TVBE Supplement September 2015

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TVBEurope Supplements

September 2015

PREVENTING CHURN

101

Video intelligence

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Video analytics what you don’t know will hurt you Kurt Michel, senior marketing director at video assurance specialist IneoQuest, examines the role of OTT and multiscreen in today’s environment, and the increasing importance of video analytics OTT and multiscreen in today’s environment

writers, producers and directors by giving them the creative freedom to produce incredibly

he role of OTT and multiscreen is increas-

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compelling original content. And viewers are

ing in importance every day. In fact, for

being asked to vote. Viewers, in particular binge

younger generations, it is almost the way

viewers, are discovering programmes in the OTT

of consuming. Over time, we won’t distinguish a

environment that they were overlooking when

television set from what we call ‘digital devices’.

broadcast in the traditional linear fashion.

They will all simply be ‘devices’.

The industry has really turned a corner as the

So if content availability is not an issue, what is?

I believe it’s the quality of the viewer experience.

predominant revenue model continues to pivot

What the industry needs is an awareness of the

from ad revenue to subscription revenue. In my

quality issues that viewers are still dealing with

mind, this became a tipping point in the industry,

and an understanding of that in the context of

Kurt Michel

when many content providers realised that they absolutely had to have a digital OTT presence.

Interestingly, this is putting more pressure on the broadcast side of things, because there is an increasing opportunity for churn as existing barriers to switching providers have lowered. In the past, if I signed up for a cable subscription, I would sign a long-term contract and make a commitment to that provider for an extended period of time. In contrast, now I have the oppor-

‘If you really want actionable insights, to know what individual viewers are watching and why, you need visibility, transparency and above all, intelligence about what is happening to content at every link in the video delivery chain’

tunity to pay for content on a monthly basis. If I’m

ty is in subscriptions and the associated revenue. And a reliable, broadly accepted third-party Nielsen analogue – a basic foundation of an ad-supported monetisation system – does not yet exist.

It’s not that Nielsen, along with others, isn’t trying to do that. By way of example, after a significant event such as a World Cup or Super Bowl, when the numbers are announced by the rights holder/broadcaster the next day – ‘Oh

not happy with my online service provider, I can

this was a huge game, a huge event and we

easily switch: immediately. I can take advantage

the OTT space. For example, if you think of the

had, in the case of the Super Bowl here in the

of a 30-day free trial, and if I’m not happy with

business of television, the currency, the standard

US, 110 or 112 million viewers who watched on

that, I can go to another 30-day free trial. Add

that drove that business was ‘viewership’ and

broadcast television’ – that number is

the number of content providers coming into the

ratings. There was third-party validation, such as

established by Nielsen and everybody agrees

mix, and the fact that there are only so many

Nielsen ratings, to indicate how many people

on and understands what that means. Then they

viewers out there, and it’s easy to see that cus-

were watching what in certain demographics,

say, ‘and we also broke the record of having 2.3

tomer churn is a huge concern in the industry.

so the industry could establish advertising pricing

million unique visitors over IP, based on our

based on those ratings. Content providers could

measurements.’

Improving the multiscreen experience, reducing viewer churn

make decisions on whether or not they would renew a programme for the following year based

ad-driven business model similar to that of

One of the fascinating dynamics in the OTT

on this same viewership currency.

broadcast television, they need the visibility and

space is that providers such as Netflix and Amazon are attracting some of the industry’s best

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Not so in OTT and multiscreen. In the OTT space, the primary measure of content populari-

If the OTT industry is going to support an

transparency that only an objective third party can provide. We simply are not there yet.

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Video intelligence and quality of experience If you find you have a quality issue, you need to be able to identify the root cause. The root cause is the answer to the ‘why’ questions, and finding that answer is the real challenge. And you can’t get that by just using measurement software in the player. You also need to understand the quality of content (QoC); whether the content coming from your origin looks good and is packaged properly (in dozens of different variations) to deliver to all those end users on their different devices and networks. Next up in the distribution chain is the actual delivery of the video packets. Measurements in this area are referred to as quality of service (QoS), and since the demands of video streams are much higher and require more bandwidth than pretty much anything else in a network, the importance of a solid QoS perspective cannot be overstated.

Finally, information can be gathered at the end device for both QoS and the resulting viewer response. By collecting and correlating the information collected across the distribution system, true understanding of the viewers’ quality of experience (QoE) can be gained, and the video business leaders can find the answers to the nearly infinite number of ‘why’ questions that are needed to effectively drive their businesses.

