Streaming for the transmission of live events is gaining more and more strength, although the quality standards are still not the best.
Juan Pablo Morales Sarmiento*
Today, talking about streaming is far from resembling the pandora's box it used to be a few years ago. The growth of the consumption of audio and video content through hundreds of online platforms is a reality to which producers, distributors and authors of content cannot turn our backs.
Spotify, Deezer, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Hulu, DirecTV Play, HBO Go, just to name a few and others such as Movistar, ClaroVideo, Caracol Play and WinSports Online, such as the Latin American and Colombian contribution to the offer of content on the Internet, are examples of platforms that with little time of existence have been positioning themselves and gaining ground in many sectors of the population and in all ages.
One of the most recent studies related to TV consumption habits, led by Ericcson, called TV and Media 2014, and based on more than 26,000 interviews in 23 countries around the world, states that 75% of the population consumes streaming content several times a week, compared to 77% who do the same with linear television. Even the study by Natpe and CEA states that streaming already leads with 70% the preference for content consumption, in its results presented in January of this year by Rod Perth in Miami.
From black and white as a consumption pattern, to which we were once accustomed, we have gone in 70 years to HD, the most common form of consumption today, and, surely, in a short time our brain will be demanding 4K / UHD as a minimum standard to live each audiovisual and sensory experience. The same Ericsson study states that image quality is a market requirement, which has begun to revolutionize the technique and the equipment market in an exceptional way.
But talking about the changes of the traditional television industry goes beyond data and statistics, which are for many, obvious and recurrent. ICTs broke into the sector with transmission protocols, codecs and technological aids that have been evolving with an acceleration impossible to contain.
In short, the traditional television business that had fully controlled strategic components such as the creative process, production, distribution, monetization and transmission by aerial bands or cable, was joined by coding techniques, syndication, segmentation and web design in an environment where publishers are multiplying geometrically and with challenges that make it simple, it is becoming more and more difficult.
Also the audiovisual production sector for live events has had an opening with a very accelerated growth. From a single screen with expensive spaces and exclusive techniques for broadcast, it has moved to multi-device transmission environments, which even integrate elements of interactivity, social media, big data, payments and advertising in real time, with equipment that day by day improves its performance and reduces its cost of acquisition and replacement.
The interest in streaming live events has begun to awaken and, although in most cases it has been timid, those who have already experienced this pleasure, see in this technology a hope to reach audiences and consolidate communities not previously imagined around them. The real challenge is not technological because technology arrives quickly, the real challenge is to teach new communication practices in organizations, that they appropriate them properly and that they receive their multiple benefits.
There is a significant offering in the live streaming production services market, but there are few options when it comes to quality. Being a mixture between cloud computing, software and coding technique, capture hardware, web integration, and TV production, simply to name a few elements, the spectrum of bidders has had an opening where the competences related to the strategic, business models and the audiovisual and communicational, in some cases, went to the background, becoming and unfortunately positioning itself in a service focused on the technical.
Surely, over time, this will be decided and the demand will learn to be increasingly demanding day by day, developing and appropriating integral competences that cover all the relevant aspects and strategic impact for communication with this type of online techniques.
10 Tips to start with the basics in Live Streaming
Now, although you can do a lot, with little, it is important to take into account the following minimum checklist to ensure a pleasant experience for a user.
- Always make a detailed pre-production that, in addition to reviewing the location, graphics, curtains and scripts or schedules, includes this checklist.
- Test publish points, stream names, and video players ahead of time. Make sure you use the appropriate profiles and codecs correctly, save them in advance and check the presence of the players in the URLs planned to disseminate the event. Simply put, take your equipment with everything tested.
- Check in advance the bandwidth (speed test) and consistency (ping test) of the internet connection. This allows to size the transmission bitrates, as well as to prevent the loss of packets, which translate into jumps in the transmission and loss of lipsync.
- Ensure that computers, audio, and video are in the same electrical phase. Always have at least one direct box available. This ensures the absence of interference with electrical noises in the audio.
- Assemble from the day before or with seemingly excessive anticipation. Remember that you are not alone. Audio, lighting, energy and the internet are surely provided by a third party and their priorities are not the same as those of other people.
- Have a person in charge for each entry. Whether with a mobile unit or Tricaster, BlackMagic, Wirecast or webcams, have at least the necessary staff to ensure a quality end product. A camera director responsible for the video and who must be in permanent communication with the cameramen and with the context of the event. A sound manager, who must monitor all audio inputs from microphones, auxiliaries, computers and translations. A general assistant who never has enough and a director responsible for the entire event.
- Balance of cameras. Color and light must be the same in all planes. Secure the position of your cameras in advance and do not leave them alone.
- Presentations and audiovisual material. Get in advance all the presentations and audiovisual material of the event, you may need to review it and even recode it correctly. Remember that your clients are not experts in event productions or television.
- Keep in mind that Murphy is a friend of eagerness and unpredictability. Have a UPS, microphone, and lightweight coding equipment available as contingency plans.
- Be a true ally of your client in the communication strategy and call with online tools, as well as in the monetization and return on investment and remember the importance of measuring the audience and delivering the real results.
*Juan Pablo Morales Sarmiento is VP of Provideo. You can contact him through @JuanPMoralesS
