Report: CSPs struggling with video demand surge
August 11, 2017
According to distributed video management and delivery platform specialist Vimmi, communication service providers (CSPs) are failing to add new subscribers and even losing existing subscribers and therefore profits because of their ageing video OTT platforms. Service providers are struggling to scale their platforms and to provide the range of services and quality of experience that users now expect of video services.
Vimmi has found that complexities and limitations in current architectures, high operational costs and poor video quality are just some of the challenges facing today’s operators and content providers. Their legacy systems, which are built with multiple vendors, are unable to cope with the fast introduction of new video services and often cannot provide anything better than moderate video performance and a substandard features-set.
Vimmi suggests that poorly performing legacy platforms mean that CSPs and content providers are having difficulties supporting the scale required for today’s video OTT demands – yet alone supporting the predicted further growth in the future. The lack of real-time analytics makes it difficult to know how video is being served to end users and what actions are required to resolve performance issues, while uncertainty about the best business model to support projects means that new projects or upgrades are delayed.
As a consequence, profitably is constantly under threat and often never achieved, while poor end user experience results in churn as consumers leave to find better quality video content elsewhere.
To meet the demands of today’s video-hungry subscribers, operators and content providers need video OTT and CDN platforms that are based on software architecture that is open, agile and has the capability to scale to peak demand within seconds. The ability to add new features or services within days rather than months is now vital, although often missing.
Vimmi suggests that deep learning algorithms that use predictive modelling improve video delivery and user experience while, in some instances, halving the network resources required. New network architectures based on Multi Access Edge Computing are now essential implementations to further optimise delivery, storage and overall network efficiency and for the introduction of new video services such as VR/AR, 4K, live events and user-generated content.
“Users expect the video on their devices to be of the same quality as their cable or satellite TV,” explains Eitan Koter, Founder and Co-CEO of Vimmi. “Yet the legacy platforms were not built for today’s high-performance video expectations – and that’s not to mention live 4K and VR which will both soon be mass market applications of video. Video operators are struggling, and the ones that don’t catch up with this market shift will lose subscribers – many already are.”
For many providers, their video platform was built when online video was new, but since then, consumer demands for video content have skyrocketed. These platforms cannot scale to meet current demand and at the right price – especially if live services are being offered. Today, the legacy systems cannot keep up.
“Service providers should not be failing subscribers, but they are. Strategically, video is important to keep customers subscribed and engaged, but the operators are in danger of doing neither. They must look to creative business models for video and to new on-premise and hybrid implementations that reduce costs and increase the speed of implementation,” continued Koter. “There are ways for operators to increase both their profits and the user’s video experience. But if they do nothing, then for many it may be end of video OTT as we and they know it.”