InterDigital publishes white paper on the importance of sustainability as the energy footprint of the video entertainment industry grows
Sponsored Content
Published: January 20, 2021
InterDigital publishes white paper on the importance of sustainability as the energy footprint of the video entertainment industry grows
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> InterDigital publishes white paper on the importance of sustainability as the energy footprint of the video entertainment industry grows
https://www.tvbeurope.com/media-delivery/how-sustainable-is-the-future-of-video-entertainment title=Share via Email class=share-email>
By 2022, video viewing is projected to account for 82 per cent of all internet traffic, according to Cisco's Visual Network Index. Since internet use accounts for up to 4 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions (and quickly rising), that places a considerable amount of responsibility on the video entertainment industry to move to more sustainable practices. InterDigital's new white paper, The Sustainable Future of Video Entertainment, breaks down the most significant contributing factors to the video ecosystem's carbon footprint and highlights the moves businesses can make to reduce their environmental impact.
Created in partnership with Futuresource Consulting, the report analyses the entire video value chain, from production to broadcast and consumption. Among the major considerations are data centres, whose combined power amounts to 416 Terawatts, equivalent to around 3 per cent of all electricity generated annually. While corporations such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have committed to transitioning to 100 per cent renewable energy, efforts to improve the mechanical and electrical infrastructure of data centres are shown to only produce marginal improvements. Real measures to mitigate environmental harm must focus on the move towards IT, explains the InterDigital white paper, by increasing server utilisation and the use of virtualisation for multi-tenancy in data centres.
In the streaming sector, sustainability initiatives should emphasise CDN efficiency, server workloads and optimised network usage, as the white paper makes clear. Hulu employs Amazon Web Services' (AWS) CloudFront CDN to deliver over 75,000 VoD programmes to 32 million subscribers, relocating its video data storage facility to a data centre in Las Vegas running on 100 per cent renewable energy. Meanwhile Netflix invests in carbon offsetting programmes, as its energy consumption far outpaced its user growth in 2019, illustrating the impact of video streaming on the environment. The report notes the importance of transparency in the sector for curtailing this consumption.
On the consumer end, the white paper describes that as devices grow in resolution, so to does their energy consumption; for the 30 million 8K TVs expected to be installed by 2023, energy consumption for video streaming will be 50 per cent higher than the 343 million tablets used worldwide. Initiatives such as Energy Star from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are designed to educate consumers on energy efficiency and could see further acceleration in the post-Trump era.
Looking to the future, 5G presents opportunities for broadcasters to relay live video directly to production studios. A live event that would have previously required eight fixed cameras could instead be covered by four 5G cameras, while production engineers can work from remote studios rather than travelling across the country, thereby offering ample possibilities for increased sustainability. Machine learning and AI provide further potential in their application during video encoding, reducing file sizes and bit rates without sacrificing visual quality, resulting in energy savings in both the data centre and the receiving device.
InterDigital details these emerging solutions and many more in its white paper, outlining an end-to-end approach to sustainability that can make the video entertainment industry a driving force in protecting the planet for future generations.
Download The Sustainable Future of Video Entertainment white paper today.
SubscribeFor more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to our newsletter here.
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 23rd, JULY, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), stitched 11.57 billion one-to-one addressable advertisem...
23/07/2026
Quickly creates reverse reverb effects
Low End Candy have recently released a new plug-in that offers a quick and simple way to create reverse reverb effect...
23/07/2026
New engines, resonators, effects & more
Expressive E's versatile soft synth has just been treated to an update that greatly expands its sonic range. Noi...
23/07/2026
SGL Carbon has further expanded its photovoltaic capacity at its Ort im Innkreis site in Austria. With the commissioning of new PV carports, the sites solar sys...
23/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents new software for three-phase power analysis on MXO seri...
23/07/2026
In our latest blog, Laura Rognoni explores how the launch of Play Snooker reflects a wider shift in sports economics - from monetising peak broadcast audiences ...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
X-Rite Pantone and Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Partner to Advance Digi...
