Ensuring smooth video streaming for viewers is vital for content providers. This is essential because viewers want to watch high-quality videos without interruptions. Otherwise, they leave your platform to find another one. Sometimes it might mean that they turn to your competitors.
As a content provider, you probably want to prevent that from happening. You likely want your viewers to stay on your platform longer, turning into regular customers so that you generate a steady revenue stream.
A technology process is an important part of content delivery that includes IPTV encoder and transcoder, DRM technology, applications for different platforms, and other infrastructure elements. All these combined can enable a seamless viewing experience for content consumers. Let’s talk about these components in detail.
How to Ensure a Smooth Video Streaming for Viewers
A lot depends on the IPTV/OTT solution you obtain to run, say, an Albanian TV IPTV platform. It is better to have a technology-oriented solution as it has more chances to provide a better streaming experience. Here’s a list of what is important:
1. Encoding and transcoding
Generally, encoding and transcoding help empower adaptive bitrate streaming. But let’s delve into detail.
A RAW file captured from a video camera is too large for transmission through the Internet. For this reason, the encoding process is paramount. During it, the video file is compressed and segmented into smaller chunks, which makes a video more suitable for storage, delivery, and playback via Internet networks.
After the video is encoded, it goes through transcoding. It is the process of creating multiple copies of the same video file in different sizes and bitrates. This is critical for smooth playback on a receiving device.
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These copies are necessary for adapting video quality to the network conditions on the user side. It helps enable adaptive bitrate streaming.
2. Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
Adaptive bitrate streaming is an advanced technology for ensuring smooth video playback regardless of a user’s device and network connection. Multiple copies of the same video allow adjusting the video quality during playback.
When a user’s connection is unstable, the video quality will be lowered, and vice versa. When the connection is strong, the video quality will be high.
3. Content Delivery Network (CDN)
When a viewer requests a video to play, CDN determines the nearest server to deliver video content to the viewer’s device. Since the video is transferred from the closest server, the transmission is much faster and smoother. It allows users to watch high-quality videos on any device they want without latency.
CDNs are also capable of scaling, which is vital when your service experiences a sudden spike in viewership. The load will be distributed across more servers, handling the situation. As a result, viewers receive the best quality of service possible.
Another crucial feature of CDN is content protection. It secures your service from DDoS attacks in the same way it handles the increased traffic.
Furthermore, it utilizes TLS/SSL certificates that ensure authentication, encryption, and integrity.
Final Thoughts
Ensuring a smooth streaming experience is vital for content providers as it helps retain consumers on the platform. Otherwise, people tend to leave the platform where they encounter buffering, latency, and delays. They want an uninterrupted viewership that allows them to enjoy your content more. CDN, adaptive bitrate streaming, encoding, and transcoding can help you enhance the streaming experience your viewers have on your platform.