Quality: an end-to-end game If you really want actionable insights, to know what individual viewers are watching and why, Viewership validation is one area where I think OTT needs to catch up to broadcast, but it’s important to note that OTT viewership numbers require some critical context to have the same kind of weight as Nielsen ratings. That context is the quality of the viewer experience. Traditional broadcast leverages a purpose-built network, made expressly for video content, which is much

you need visibility, transparency and above all,

‘Without understanding the quality issues, without understanding that the viewers were experiencing re-buffering or poor picture quality, without that context, the viewership numbers are not meaningful’

less complex than multiscreen OTT. This OTT distri-

intelligence about what is happening to content at every link in the video delivery chain. Every step, from where it originated, throughout the entire network, and ultimately to each individual device’s playback software, contributes to the quality of the experience. Traditional broadcast networks built in this capability. It is part of the ‘broadcast quality’ foundation.

OTT has a vast opportunity to meet the de-

bution complexity adds quality risk which the industry continues to wrestle with. And that means

mands of global viewers. Those demands are

that viewership numbers must be filtered through

And if so, why? Maybe it was because

driving the industry faster than many expected.

a ‘delivered quality’ lens. As an example, if

a poorly packaged advertisement was

But if we are to achieve a level of quality and

you’re a content provider collecting real-time

inserted into the stream, and it created

reliability that approaches the gold standard of

viewership numbers – made possible through

playback issues. Or maybe some part of

‘broadcast’ in the complexity of an unmanaged,

digital distribution – you can see that you have

the network started behaving badly and

multivendor distribution ecosystem, the concept

a million viewers; but then half way through the

the picture started to pause or become

of end-to-end analytics with clear demarcation

event or content you lose 25 per cent of them.

blocky, or ‘pixelated’, making the

points and key quality indicators must be em-

Something is wrong. But what is wrong? Why did

content unwatchable.

braced. And those key quality indicators and the

they abandon? Why did you lose them? Did

Without understanding the quality issues,

knowledge gained would be made accessible

the audience lose interest in the content, or did

without understanding that the viewers were

to the video business operators, resulting in a true

the playback quality degrade? Did they switch

experiencing re-buffering or poor picture

‘currency of quality’. And in this case, that knowl-

off, or drop due to buffer issues? Did you lose a

quality, without that context, the viewership

edge truly is the power that will propel the OTT

certain region, or local network, or device type?

numbers are not meaningful.

industry to ‘broadcast quality’ and beyond.

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OTT and video quality Where content, complexity and viewer expectations collide TVBEurope spoke to three major players in the OTT end-to-end video distribution space: senior management from Elemental Technologies, representing video processing and origin services; Akamai Technologies, representing the content delivery network; and VisualOn, representing device video player technologies.

Each gave their perspective on how the industry can drive toward the broadcast-quality viewer experience their audiences expect in the brave new world of OTT, and the role that ecosystem partners play in that growth. he OTT industry is being propelled forward

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in order for the system to deliver on the enor-

at a rate that few, if any, in the industry

mous business promise of OTT video.

viewer demands, and the industry has respond-

TVBEurope: “Consumers don’t stand still. We

ed with new innovations in compression and

must meet their expectations, and the only way

delivery, faster device development, and an

to do that is via a software-defined video (SDV)

explosion of available content.

approach that allows the industry to change at

expected. It is being driven primarily by

Meanwhile, viewer expectations for quality, set over 50 years by the broadcast industry,

Keith Wymbs of Elemental Technologies told

the speed of viewer demand.”

Deepak Das of VisualOn noted that there is a

present an enormous challenge for the online

“shared responsibility of everyone in the ecosys-

video sector. OTT is also trying to address some

tem to create appropriate handoff mechanisms

of the same challenges that the broadcast

with specific criteria to handle the complexity of

industry faced over that half-century, but in less

the OTT delivery system.”

than a decade. For example, the functional silos in the traditional distribution network have been supplanted by multiple vendors providing services together in the unmanaged media distribution path. In addition, consumer driven growth continues. According to Ray Gilmartin of Akamai Technologies, publisher of the State

Deepak Das, senior director of marketing VisualOn, Inc., a multimedia software company that enables video and audio across connected devices

‘Viewer expectations for quality, set over 50 years by the broadcast industry, present an enormous challenge for the online video sector’

Keith Wymbs chief marketing officer Elemental Technologies, the leading supplier of software-defined video solutions for multiscreen content delivery

of the Internet report, “We are estimating that in order to meet the future quality expectations for OTT as video progresses to 4K and 8K, the industry will require 1000x the capacity it has today. Given this projection, the challenges are

