The Era of Social Broadcasting and Mobile Streaming
A class of new apps has today redefined the way content is viewed and shared. The immensely growing popularity of the social broadcasting and mobile streaming over the recent years have made us wonder what dimension life will assume in the world of mobile streaming. Over the recent past, smartphones have come to adorn every hand, the trend that has given momentum to the mission of the largest social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to make mobiles their primary target. Furthermore, Instagram and Snapchat, the user friendly mobile apps have made photo sharing through social media a popular habit for the users. Here is a discussion on where we are actually heading to.
How popular are the streaming videos
Ericcson Mobility Report published recently points out that today the video segment is the fastest growing accounting for the largest mobile traffic. It is also estimated that this is bound to experience a 55 percent growth year on year over the years ahead of us. In 2020, it is said video will make up over 50 percent of all mobile traffic globally. Even today, we are seeing customers switching between several devices. The topmost priority for most mobile users today is a seamless video viewing experience between locations. With the research mentioned above talking of over 85 percent customers spending their time indoors, the global customers are keen to expect highly promising indoor connectivity while accessing online services, especially in case of watching TV or movies, and streaming videos.
The times ahead of us
Very recently, a new trend is fast picking up namely live video streaming on smartphones from social media. For example, on the popular app like Meerkat, the users can tweet live video or Periscope becoming a broadcaster themselves. The amazing development sees every smartphone capable of serving as a broadcasting tool. Periscope is promising to take instant video footage to a massive base of users. Everyone in the digital world today knows the future of communication is videos. Since social broadcasting is turning live and completely integrated with social media, users can henceforth regularly stream what is happening with them to be shared with their contacts something like how photos are shared and statuses are updated now.
Improving on the user experience
Enabled by the immense possibilities stretching in front of the mobile streaming world, users can henceforth participate in the events from wherever they are. There is never going to be a limit on what can be viewed, shared, liked and commented making lives thrilling and a virtually enjoyed experience globally. The implications to the industry are really immense. In the days to come, a new breed of TV broadcasters will deliver fully tailored content to their audience. So, further to the existing trends of over-the-top (OTT) and subscription video on demand (SVOD), the digital world is moving to catch up with a technologically advanced video streaming trend. The trend will see mobile operators facing a huge traffic to handle and come across a plethora of potential chances to make more money.
Learning from the trend
Addressing the Deutsche Bank’s 25th Annual Media & Telecom Conference, President and CEO of Comcast Cable, Neil Smit observed the streaming platform is highly competitive today. Visualizing a bright future for Comcast’s X1 platform, Neil Smit remembered how they were in fact losing their customers heavily for streaming services for over a decade that went by. Learning how to play the game amidst the touch challenges, Comcast could quickly reverse its falling prospects to secure about 161,000 new customers last year alone. Nevertheless the learning experience for Comcast revealed that the bundle of TV, Phone and Internet services enjoys a great value among the users today propelling more players to take advantage of the scenario by creating more creative and potential apps and gadgets.
Though these times are seeing the proliferation of new social broadcasting apps, this trend does not mean premium content is losing out in anyway. Customers are always interested in watching the highest quality video even if it means spending a large amount of money. We can therefore say live content is the most compelling content even today. At the same time, the fact remains that the growth of the new generation players like Periscope has revolutionized the industry business models we find around. These players enable the users create their own channels and broadcast whatever they wish to. Benefited by the massive infrastructure of the Networked Society, the users see themselves as part of the content today. So, the robust digital technology and entertainment lovers are going to see their year ahead of us.
