Nativ, a UK-based media management and workflow software provider, has published an independent report outlining the shortcomings and challenges of Internet delivery of video content.
Noting that the consumption of content over Internet-enabled devices has exploded, Nativ said for content owners, this is “a mixed bag of increased opportunity and increased operational pain.”
Nativ’s report highlights four key challenges content owners face when delivering content to the Internet:
• Delivery: How to push bundled content to a remote Internet service or have it pulled through a querying interface.
• Service: Whether to create one’s own TV service, deliver it to existing Internet platforms, or both.
• Packaging and delivery technologies: How to handle file formats, metadata, subtitling and digital delivery in order to get the right content in the right format to the right player, on time.
• Standards: For every component of VOD delivery (AV, metadata, subtitles, network delivery), there are a growing number of competing standards.
“Internet TV is exploding, and content owners must sweat value from their content by leveraging multiple deals to stay in the game,” said Nativ CEO Jon Folland. “However, fulfillment and delivery of content to the Internet can be incredibly painful and costly with the cost of preparation and repurposing often negating the commercial upsides for smaller deals. What the content industry needs is to embrace new software platforms that are thankfully emerging to answer these challenges.”
The report said that one of the reasons that content owners offload the responsibility of content preparation and delivery for VOD platforms to content services companies is the sheer level of complexity.
“This is brought about by a lack of standardization and the amount of manual labor involved in delivering to multiple operators — often at short notice,” the report said.
The report addresses several business process challenges in delivering video over the Internet. These including centralizing and managing all video assets, automating workflows, repurposing and distribution for each service, and measuring the impact of online video.
The full report is now available online.