These and other leaders in the OTT industry are

daunting to ensure the future of broadcast-like

working to improve their respective domains

experiences for OTT.”

within the streaming distribution pipeline. In-

In this context, all of them spoke to the need

creasingly, they are leveraging software-based

for a more flexible, more open multi-vendor distri-

solutions that support the rapid innovation that

bution ecosystem balanced with and defined by

has driven the success of OTT thus far. However,

clear demarcation points.

this next stage in the maturity of OTT as a viable

More importantly, however, was their unani-

business model will require greater collabora-

mous agreement on the need for open, accessi-

tion to improve video quality and consistency

ble KPIs (key performance indicators) supported

across the system as a whole. The lynchpin: an

by consistent and transparent quality measure-

agreed-upon set of standards for quality at each

ment at every one of these demarcation points

stage of the pipeline.

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Ray Gilmartin senior director, product marketing, media, Akamai Technologies, the global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services

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Over the top, into the future To discuss IneoQuest’s perspective on the world of OTT, and the likely road ahead for the wider video industry, TVBEurope sat down with the company’s VP of corporate strategy, Stuart Newton

viewer devices there are multiple different types of broadband access networks; so the video could be carried via cable, xDSL, fibre (xPON), a public Wi-Fi or WiMax infrastructure, or over a mobile infrastructure using 3G, 4G or LTE. And then

How did IneoQuest become involved with the OTT sector? neoQuest [IQ] has been around for about 14

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with video headends and across the HTTP deliv-

of course there is the domestic Wi-Fi network,

ery system to provide end-to-end monitoring of

which is often used to extend these other access

those services.

network connections within the viewer’s home.

years. We spent the first eight years producing

All of these different ‘last mile’ technologies have the potential to affect quality levels and

time we worked with the majority of the leading

What do you see as the main challenges in the OTT sector today?

telecommunication and cable companies

I like to think about this by relating back to the

controlled video delivery where everything was

around the world. Some of these companies

architecture of IPTV. If you look at the original lin-

managed by one or a few entities from the hea-

were the pioneers in adaptive streaming video

ear IPTV video delivery via broadband or cable,

dend through the core network, the broadband

deployments, and asked if we could help them

it was all end-to-end MPEG transport streams. In

pipe and out to the set-top box, to a world of

to learn why some services weren’t working.

that system, you can you look at MPEG packets

multiple different networks (the internet), vendor

all the way through the network – whether on

silos, protocols, technologies and bit rates of the

we applied the tools we had to see what we

ASI at the headend, in the IP core network or

same video stream to many, many devices. It’s

could do. We put our probes and solutions in

going over the last mile DSL, cable or whatever

a huge change that is constantly increasing the

place, put our best engineers on the problems,

it happens to be. But with HTTP-based adaptive

complexity of delivering video.

and eventually developed a new set of metrics

video, the model is completely different. The vid-

that actually started to make some kind of sense

eo starts in one original format, and is converted

out of the issues facing HTTP delivery of adaptive

into many different forms based on what device

How are you specifically addressing those challenges?

video, such as start-up problems and critical

the viewer is using, the software/apps on that de-

For the past few years, we have been applying

delivery timing of the video packets.

vice, the quality of the connection it has, and the

our understanding of packet-based video

demands of the content itself. Converting and

measurement to create tools and services

the last six years we have become a leading

managing all of these different formats, bitrates,

that provide an end-to-end perspective for

provider of service assurance and analytics

and protocols can introduce unique, complex

HTTP adaptive video streams, with a focus

solutions for adaptive media delivery quality.

problems. To complicate things further, between

on the unique needs and quality indicators

We work with the majority of the operators today

the content delivery networks (CDNs) and the

across different parts of the delivery chain.

the first video-quality assurance solutions for

IPTV and cable video deployments, and in that

Since we offered video analytics at that point,

As a result of these early collaborations, over

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viewer experience.

We have basically moved from a world of

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an absolute imperative to have the ability to

rapidly performed a U-turn and refocused on

gather video analytics from the end-to-end of

operational service assurance data as a priority.

the chain of video delivery.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a huge

More recently, as the industry has matured,

learning curve for the OTT industry, resulting in

advanced customer experience management

greater focus on quality assurance. So we offer a

(CEM) is gaining increased attention. Video ser-

comprehensive analytics solution: both foun-

vice providers want to put a much stronger focus

dational service assurance tools, as well as the

on reducing churn and improving their brand

audience behavioural tools.

recognition for video delivery. To do that, they

the audience – and any individual viewer expe-

Looking to the future: where will this sector be in three to five years’ time?

rience – in real time across different geographies

It’s going to be fascinating. I don’t think the rate

based on network, device, player, and many

of innovation is going to change; potentially, it’s

other factors leads to much more efficient, timely

only going to increase. I think there are three ma-

problem resolution.

jor topics that video is going to be affected by,

need a much better view of which customers are affected and when. Being able to profile

“As a company, we’ve embraced a significant number of new technologies and capabilities in virtualisation, mobile delivery and analytics in order to prepare: it’s certainly going to be an interesting few years ahead”

and be attracted to, over the next few years.

