With the streaming sector becoming ever more saturated, Ian Waters, senior director, Cisco ThousandEyes, takes a look at what SVoD and BVoD operators need to do in order to both survive and thrive
By Contributor
Published: January 13, 2022
With the streaming sector becoming ever more saturated, Ian Waters, senior director, Cisco ThousandEyes, takes a look at what SVoD and BVoD operators need to do in order to both survive and thrive
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Streaming services from both digital natives and traditional broadcasters have now become part and parcel of many households' entertainment. In fact, according to Ofcom, UK subscriptions to streaming video on demand (SVoD) services rose by half last year, to reach a new record number of 31 million UK consumers.
Streaming's growing popularity creates both an opportunity and a challenge for broadcasters and content owners. Firstly, the content market - and therefore the audience that consumes that content - is now more fragmented than ever. The competition is not just found in the market leaders but in other digital arenas like gaming and social media.
What's more, new generations of consumers are unforgiving when it comes to bad streaming experiences. One bad experience, and they will take their viewership elsewhere and not return.
To sustain and grow their audience share and reach, streaming providers need to focus on the way that content is delivered to viewers and the quality of the end-to-end service. This quality is now a key differentiator.
An internet-enabled evolution UK consumers now have hundreds of local and global streaming services from both SVoD and broadcast video on demand (BVoD) operators to choose from that's a lot of competition for viewers' time and attention. Naturally, there are questions around how many services a market can handle. As a result, these providers must stay relevant and connected with audiences to be successful.
But first, it's important to consider the evolution of the TV market. Rewind a decade ago and linear TV services dominated the broadcast world. The operators of these services ran the entire end-to-end delivery and network infrastructure. These broadcasters were under a lot of pressure to maintain high uptime. If ever the box went black, it would cost them thousands in lost advertising revenue.
The internet re-wrote the broadcast playbook. Whilst the pressures of delivering an always-on service still remain, it has significantly lowered cost barriers to entry and has signalled a new area of new Internet-powered services and devices. Video content now needs to be delivered reliably where the audience is, across mobile and fixed-line networks.
As a result, this new era of content delivery requires partnerships with carrier service providers, content delivery networks (CDNs), digital monitoring and security service providers to manage the content delivery and viewing experience not only now but in the future. Streaming providers must provision network capacity and bandwidth for all possible viewing scenarios.
However, this also means these organisations are dealing with increasingly complicated IT ecosystems, often stitching together a range of technology services and connectivity they do not own to reach their intended audience. And even though they have far less control over the end-to-end delivery mechanism, they are still ultimately held responsible by consumers for how it performs. So, how can they find new ways of making content delivery more reliable?
Critical visibility and collaboration Firstly, holistic visibility of all the elements and providers that make up this end-to-end content delivery mechanism is crucial. This kind of visibility provides actionable insights into the performance and availability of these networks that are responsible for delivering a good user experience. Should any part of the chain be it application, internet or cloud suffer an outage, SVoD and BVoD organisations can quickly identify and remediate dreaded downtime. And it's only a matter of when, unfortunately. You don't need to look far back in time to find an example. In December, Amazon Web Services experienced a major outage that took down major streaming services like Disney Plus and Netflix.
Secondly, these organisations can't go it alone. Despite the aforementioned lack of control, they do need to partner with a range of technology and carrier service providers to ensure they remain competitive and online for their users. The outages of 2021 served as a clear reminder that the internet can tumble. Streaming providers should consider diversifying their delivery services to provide brand reputation. If any of their providers experience a disruption in services, they can route around it or communicate the issue quickly to customers.
Further to this, in a world where it's no longer good enough just to launch a streaming service and the size of catalogue is not always a barometer for success, they need to understand their customers' preferences and behaviours to develop a unique, seamless platform, while also monetising their content through intelligent data gathering.
Increasingly, it is those partnerships that will result in differentiated viewing experiences that keep viewing audiences engaged.
A brave new streaming world So, what's next for streaming? Already, we're seeing agreements with as-a-service application providers and carrier service providers to apply quality-of-service (QoS) prioritisation to their specific application traffic, improving the performance of those services for a nominal monthly fee. We are likely to see similar arrangements develop over time, with partnerships being established between internet providers or backbone networks to ensure that streaming traf
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
10/05/2026
RT ALL-IRELAND DRAMA FESTIVAL WINNERS ANNOUNCED DURING GALA AWARDS STREAMED LIVE ON RTE.IE/CULTURE
Kilmeen Drama Group hailing from Rossmore, Co. Cork Scoops ...
09/05/2026
New desktop instrument focused on tactile performance
Bastl Instruments have announced Kalimba, a new desktop instrument that combines physical modelling, F...
09/05/2026
Compact sampling workstation gains new features
1010music have announced blackbox 2, a new version of their compact standalone sampler designed for DAWless ...
08/05/2026
One-button synth generates random four-track ideas
Cyma Forma and French artist Bambounou have announced RND synth, a compact hardware synthesizer built aro...
08/05/2026
Portable four-layer granular and sampling instrument
Tasty Chips have announced the GR-2, a new granular synthesizer and sampling instrument that combines e...
08/05/2026
Video Show Report
Video of SUPERBOOTH 26: Polyend Drums
Polyends big announcement for Superbooth 2026 is the Drums, a new drum machine that features both ...
08/05/2026
Deal agreed as NI enters new chapter
Native Instruments CEO Nick Williams has announced that a definitive agreement has been signed for the company to be ac...
08/05/2026
Video Show Report
Video of SUPERBOOTH 26: Erica Bullfrog Drums
The Bullfrog Drums is the latest collaboration between Erica Synths and Richie Hawtin, and ...
08/05/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson reflects on the recent launch of Play Snooker, the new digital home of snooker by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker A...
08/05/2026
Pete reunites with Dogs Trust for a fourth series and a two-part overseas special
London, Friday 8th May 2026: The award winning factual entertainment series P...
08/05/2026
Wuppertal May 8, 2026
Riedel to Support Glasgow 2026 as Official Connectivity Integration Provider Riedel Communications today announced its return as a spons...
08/05/2026
ICG is excited to share news of our official launch in Northern Ireland, marking a significant milestone in the agency's growth.
Led by Digital Marketing M...
08/05/2026
Over the past ten years, Thames Water, in partnership with Arqiva, has installed more than 1.2 million smart meters, creating one of the most extensive advanced...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Comscore to Announce First Quarter 2026 Financial ResultsRESTON, Va., May 7, 2026 - Comscore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting a...
07/05/2026
Thursday 7 May 2026
Sky continues Sphere Abacus partnership with The Death of S...
07/05/2026
Thursday 7 May 2026
Sky Confirms Saturday Night Live UK will return this September for Series Two
Saturday Night Live UK will return for a second series, as S...
07/05/2026
Save 20% on the Sky Glass Gen 2 and Sky Glass Air TVsThursday 7 May 2026
How to watch the World Cup on Sky Glass
Tune into the World Cup on the BBC and ITV vi...
07/05/2026
Production sound mixer Dirk Sciarrotta has mixed Family Feud for 28 seasons. Thats up to 200 syndicated episodes per year, plus primetime celebrity specials - a...
07/05/2026
As audience expectations have evolved, Owen has stopped trying to hide microphones or excuse amplification. Instead, he treats sound as a fully immersive part o...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
With the streaming sector becoming ever more saturated, Ian Waters, senior director, Cisco ThousandEyes, takes a look at what SVoD and BVoD operators need to do in order to both survive and thrive
