Poor Streaming Video Quality Drives Viewers Away Within 90 Seconds

                                Image credit: Do It Yourself

Live streaming (live events and 24/7 live linear), seems to be constantly in the news. Yet research just in from leading real-time IP video solutions provider, Phenix, highlights the fact that: “even though real-time content is now a huge differentiator for service providers, more than a quarter of streaming service users won’t pay for live content due to poor quality” [1]. This consumer stance is however, quite reasonable, and if the percentage was even higher, it would not be surprising.

            Image credit: Rapid TV News

The Streaming Wars

Phenix's Streaming Wars research (part 3): indicates that in the US, 27% of adults who use a streaming service, do not believe that it is worthwhile paying a subscription for live content - because of the consistently poor streaming quality.

Phenix, which worked on this study in conjunction with third party research firm, YouGov, conducted the research online. Further results showed that viewers are hesitant regarding the access and quality of live content. Moreover, they: "are not only cautious about their money, but also their time, as more than half (53%) would abandon a poor-quality stream in 90 seconds or less"[1]. 

Having said this, the research underscores just how crucial it is for platforms that do not offer first-class streaming quality, to take action right away, before they suffer a massive migration of users, and huge dip in revenue. They need to emulate successful platforms such as OONA OTT Mobile TV. - OONA  makes their streaming quality and delivery, a second to none priority, by supporting the same quality level for live video streaming, as what is expected from traditional broadcast television. Moreover, content providers can enjoy peace of mind knowing they can deliver high-quality streaming that pleases their viewers every time. And just as with OONA, this guarantees customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Buffering & Delays

"More than a third of people said they would give a streaming video one-minute-tops to improve issues like lag time before giving up and turning it off" [1]

There is nothing worse than a video buffering right at a crucial moment. The Streaming Wars research certainly puts the spotlight on the fact that, at the present time, buffering and delays are far more than simply an inconvenient part of the streaming experience - they are a total turn-off. - Moreover, they have a knock-on effect on the way that some viewers decide to keep their wallets tightly shut.

Over one fifth (21%) of the study respondents do not stream live content more frequently, simply because they are not prepared to put up with the unwelcome buffering and delays. Close to 3/5ths of consumers who are signed up to a streaming service would be bolstered to switch to an alternative platform if it offered a superior live option. And interestingly, 11% of  streaming service users watch content on a platform that incorporates a live option, but have not watched it yet [1].

Consumer's Demands Need to be Met

Service providers have to address the fact that today's viewers expect to enjoy an excellent customer experience - and a large part of this is quality streaming. Indeed, Phenix stresses that this new survey makes it crystal clear how essential it is for providers to perfect their back-end tech in order to gain a steady flow of subscriber dollars [1].

Just Not Interested

The study also indicates that a third of responders were not interested in paying extra money just for streaming live content; and that at the present time, close to 50% of those who have streaming services, do not want to shell out over $5 a month on subs for live content [1].

Survival of the Fittest

The co-founder and CEO of Phenix, Stefan Birrer, noted that: “We’re in the midst of an industry shift, seeing live-content offerings surface from platforms traditionally known for streaming pre-developed programming, like Hulu and YouTube, with many more to follow” [1], and remarked that this has made live "become the ‘survival of the fittest’ trait for streaming platform" [1].

Negating the Risk of Loosing Big Money 

Whether it is subscriptions for entertainment, or upcoming betting platforms (which are predicted to rake in $150 billion): "a stream that lags behind makes it impossible to engage in the way that consumers need" [1].  As Birrer, points out, across all spheres, particularly in the case of interactive content such as esports and sports: ‘live streaming’ "can only become a true differentiator once we make it a real-time experience by removing delays and buffering. We need an industry-wide technological overhaul to achieve the lofty sights we’ve set” [1].