23/07/2026
Thursday 23 July 2026
New Samsung Galaxy Foldable range available now to pre-order on Sky Mobile
Sky Mobile, the award-winning network voted this year by Expe...
23/07/2026
Thursday 23 July 2026
Jason Statham leads Sky Original action thriller MUTINY in explosive new trailerTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy optio...
23/07/2026
Wuppertal July 23, 2026
Riedel Implements RefCam and Easy5G for the First Time...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
22/07/2026
RT REPORTS NET SURPLUS OF 22.5 MILLION IN 2025...
22/07/2026
In the Opinion of the Censor airs Monday 27 July at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In the Opinion of the Censor looks at how films for theatrical release wer...
21/07/2026
New research involving a cross-section of Mongolias independent media landscape finds enthusiasm for AI as a tool to improve efficiency, sustainability and resi...
21/07/2026
High-end analogue channel strip boasts plug-in recall
Originally revealed as a prototype back at NAMM 2024, the Channex Studio channel strip represented a b...
21/07/2026
Relies on same DSP as plug-in range
Musik Hack's line-up has been influenced heavily by founder Stan Greene's work as a mixing engineer, and their M...
21/07/2026
Official collaboration with boutique builder Dirty Boy Pedals
Warm Audio have just announced the launch of a new guitar pedal range created in collaboration...
21/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases broad range of EMC test solutions at EMC SIPI 2026 in ...
21/07/2026
X-Rite Pantone and NIFT Partner to Build Color Management Skills for India's...
21/07/2026
Harmonics cOS Virtualized Broadband Platform and Pearl Remote OLTs Enable Flexible PON Migration, While SeaStar Optical Node Powers Cost-Effective Multi-Gigabit...
21/07/2026
160 hours of Irish storytelling for 2026
KIN and The Walsh Sisters return
RT has today unveiled its most ambitious drama slate ever, with a record-breakin...
20/07/2026
Product range now readily available in the UK
Graph Tech Guitar Labs have just announced the launch of a new UK Online Store that makes it quicker and easie...
20/07/2026
Popular headset gains active noise cancellation
The Maxwell headet was Audeze's first foray into the gaming world, and thanks to its Dolby Atmos compati...
20/07/2026
Monday 20 July 2026
Sky brings free global roaming to millions of loyal custome...
20/07/2026
Red Seat Ventures Announces Introduction of Premium Creator and Podcast Communit...
20/07/2026
FIFA World Cup Final sets new RT Player record as the most-streamed single event in the platform's history
Over 1 million viewers watched live on RT 2 as ...
19/07/2026
Channel strip plug-in gets upgraded
Acustica Audio's vintage-inspired channel strip plug-in has just been treated to an update that expands its tonal ra...
18/07/2026
Captures nine sought-after Fender amps
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX expansion captures a selection of nine rare Brown Panel' Fender amps that were ...
18/07/2026
Latest batch ships alongside firmware update
Since being unveiled at Superbooth 2025, Frap Tools' debut polysynth has been met with widespread praise, a...
17/07/2026
Full engine access with reduced soundset
Sonuscore have steadily been introducing a selection of reduced-cost and free versions of their flagship products r...
17/07/2026
Two new special-edition models revealed
Over the past week, Arturia have launched special-edition versions of both their premium MIDI controller and stage p...
17/07/2026
Original founder now back at the helm
In a message posted on his personal social media accounts, Dirk Ulrich has announced that both Plugin Alliance and Bra...
17/07/2026
From intimate acoustic settings to large-scale festival stages, her focus has remained constant: preserving the true natural voice of the violin in every perfor...
17/07/2026
New and returning series, live festival broadcasts, powerful documentaries and major sporting moments headline RT Radio 1's summer schedule
RT Radio 1 is...
17/07/2026
Up For The Match - Live From Croke Park this Saturday at 8pm on RT One and RT ...
InterDigital publishes white paper on the importance of sustainability as the energy footprint of the video entertainment industry grows
