Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) January/February 2016 Volume 33, Issue 1 | Page 36

36 X-PLATFORM
January-February 2016

OTT losing festive cheer ?

This past Christmas was a boon for over-the-top ( OTT ) services , with 52 % of viewers around the world predicted to have used an online TV service during the festive season , suggested a new Research Now study , commissioned by Paywizard .
The study , which was carried out in Australia , Brazil , Germany , Singapore , the UK and the US , found that around 25 % of consumers already use an OTT service , and a further 27 % were planning to go OTT post Christmas last year , taking advantage of free trials and special “ Black Friday ” offers . Mobile devices such as laptops , tablets and smartphones were the platforms
of choice for OTT viewing during Christmas for 66 % of respondents , although when it came to Christmas viewing , generally , 80 % of respondents still preferred the traditional TV set .
However , for operators such as Amazon Prime , Hulu and Netflix , the joy could be short-lived . According to Research Now , 45 % OTT of subscribers plan to cancel their subscriptions “ immediately ” or within six months — 15 % of subscribers plan to cancel their services this January , with a further 30 % following suit in the next six months . They attribute the decision to perceived poor value-for-money and a lack of sustainable content
choices .
Bhavesh Vaghela , chief marketing officer at Paywizard , said : “ While OTT is disrupting the entertainment market , it ’ s pretty clear there is much to do to keep customers subscribed for a sustained period of time . This global survery shows that key demographic groups like the over-55s are not being catered for , while the core 24-35 working adults are running out of relevant content that is of interest to them .
“ If OTT providers are to succeed in a highly competitive environment , it ’ s essential they provide a more personalised service based on a full understanding of customer behaviours and viewing habits .”
A new study found that while there was a surge in OTT subscriptions over the 2015 Christmas period , 15 % of OTT subscribers plan to cancel their subscriptions this month , with a further 30 % following suit in the next six months .
Of the group of consumers who intend to cancel their OTT subscriptions , 54 % said they could be persauded to stay due to “ rich
content ”, while another third cited better value for money to be a critical factor in keeping their OTT service .

EBU and Mobile Viewpoint utilise IP for live newsgathering

The European Broadcasting Union ( EBU ) and Mobile Viewpoint have signed an agreement to deliver news and other content quickly and cost-effectively to EBU members and clients using IP technology .
Mobile Viewpoint focuses on the development and implementation of IP transmisson solutions for both the broadcast and security industries . For the collaboration with the EBU , dedicated IP encoding and decoding appliances using Mobile Viewpoint technology will be gradually rolled out in 2016 , beginning with the launch of the Eurovision Open Smart
Virtual IP Network and its online portal .
According to the EBU , this cooperation enables both organisations to complement their respective competitive strengths , and push for innovation and crosscompatibility of IP broadcast technologies . The EBU also believes that IP technology enables broadcasters to go live from almost every corner of the world within seconds .
The deployment of IP transmission solutions by major broadcasters , added the EBU , has already shown that the technology is now “ widely accepted ” as the major tool for cost-effective and
The European Broadcasting Union ( EBU ) and Mobile Viewpoint have signed an agreement to deliver news and other content quickly and cost-effectively to EBU members and clients using IP technology .
fast newsgathering . Graham Warren , EBU Network ’ s director , said : “ This alliance enables the EBU to continue developing our open IP hybrid network for our clients . It will empower media professionals to manage their transmissions wherever and whenever , thanks to the latest IP digital technology and our enhanced online portal .”
Michel Bais , Mobile Viewpoint ’ s managing director , added : “ The cooperation with the EBU opens up a whole new market and group of customers who like to use IP as a cost-effective alternative to traditional satellite and fibre — with outstanding quality of service . The EBU ’ s global network reliability and reach make it possible to deliver these services in combination with our adaptive encoding devices .”

Seven Network ’ s new streaming platform is a record-breaker

7Live , a new round-the-clock live streaming platform from Australia ’ s Seven Network , got off to a recordbreaking start with the commercial free-to-air broadcaster ’ s coverage of Australian jockey Michelle Payne ’ s historic 2015 Melbourne Cup victory last November .
According to Seven Network , Payne ’ s victory saw more than 488,000 live stream views throughout the day , with more than 346,000 concurrent live streams during the day itself , an Australian live streaming record .
Delivered over the Akamai Content Delivery Network , the 7Live is powered by Elemental Technologies ’ Elemental Live streaming encoders and Elemental Conductor encoder management systems , supplied and commissioned by Quinto Communications , Elemental ’ s local partner in Australia and New Zealand .
Yahoo7 Plus7 users in Australia can now view live streams of all three Seven Network ’ s main channels : Seven , 7TWO and 7MATE ,
Elemental Technologies is powering 7Live , a new round-the-clock live streaming platform from Australia ’ s Seven Network .
round-the-clock in both desktop browsers and on a wide variety of mobile devices . In order to provide different , localised , live streaming versions of these services , Seven Network created a total of 37 different individual TV services . Presentation output is provided as HD serial digital video the
Elemental Live streaming encoders , for H . 264 video with AAC audio encoding and streaming format packaging .
An Elemental Live appliance occupying just one-rack unit of rack space is able to take in and encode eight HD serial digital video service feeds , encoding each in
multiple different resolutions and bitrates simultaneously .
Seven ’ s requirement to create a total of 37 different streaming video services is thus achieved using just five Elemental Live streaming appliances , occupying only five units of rack space at the Melbourne Docklands playout centre .
With each channel being streamed at multiple bitrates and resolutions to provide streams optimised for a very wide variety of consumer devices and Internet connection speeds , these five Elemental Live units perform in excess of 170 individual real-time H . 264 video encodes concurrently .
Two Elemental Conductor management and monitoring appliances , configured as a highavailability cluster for redundancy , provide for the configuration and monitoring of all of the live Web streaming services , from a single intuitive operator Web browser interface . The Elemental Live encoders on-board Web servers also
serve streams locally to the Seven in-house network monitoring , in addition to the Elemental live encoders delivering the streams to Seven ’ s Internet Content Delivery Network partners .
Damian McNamara , Seven West Media ’ s head of Digital Technology and Development , concluded : “ I ’ m very happy to have had Quinto and Elemental as key partners in [ the ] delivery of our new live streaming services . Their immense expertise and effort in the field of live streaming video services ensured our recent launch has been a success .”