OONA Global TV - Making Streaming Video Quality a Priority

"OONA Set to Deliver a Cutting-Edge Mobile TV Experience to 185 Million Indonesians"

OONA, the cutting-edge OTT AVOD (and premium option) mobile platform, is in the process of offering fantastic free interactive entertainment, and top content and live TV to billions of people in Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East, the US and Europe. Its most recent high tech upgrade offers a ready to launch business to telecoms. This enables them to leverage their network infrastructure and user base, so they can substantially multiply their mobile television business.

OONA, the brain child of leading digital strategist, and CEO, Christophe Hochart, is an AVOD and SVOD OTT service offering, which is geared to ramp up and revolutionise the viewing pleasure and TV distribution for 185 million Telkom Indonesia subscribers across the nation [2] [3]. Further, the world's leading video cloud service provider, Brightcove (NASDAQ: BCOV), has recently announced that Metranet, a subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia, has selected its video platform to launch OONA Indonesia - the hugely popular mobile app which is custom designed to provide personalised live linear and VOD entertainment to consumers on the go.

The Next Generation OTT Service

With this state-of-the-art app, courtesy of OONA, Metranet is now able to provide the region’s mobile consumers with the next generation OTT service. This will empower them to stream top quality TV entertainment with data/sub-free access to current season shows from leading international and local TV stations and broadcast networks. The OONA app is engineered to give users an out-of-the-box innovative experience with built-in features and rewards including: a chat bot (which personalises their content and ads), a 360-video player, a fun streaming chat line to interact with other viewers, parental controls, offline data storage, screen capture with cool editing tools, and a virtual currency wallet to store tcoin rewards which can be accrued for connecting with the chatbot and watching and sharing content. The rewards can then be redeemed for must have branded goods and services, meals, fun days out, discounts, and free phone minutes and telcom products [2] [3].

The OONA app's live and on-demand video experience will be underpinned by Brightcove's video platform. It will stream 60-plus live channels, and provide video adverts with SSAI (server-side ad insertion technology) to guarantee a broadcast-like seamless ad experience [2]. The CEO of Metranet, Widi Nugroho, stated that: “Metranet is excited to be the first to launch OONA for Indonesian market as part of our goal to bring first-class entertainment to Telkom Indonesia’s mobile customer base. With [so many] potential viewers, we understand the pressure is intense to ensure that even with free content, the streaming experience for the user needs to be exceptional and the advertising experience should be seamless. This is why we selected Brightcove for their robust and scalable OTT video streaming architecture, industry-leading server-side ad insertion technology, proven track record of working with some of the world’s top OTT service providers, and established in-region technical support team” [2]. 

Further, Brightcove Asia's VP, Ben Morrell, proclaimed that: “OONA is the future of OTT and a game-changer for Telkom Indonesia and viewers in Indonesia, where great content, delivered on mobile, and monetised via an ad-funded model has hit the sweet spot. We are excited to be powering an OTT platform that combines the power of live and linear TV experience in one” [2].

Summary

In summary, streaming video platforms have to put their focus on customer experience, otherwise their bottom line will be seriously damaged. They must rectify any delays and buffering by using state-of-the-art tech solutions, and not expect their viewers to have to put up with it - they won't!

References

[1]. O'Halloran, Joseph (2018). “Poor streaming video quality now having major revenue implications.” Rapid TV News.
https://www.rapidtvnews.com/2018100553728/poor-streaming-video-quality-now-having-major-revenue-implications.html?utm_campaign=poor-streaming-video-quality-now-having-major-revenue-implications&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_1896#axzz5Te0xvNS7 Accessed 12 Oct. 2018.

[2]. Brightcove (2018). "Telkom Indonesia Selects Brightcove to Stream Live and VOD TV on OONA." https://www.brightcove.com/en/company/press/telkom-indonesia-selects-brightcove-stream-live-and-vod-tv-oona Accessed 12 Oct. 2018.

[3]. OONA Free Mobile TV (2008). "Euro TV Operators Not Using Subscriber Data to Ensure Positive CX." https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?rinli=1&pli=1&blogID=191005497826445827#allposts Accessed 12 Oct. 2018.