Seamless live videos still a challenge for local streaming platforms
3 min read 21 Jun 2023, 10:03 PM ISTStreaming any major event live has been a massive challenge for any platform, considering India’s vast population.
PremiumNEW DELHI : Live streaming of Indian Premier League (IPL) on JioCinema has shed light on several technological challenges faced by streaming services, especially local players.
For instance, despite significant investments in backend infrastructure, most platforms are struggling with buffering issues, along with their inability to resume playback from the exact point where a video was paused.
Experts are of the view that streaming any major event live has been a massive challenge for any platform, considering India’s vast population. Additionally, recent changes to the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines contributed to occasional payment failures for users who rely on auto-payment services.
The challenges underscore the intricate landscape within which streaming platforms are having to navigate, and strive to meet the demands of audiences seeking uninterrupted and seamless content experiences.
“The cardinal sin in streaming business is buffering. Even though all OTTs are striving to achieve seamless playback, factors such as internet speed and network cannot be controlled, also sometimes affecting authentications at various levels. While a user comes to a platform for content, it is the technology which ensures that the experience is good enough for the users to return time and again," Soumya Mukherjee, chief operating officer of Bengali OTT service hoichoi, said.
Drawing from their experience across markets, international players have better optimised most internal factors that cause bad user experience but when external factors like erratic network and the variety of devices come into play, the difference between local and foreign platforms is not much, Mukherjee added.
The costs of technology for running video streaming platforms are significant, said Dilip Chandra, vice president, product and analytics, aha, which primarily streams Telugu content. “Unfortunately, the trend is going upwards with growing consumption. The market size matters to an extent in terms of bringing in economies of scale. Hence, a bigger player nationally or internationally carries an advantage over a local platform," Chandra said.
Notably, a lot of foreign platforms also have backend offices in India, hence user experience boils down to the kind of talent available, and how fast they can crack the code. “Several issues are unique to India and its vast population. It took even Disney+ Hotstar several years to manage a smooth experience on IPL, given the number of people tuning in at the same time, so it’s really not about money you can throw in," said a streaming platform executive.
Live-streaming is a massive challenge for any platform and from that point of view, small regional players have an added advantage, as they have limited traffic, which leads to a smoother experience for users, the person added.
Especially when a large number of users stream a live event at the same time, issues such as supporting incremental viewership, managing viewership loads, or peaks and troughs, latency, video stuttering, targeted ad insertion, and ensuring high redundancy are challenges on the technical side for platforms, Jay Ganesan, senior vice-president of sales, APAC, at media tech startup Amagi, said.
“For streaming platforms, be it local or foreign, the bulk of investment is towards programming rights and licences. Technology tends to be a secondary concern. However, a platform’s success depends on viewer-friendly experience, as well as a seamless billing and payments mechanism, besides flawless ad insertion, providing deep analytics and insights to advertisers, and minimizing advertising fraud, among others. Therefore, investments on technology needs to be viewed in totality," Ganesan added.
To be sure, media and entertainment industry experts agree that rising customer dissatisfaction due to poor user experience, adds to challenges faced by platforms already struggling with cost of operations and lack of piracy protection. “The user experience challenge is more prevalent among homegrown streaming platforms. Local streaming platforms prefer competing through their content catalogue rather than investing in advanced technology. To succeed in an increasingly competitive media landscape, streaming platforms must invest strategically in technology to enhance the overall user experience," said Neeraj Sharma, managing director, communications, media and technology, Accenture India.