Simply taking a broadcast channel and
simulcasting it online doesn't unlock
the real potential of OTT services.
Linear channels need to become more
personalised, leveraging intimate
knowledge of an individual viewer's
habits to present better content and
targeted ads. That level of precise
video delivery requires a great deal of
control over every aspect of the online
video life cycle. And that can only be
achieved with Smartplay.
Smartplay is a platform technology

cont'd...

that
is
the
foundation
that
encompasses all the video workflow
functions necessary to create a one
to one, live, linear and on-demand
content experience:
* Smarter delivery integrated into
the video platform ensures TV-like
quality, individualised streams for
every viewer and on every screen;
* Smarter advertising talks to
ad-decisioning systems to enable
the insertion of targeted ads into a
viewer's individual video stream, while
ensuring the ads can't be blocked;
* Smarter
discovery
enables
personalisation and recommendations
based on mountains of viewer data,
content metadata and business rules;
* Smarter insights capture every
aspect of each one to one streaming
session and provides actionable data
to help make better decisions;
* Smarter programming means
that content replacement (blackout
management) and personalised linear
TV channels can be presented to
individual viewers;
* Smarter protection ties the
individual video stream to the IP
address and device to ensure the video
cannot be stolen anywhere in the video
life cycle.
Smartplay by Verizon, our one to
one session management technology,
is the key to gaining the insights,
intelligence and control needed to
build a successful and profitable
streaming video service as we enter
this next wave of streaming video.

Teads, Why People Block Ads, Teads.TV, Jan 2016, pages 30 and 31, http://info.teads.tv/ad-blockers-en
PwC Industry Perspective: 2016 Entertainment Media Trends report
Quality matters. Video Streaming Quality Report 2016, Verizon Digital Media Services, 2016, https://www.verizondigitalmedia.com/qm-report/
eMarkerter, U.S. Ad Blocking to Jump by Double Digits This Year, eMarketer, June 21, 2016,
https://www.emarkerter.com/Article/US-Ad-Blocking-Jump-by-Double-Digits-This-Year/1014111
Colin Dixon, 4 Ways Netflix data is used to improve service, nScreenMedia, May 25, 2015, http://www.nscreenmedia.com/4-ways-netflix-data-is-used-to-improve-service/
comScore, comScore Releases February 2016 U.S. Desktop Online Video Rankings, comScore Video Metrix, March 21, 2016,
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings/comScore-Releases-February-2016-US-Desktop-Online-Video-Rankings
James Hibberd, Game of Thrones piracy hits record high despite HBO's stand-alone service, Entertainment Weekly, April 22, 2015,
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/21/game-thrones-piracy-record

http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.verizondigitalmedia.com/get-smarter-about-your-viewers/ http://www.Teads.TV http://info.teads.tv/ad-blockers-en https://www.verizondigitalmedia.com/qm-report/ https://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Ad-Blocking-Jump-by-Double-Digits-This-Year/1014111 http://www.nscreenmedia.com/4-ways-netflix-data-is-used-to-improve-service/ https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings/comScore-Releases-February-2016-US-Desktop-Online-Video-Rankings http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/21/game-thrones-piracy-record

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - July 2017