流媒体有什么意义?

你可能会觉得我疯了, as the executive director of the world’s largest streaming technical association, 问这个专栏标题中的问题. But I think it’s actually important that we do a gut check every once in a while.

流媒体 is, fundamentally, just a delivery mechanism. 事实上, one could argue that the entire streaming industry is simply transporting the broadcast industry (how content is captured and ingested, 它是如何编辑和制作的, 它是如何传递给观众的, 如何测量它, 如何投放广告, 等.)进入一个不同的技术领域. 和, 确定, doing a lot of that over IP networks is much cheaper than doing it over broadcast networks and satellite downlinks. But streaming doesn’t reach nearly as many people as broadcast, 所以这种转变需要很长时间. 当然, 我们正处于快速采用技术的时期, so the curve is much shorter than it would have been if this transition had happened in the late ’70s, for example (assuming the technology had existed then, 当然没有).

Another point of streaming might be about data collection and understanding viewer behavior. 在传统广播中, 尼尔森, BARB, and other organizations built the infrastructure to mea确定 audience behavior. 但它真的很有限. 流媒体, 然而, can be part of the digital ecosystem in which every viewer’s mouse clicks and screen caps can be aggregated and connected. This can then be applied to personalizing the advertising (making it more relevant) and even personalizing the content itself (如 custom FAST channels that consist entirely of content curated for a single user).

Or maybe streaming is about creating new kinds of video experiences. Look at immersive video: streaming 交付 into an immersive environment like a VR headset. 与触觉, 控制器, 和声音, 观众可以被传送到视频本身, potentially interacting with objects as the story unfolds. 当然, 让这一切真正发生, we must reinvent how we tell stories so that viewers engaging in one part of the video environment don’t miss the story in another part. 是的，这也是一个变革的过程. Traditional broadcast, starting with MoCA and OCAP, tried to create interactivity. Although it failed, it was an attempt at Immersive Video 1.0. 和 then there was 3D TV (the less said about that the better). 也许那是沉浸式视频1.0.1? But, then again, we’ve had 3D content for a long time. This kind of immersive content was prominent in American cinemas in the 1950s.

Answering the question posed in the title of this article, then, is twofold. First is the practical answer: 流媒体 is a technological evolution of delivering video content. 它不仅更便宜, but it has a farther reach than traditional broadcast, 使用遍及世界的技术. It’s really hard to deliver video to a mobile phone if it requires a settop box. 和 to deliver over the air to every device, you need specialized radios and other hardware. 流媒体 can get it everywhere without anything but a network connection and a web browser. Second, though, is the more exciting answer: 流媒体 is evolving the way we consume video content. 称之为TV 2.0. 因为内容是数字化的, it can be manipulated and transformed into new ways to watch and engage. 它可以个性化和定制. 它可以被剪辑、保存和操纵. This is not just evolutionary; it’s revolutionary because although it ports existing business models (like pay-TV subscriptions and advertising), it also provides entirely new monetization models as well, 如 EDGE视频的Watch2Earn. (披露:我是Watch2Earn的顾问.)

流媒体不仅仅是一项技术. It’s more than just the business of broadcasting in a digital world. It’s a truly evolutionary step in how video content is developed, 交付, 最重要的importantly-watched.

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