‘The New Normal’: Video Streaming Software to Transform the Future of Media Consumption and Marketing Plans

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) and rise of new technologies have delivered a series of disruptions that will change the way consumers engage with media and entertainment. When it comes to distributing media, the most significant digital transformation has been streaming technology. With a precipitous increase in number of internet users and subsequent shift of viewers from traditional TV networks to the internet, Video-on-Demand (VOD) and live streaming services observed a momentous business.

The digitization of the video industry and a massive influx of online video channels open up a new market scope for video streaming software. Moreover, advanced software and technological marvel embedded in video streaming service are creating a greater scope for enterprises to exploit the market conditions and promote themselves better in such technological breakthrough.

As the TV industry seeks digital support in content generation and production aspects and major networks continue to launch their own direct-to-consumer streaming services, video streaming software companies are scrambling to include a wide array of new offerings to attract and retain customers. With an all-out streaming war underway, it now appears that major TV networks and studio, especially in the United States, will have their standalone Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services in near future. The result is likely to lead to increased demand for video streaming software.

Limitless Streaming Over Legacy Streaming Operations Take Shape

For long, the media and broadcast industry relied on long-term vendor agreements and inflexible yet expensive infrastructure comprised of bulky and disparate hardware components that were ripe for transformations. Today, as the streaming wars have attracted huge media’s attention, broadcasting is accounting for only one subset of the digital landscape. Live streaming, on the other hand, has become increasingly accessible and is delivering the flexibility required for wide-ranging applications. Moreover, owing to advent of video streaming technologies and software, live streaming is playing a significant role in stopping the spread of COVID-19.

With video streaming software accessible as it is, a number of industries are digitally transforming at a significant rate. Additionally, an exponential surge in video traffic from video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, video conferencing, live broadcast of entertainment and infotainment outlets, and new services in the social media sphere is significantly contributing the demand for high-quality video streaming software. Furthermore, social distancing requirements and stay-at-home orders triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak have catapulted business and consumers into the video streaming world.

Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Video Streaming Software Market

In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the world appears to share few rituals of washing hands, wearing masks, and ‘binge-watching’- putting internet through the most intense stress test in the industry. The desire for entertainment and escapism during the pandemic is creating a windfall for streaming devices, thereby potentially raising the demand for video streaming software and tools. While a number of new companies are emerging with innovative offerings, an unprecedented network strain and presence of streaming models that are responsive to increased traffic are putting an additional pressure for the streaming media companies.

Apart from the media and entertainment industry, the current situation is changing the way business organizations reach their customers. As these enterprises have no longer access to as many physical resources and consumers, live streaming is becoming critical for business continuity. Emergence of ‘remote’ operation as the new status-quo is further pushing the demand for live streaming across numerous organizations and business settings. As the number of COVID-19 patients continues to defy gravity and citizens are constantly asked to refrain from public gatherings and stay at home, media consumption is set to boom and create a heavy demand for video streaming software.

Consumers Cut Chords, Live Videos Drive Marketing Plans

In the favor of ‘personalized’ content and ‘on-the-go’ culture, today’s consumers, especially the millennial and Gen-Z population, are cancelling TV subscriptions and showing higher preference for OTT services. While OTT service providers are identifying and leveraging white spaces in their offerings to incentivize viewers to pick and stick with them, latency remains one of the major issues with online video streaming. To that end, video streaming software companies have been hard at work to drive down the latency. Moreover, several cutting-edge protocols such as the Common Media Application Format and Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) are expected to serve as tools to offer low-latency streaming at scale.

Pre crisis, live streaming has reinvented the way brands connect with their consumers and think about marketing through online platforms. The trend is gaining increasing momentum during the pandemic. With brands are zeroing in on live video more than ever, video streaming software companies will pick up the steam and rest on the shoulders of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).