Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia for playback using an offline or online media player. Technically, the stream is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner by a client, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. Streaming refers to the delivery method of content rather than the content itself.
For a list of services, see List of streaming media services.
Distinguishing delivery methods from the media applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the traditional media delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g., radio, television) or inherently non-streaming (e.g., books, videotapes, audio CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience pauses, lags, or poor buffering of the content, and users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content. With the use of buffering the content for just a few seconds in advance of playback, the quality can be greatly improved.
Live streaming is the real-time delivery of content during production, much as live television broadcasts content via television channels. Livestreaming requires a form of source media (e.g., a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio content before the entire file has been transmitted. The term "streaming media" can apply to media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered "streaming text".
Streaming is most prevalent in video-on-demand and streaming television services. Other services stream music or video games.
Etymology[edit]
The term "streaming" was first used for tape drives manufactured by Data Electronics Inc. that were meant to slowly ramp up and run for the entire track; slower ramp times lowered drive costs. "Streaming" was applied in the early 1990s as a better description for video on demand and later live video on IP networks. It was first done by Starlight Networks for video streaming and Real Networks for audio streaming. Such video had previously been referred to by the misnomer "store and forward video."[1]
Precursors[edit]
Beginning in 1881, Théâtrophone enabled subscribers to listen to opera and theatre performances over telephone lines. This operated until 1932. The concept of media streaming eventually came to America.[2]
In the early 1920s, George Owen Squier was granted patents for a system for the transmission and distribution of signals over electrical lines,[3] which was the technical basis for what later became Muzak, a technology for streaming continuous music to commercial customers without the use of radio.
The Telephone Music Service, a live jukebox service, began in 1929 and continued until 1997.[4][5] The clientele eventually included 120 bars and restaurants in the Pittsburgh area. A tavern customer would deposit money in the jukebox, use a telephone on top of the jukebox, and ask the operator to play a song. The operator would find the record in the studio library of more than 100,000 records, put it on a turntable, and the music would be piped over the telephone line to play in the tavern. The music media began as 78s, 33s and 45s, played on the six turntables they monitored. CDs and tapes were incorporated in later years.
The business had a succession of owners, notably Bill Purse, his daughter Helen Reutzel, and finally Dotti White. The revenue stream for each quarter was split between 60% for the music service and 40% for the tavern owner.[6] This business model eventually became unsustainable due to city permits and the cost of setting up these telephone lines.[5]
Technologies[edit]
Bandwidth[edit]
A broadband speed of 2 Mbit/s or more is recommended for streaming standard-definition video,[54] for example to a Roku, Apple TV, Google TV or a Sony TV Blu-ray Disc Player. 5 Mbit/s is recommended for high-definition content and 9 Mbit/s for ultra-high-definition content.[55] Streaming media storage size is calculated from the streaming bandwidth and length of the media using the following formula (for a single user and file): storage size in megabytes is equal to length (in seconds) × bit rate (in bit/s) / (8 × 1024 × 1024). For example, one hour of digital video encoded at 300 kbit/s (this was a typical broadband video in 2005 and it was usually encoded in 320 × 240 resolution) will be: (3,600 s × 300,000 bit/s) / (8 × 1024 × 1024) requires around 128 MB of storage.
If the file is stored on a server for on-demand streaming and this stream is viewed by 1,000 people at the same time using a Unicast protocol, the requirement is 300 kbit/s × 1,000 = 300,000 kbit/s = 300 Mbit/s of bandwidth. This is equivalent to around 135 GB per hour. Using a multicast protocol the server sends out only a single stream that is common to all users. Therefore, such a stream would only use 300 kbit/s of server bandwidth.
In 2018 video was more than 60% of data traffic worldwide and accounted for 80% of growth in data usage.[56][57]
Applications and marketing[edit]
Useful and typical applications of streaming are, for example, long video lectures performed online.[66] An advantage of this presentation is that these lectures can be very long, although they can always be interrupted or repeated at arbitrary places. Streaming enables new content marketing concepts. For example, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra sells Internet live streams of whole concerts instead of several CDs or similar fixed media in their Digital Concert Hall[67] using YouTube for trailers. These online concerts are also spread over a lot of different places, including cinemas at various places on the globe. A similar concept is used by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. There is also a livestream from the International Space Station.[68][69] In video entertainment, video streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are mainstream elements of the media industry.[70]
Marketers have found many opportunities offered by streaming media and the platforms that offer them, especially in light of the significant increase in the use of streaming media during COVID lockdowns from 2020 onwards. While revenue and placement of traditional advertising continued to decrease, digital marketing increased by 15% in 2021,[71] with digital media and search representing 65% of the expenditures.
A case study commissioned by the WIPO[72] indicates that streaming services attract advertising budgets with the opportunities provided by interactivity and the use of data from users, resulting in personalization on a mass scale with content marketing.[73] Targeted marketing is expanding with the use of artificial intelligence, in particular programmatic advertisement, a tool that helps advertisers decide their campaign parameters and whether they are interested in buying advertising space online or not. One example of advertising space acquisition is Real-Time Bidding (RTB).[74]