Are broadcasters giving enough serious thought to their multiscreen services? Are they missing out on opportunities to monetise their offerings?

I think broadcasters are giving a lot of serious

The first is advanced customer experience: making sure you reduce churn, generate excellent brand awareness, and provide the best experience you can. I think real-time analytics will be key to enabling that kind of future.

Secondly, network-function virtualisation (NFV)

thought to this, and many have been playing

is going to be realistically deployed in a two to

with multiscreen services for the last few years.

five-year timescale. If video service providers

It’s evident to me from some of the services that

want to provide future services that are going

The headend or ‘origin’ is the first part to get

I’ve seen – and in conversations with colleagues

to be highly adaptable and dynamic, then NFV

right because if you don’t, every viewer will

and friends – that you get a very clear picture,

is certainly going to be employed alongside

be affected. So we started by developing OTT

very quickly, about which services are good and

software-defined networking (SDN) for video

headend solutions which can monitor and

which aren’t. You can see the broadcasters that

services. Again, real-time analytics is going to

compare the incoming and transcoded bit

have put a bigger focus on it now. Some of

be a critical part of the control and feedback

rate streams, and then we moved our focus

those broadcasters have been offering these

loop to enable that.

to the needs of publishing points, post-origin,

additional OTT/multiscreen services for free until

intra CDN, post cache, and then eventually

now, but as they improve the quality and start

casted growth of video over mobile. The mobile

produced a cloud-based active testing solution

rolling out other content, they are going to

operators deliver a lot of free OTT content today,

post CDN. Over time we have expanded these

want to charge for it.

but as the amount of premium content grows,

passive monitoring and active testing solutions,

In fact, last year I gave a presentation on mon-

On a third level, there is the enormous fore-

customer expectations will rise. Those mobile op-

and recently added the ability to collect video

etising the video experience. It was about the

erators will need the same level of visibility as the

quality analytics and viewer response from

monetisation cycle where you really need to do

traditional IPTV and cable operators to ensure

the end device’s player itself, completing our

the service assurance and ensure the delivery of

solid service delivery and SLA compliance.

portfolio’s end-to-end measurement capability

the content before you can go on to fine tuning

across the video delivery network.

the content, advertising, and providing addi-

you’re a video service provider, you will need to

These three areas are not mutually exclusive. If

tional services. And this is a dynamic problem,

be delivering HTTP-based video over mobile and

Why are video analytics a core requirement for OTT?

because as you are attracting new subscribers,

fixed infrastructures in the next several years. You

you affect the performance of the delivery infra-

will be affected in both fixed and mobile by the

Video analytics are a core requirement for any

structure. It requires awareness and infrastructure

move to NFV and SDN, and there is only going to

video delivery service, whether it’s IPTV, cable,

flexibility. And we have found over the years is

be increased pressure on customer experience

satellite, or OTT. Without them, the provider is

that the biggest concern for many operators is

management. We are evolving for all of these,

flying blind. Video will reveal issues in a network

how to deliver the video with the right quality

and have solutions to cover all three aspects as

like no other data: it is extremely time-sensitive,

consistently. Even though they want to know who

they start to converge and merge.

whether linear or adaptive. If you don’t deliver

is watching on what device in order to better

It will be an exciting future. Any one of these

video in a precise fashion to keep the end-play-

monetise, it is all a waste of time and money

topics is a huge consideration in itself. As a com-

er buffers full, viewers will get a black screen,

if the viewer’s video quality is poor. Consistent

pany, we’ve embraced a significant number of

rotating rebuffer symbol, or another fault that

delivery quality is always ‘step one’.

new technologies and capabilities in virtualis-

makes people complain (often in social media),

We have seen several content providers and

ation, mobile delivery and analytics in order to

demand their money back, or in arguably the

operators who were initially focused on obtaining

prepare: it’s certainly going to be an interesting

worst case, simply cancel their subscription. It’s

the behavioural data measurement tools who

few years ahead.

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