In the digital age we live in, video stream play an integral part of our daily lives. Numbers showing the growth in video viewing especially on smart phones is mind boggling – from a mere 7% in Sept 2013 to 39% in Sept 2015. While tablets video viewing is also growing the numbers there are not as promising as the smart phones. Video streaming is entering newer usage spaces – be it wedding streaming, news streaming, social entrepreneurship in areas such as education, health care etc. more effectively connecting the video users.
If we were to trace back the history of video streaming and its consumption the industry definitely owes the origins to players like Real Networks. Undoubtedly we have come a long way since then – whether it be in player numbers such as Apple, Microsoft, Ooyala, BrightCove and some of the newer niche players like ourselves at Phando where each of them bring in a unique selling proposition of their own that aligns with specific end user requirements or in terms of underlying technologies. Here’s a good read on how the entire steaming media operates. In our case for example, we place equal emphasis on the underlying technologies and core end user scenarios to offer a solution that has both a business and a functional appeal to users.
We have built in room for scalability especially since the digital world is transforming rapidly. If you were to ask haven’t we reached the saturation point in the world of video streaming where any domain can make use of it, we have quick and reliable video of acceptable quality that gets downloaded, I’d say “No”. We still have a long way to go – primarily from speed and quality of download angles. This still is a double edged sword where if we focus on enhancing one aspect, we compromise on the other. For example, today’s video streaming focuses a lot on speed of downloads as users are quite particular on response times – however, if we closely analyse the situation these downloads are highly compressed files where the quality of the stream is definitely visibly impacted.
These are two areas where live video streaming will continue to grow and mature on – and this will be increasingly possible not just with newer video streaming technologies, including download and rendering technologies but also with increasing sophistication of the internet itself. So as end users if you are happy with what you see today, get ready for an even better experience in the coming times. For more details, what we are doing in this space and how we can help you, please reach out to us at: info@phando.com