Video analysis company SSIMWAVE says it plans to compare the video quality of seven broadcast and OTT streams during the Super Bowl game between Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs.
The company intends to use its patented technology to measure every second and every frame of the United States (FOX) and Canadian (CTV and TSN) broadcasts of the game, as well as five streaming services.
Using technology that replicates the human visual system, SSIMWAVE says it will check for video impairments, latency, and other issues that can impact the fan experience, whether they’re watching at home or on the move.
The company will generate a score from 0-100 for each service, measuring
- Fan viewing experience scores for the entire broadcast of the game;
- Maximum and minimum per-second viewer experience scores that show the variability of the video quality throughout the game;
- Measurement of latency, or delay from live to the action on the screen;
- Video quality of the halftime show and ads.
SSIMWAVE also intends to highlight and illustrate via screen captures key video issues that frustrate fans, including technical impairments such as interlacing, macroblocking, banding, etc. It plans to measure content at multiple geographic locations on the day of the game in order to provide insights into best-case scenarios and real-world subscriber conditions. Results will be announced the day after Super Bowl LVII.
“While the same game production is used by most providers, what viewers see can vary widely because of the resources that each provider dedicates to video delivery,” said Dr Abdul Rehman, CEO of SSIMWAVE. “Our experience in benchmarking streamed pro football games has been that video quality has averaged in the ‘good’ range of 60-79, although it can dip into the low 30s at specific moments during the games. Our hope is that every provider will ‘bring it’ on Sunday.”
