When good streams turn bad: Maintain and sustain video quality

When it comes to video streaming, the quality issue can be both relative and subjective. Therefore, video service providers agree that it is crucial to establish key performance indicators (PKIs).

The notion of video quality means different things to different people and covers such a broad subjective spectrum that “good” for one person could be considered “bad” for another. To identify which key factors affect video quality, Akamai recently commissioned a study among 350 Directors of DTC (direct-to-consumer) video service providers, also known as OVSPs (over-the-top video service providers).

Among the people surveyed, almost half had already launched a service. 21% planned to launch one in the next six months, and almost a third next year. In addition, 22% did not have any specific date planned, or were not sure when they would launch the service. This suggests that the strong pace at which DTC or over-the-top video services have launched will continue into 2017 and beyond.

If anyone had any doubts about how seriously these professionals take quality, respondents overwhelmingly indicated that they consider it the most important factor in affecting their service.

But what exactly contributes to making streaming video quality good or bad? In one section of the study, respondents were asked to list the three main factors that they thought most affected video quality.

We've sorted the answers below to create a list of five main reasons:

1.- Rebuffering. Frequent and/or long-lasting video interruptions are the surest way to lose viewership, according to the vast majority (84 percent) of respondents. This can be the percentage of all video streams affected by a rebuffering event, or the average number of times playback of a video is interrupted.

2.- Audio synchronization. In second place, at 69 percent, audio that is either ahead or behind the video causes significant annoyance. In fact, studies have shown that audio problems can be more intrusive to viewers than video problems.

3.- Pixelation/blurring. Making up the consensus of the top three issues affecting quality (60 percent) is video pixelation or blurring during playback, which is commonly associated with delivering inappropriate bitrates.

4.- Loading time. Interestingly, an important point is placed after the first three factors that affect video quality. Loading or startup time were listed as the top three by only 32 percent of respondents.

5.- Latency. Often highlighted in the context of live sports is the time lag between content being broadcast on TV/cable (or reactions on social media) compared to streaming. Not necessarily related to the level of viewer complaints seen in the media, latency was one of the top three factors for 26 percent of respondents. This is mainly due to the fact that latency concerns are largely limited to live streaming, not on-demand playback.

The challenges

Among the many challenges that video streaming companies face, including video workflow and offloading network traffic, providing better quality video is by far the most important. Respondents in this study seemed to be fully aware of the impact of rebuffering and slow video startup. They also recognize that quality issues pose the biggest threat to attracting and retaining subscribers and viewers to their service.

So, with those concerns in mind, what happens when viewers encounter a low-quality experience? First, commitment plummets. Other study using data from Akamai helped show that viewers start abandoning a video if it takes more than two seconds to start playing. For every additional second, 6 percent of the audience drops out. Within 10 seconds, almost half of the spectators are gone.

Not only do viewers leave, but there's a good chance they won't come back. The same study showed that viewers who experienced glitches were less likely to revisit the site compared to those who did not experience any problems with the video. This can negatively affect the audience and can damage the brand.

Given the clear emphasis on quality, it is not surprising that 44% of OVSPs in this study have established key performance indicators (KPIs) against which they can judge and manage their service delivery. The rest will have to do it, or alternatively, communicate KPIs to the people in your organization who are responsible for this service.

When it comes to monitoring performance against KPIs, service providers take several approaches. Nearly a quarter (23%) agree to let their content delivery network (CDN) partner tell them how they are doing. 31% entrust this responsibility to their operations team or an external provider. 28% consider that it is both the responsibility of the operations team and the CDN with which they work.

We have concluded that, although quality can be relative and subjective, a poor delivery experience can ruin all the content and marketing investment a service provider can make to launch their service. Also, it can be very difficult to recover. Therefore, establishing key performance indicators is crucial, not only for the company, but also for the consumers and advertisers who are helping pay the bills.