The media industry is evolving fast, across multiple fronts, and in a manner that is arguably without comparison in the past 20 or more years. That is the overriding impression from reading the comprehensive new Broadcast Transformation Report from low latency video and networking innovator Haivision.
The report – which can be accessed now via the Haivision website – examines all of the current leading technology trends informing the way that broadcasters and other service companies approach live video production. In particular, it confirms the industry’s shift towards the cloud as well as next-generation technologies for live video transportation and contribution.
The impressive rise to prominence of the SRT protocol for live video transport – of which Haivision was the original developer and driving force – is confirmed by the finding that 68 per cent of respondents now employ the technology. Meanwhile, the low-latency and flexibility of 5G is underlined by the fact that 73 per cent of broadcasters surveyed already use, or plan to use, 5G for broadcast contribution in the next two years.
Elsewhere, there was strong evidence that the industry’s fundamental infrastructural progression towards IP and cloud-based platforms is continuing apace. Over half of broadcasters surveyed already use IP infrastructure, while 51 per cent of respondents indicated that transitioning to IP is among their organisation’s chief technology priorities for the coming 12 months.
The transition to the cloud has also continued to accelerate, although there remain some notable challenges regarding latency and throughput capacity for live video. Therefore, whilst 84 per cent of broadcasters now employ at least some cloud-based technology in their workflows, 60 per cent rely on cloud for less than a quarter of their workflows – suggesting that on-premise operations remain essential to delivering live video, at least for the time being.
Finally, there was an indication that at least one area will require more accelerated action if the industry is to achieve decarbonisation in a reasonable timescale. At present, less than half (45 per cent) of broadcast professionals surveyed for the study work for organisations that are actively working on developing sustainability strategies, or already have sustainability plans in place.
Marcus Schioler, vice president of marketing at Haivision, comments: “This year’s survey results clearly indicate that adoption of network technologies including cloud, IP and 5G continues to evolve while on-premise operations remain absolutely critical in the broadcast industry. The data also confirms that the Haivision-pioneered SRT protocol is now the gold standard for contribution over IP networks. In addition, the findings highlight that broadcasters recognise the important benefits that 5G cellular networks offer for broadcast applications – a domain in which we excel with our range of mobile transmitters.”
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