Live Video and Interactive Applications Accelerate the Need for Low-Latency Streaming

Video streaming adoption is accelerating on a global scale, reaching nearly 640 million subscriptions in 2019. At present, the streaming market is dominated by Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVoD) services, but demand for live TV streaming is continuously growing. Especially when it comes to sports, live streaming is in very high demand, creating a huge opportunity for service providers in the Over-the-Top (OTT) space. As the demand for live TV viewing on streaming platforms grows, latency is becoming the main focus of attention in the industry. Low-latency streaming is essential for OTT service providers to support live sports streaming with quality User Experience (UX).

There are around 5 seconds of latency on the broadcast TV platform, while End-to-End (E2E) latency can take around 30-40 seconds to receive typical streaming video. The impact of high latency is most obvious when streaming live sports programs; it spoils the viewing experience when a video streaming user can only watch the goal score of a soccer match a few seconds after their neighbors watching the match on the broadcast TV platform have seen it. If live streaming supports almost the same latency as broadcast (around five seconds), there is a higher chance of the streaming platform gaining more subscribers and a lower chance of user churn due to dissatisfaction with the experience. Since sports streaming is one of the key drivers of live streaming services, latency is a prominent issue that service providers need to address going forward. Similarly, in other streaming video services, users are likely to stop watching if buffering occurs often while streaming video.

Cloud gaming is another area where low latency is crucial. High latency can cause delays in players’ controller inputs reaching servers, resulting in a negative UX for the players. eSports, online betting, and auctions are other areas that are driving the demand for low latency streaming. These applications require a high level of interaction. Interaction between eSports fans, placing a bet online during a sporting event, or raising the bids online during an auction all require low-latency streaming capabilities. Long latency can result in unwanted or experience-breaking conditions in such events so, as cloud gaming and eSports markets continue to accelerate worldwide, the demand and need for low-latency streaming technologies and services also continues to increase.

Multiple components in the video streaming pipeline contribute to latency: encoding, packaging, distribution, the choice of streaming protocols, and player settings on an end user’s device can all affect the delay. A number of approaches are available for broadcasters. Encoding latency can be increased or decreased depending on the resolution and quality of video. Transport protocols can have a significant impact on latency; especially when using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) streaming, latency is added due to the buffering required before replay can be initiated on a client device.

Streaming protocols such as Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) and Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) offers sub-second latency. However, service providers need to consider use case, targeted video quality, and audience reach when selecting streaming protocol. For streaming video services that need to serve a wide audience, WebRTC may not be a good option since it has limitations in audience reach. WebRTC is a good choice, however, for services that only need real-time communication for a few viewers (\video conferencing, for example). Low-latency Common Media Application Format (CMAF) and Apple low-latency streaming protocols can be good options for achieving low latency and reaching a mass audience. In addition to the right choice of streaming protocol, elements in encoding, and Content Delivery Network (CDN) optimization, and video playback optimizations are also required to improve latency.

While low latency isn’t a requirement for every type of video, there is immense value and opportunity in the areas where it is. The growth of live streaming and the demand for interactive experiences are clearly putting pressure on service providers to deliver low-latency streams. Especially in the crowded subscription video streaming market, UX plays a critical role in maintaining a subscriber base. Without an acceptable latency, live streaming services lose competitive advantage. Low-latency streaming capability also creates novel revenue-generating opportunities in gaming, online betting, and online auctions by providing near real-time interaction. The right choice of low-latency solution can help service providers create revenue-generating opportunities in both new and existing markets. Evaluation between video qualities, deployment costs, and audience reach needs to be done properly when selecting a low-latency streaming solution in order to avoid unnecessary deployment and operating costs and reach technical and performance requirements depending on market and content. Partnership with solutions providers that can offer E2E Solutions (E2ES) or that support compatibility between back-end and front-end solutions provided by multiple vendors is essential to achieve the targeted video quality and latency.