2018 has finished, and we have great expectations from 2019, we here at Sahi wanted to take a moment and look at the industries we serve with critical eye towards trends, advanced technologies, and how we approach the needs of our customers.

The main trend of the industry has always been the same – to inform and entertain viewers. The landscape, however, is changing. Aside from traditional broadcasters, there are new players.

TV viewing has expanded to 5.8 hours per day in the last decade, with the hours divided between the dozens of screens. IPTV market to touch $80 billion in 2020, Europe and Asia pacific emerge as the burgeoning IPTV markets. Global IP traffic will touch 1.1 zettabytes per year or 88.4 exabytes (one billion gigabytes) per month in 2016. By 2019, global IP traffic will reach a new milestone figure of 2.0 zettabytes per year, or 168.0 exabytes per month. Content delivery networks will carry over half of Internet traffic by 2019. 90% global internet traffic will go video by 2018, streaming-alone households in US will hit 14 million by 2020. It would take an individual over 5 million years to watch the amount of video that cross global IP networks each month in 2019. Every second, nearly a million minutes of video content will cross the network by 2019. 

The vision of broadcast in 2020 is about personalized technology, on-demand viewer experience, individuated content distribution, binge-watching, small television shows and independent cinema, innovative TV formats, more localized and vernacular content, ad-free models to targeted ads and everyone connected to a smart TV.

With introduction of disruptive business models and innovative technologies, television is transforming itself. Let us look at trends shaping the future of television:

Broadcasting’s Future & IP

Actually, the future of broadcasting is as bright as broadcasters make it. 

But, what does “IP” mean? IP is too broad of technological term. It may be used in relation to data and file processing. As such, IP has been used by broadcasters for the last forty years. It may mean IP distribution, that also is nothing new. It also may mean the IP transport of uncompressed video signal, as a replacement for SDI. This is really what it means today – an SDI replacement, and it does not change the future for broadcasters or broadcasting; it’s just another technical tool broadcasters can use to meet their goal: broadcasting.

Over-the-top Television:

Over-the-top television is new age broadcasting. TV via live streaming, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, multi-platform video, smartphones & consoles, has ushered in the age of TV Everywhere and burgeoning content. What is it that Amazon Prime, Hulu TV, Sling TV, HBO Now, Netflix, offer that has shaken up broadcasting? On demand access, video-on demand, standalone streaming, multiple screens viewing, flexible subscriptions, slimmed down television bundle/skinny bundles, original content, audience interaction, cost-effective packs, are among a few things on the platter. So broadcasting has moved beyond linear television, expensive cable bundles and inflexible programming.

Social TV and Multi Screens: 

Does an exodus from linear television, translates to people watching less TV? Rather the exact opposite. People are watching more television, consuming more videos, but the key divergence has been in the viewing experience, which has expanded to multiple screens. Smartphones, computers and tablets have accelerated video consumption. Live streaming and OTT has given audience more control over video generation, distribution and consumption. Internet drastically changing the patterns of media consumption. Multi screen viewership facilitates connectivity and sharing. Social conversations around television shows and programs, have become a key to ratings, viewership and audience engagements. Nielsen shows that more than half of global respondents (58%) say they browse the Internet while watching video programming. ‘Cross-Screen Engagement’ has transformed the relationship between television viewing and the audience, resulting in distinct viewing patterns. Second and third screen are becoming an extension of the viewing experience. Live-video streaming platforms are all set to transform and democratize news and video broadcasting, notching up social conversations. Live videos streaming of the Mayweather and Pacquiao boxing match, was a breakthrough in social broadcasting.

Targeted Advertising:

Streaming and OTT television is ‘positive for TV advertising’ with streamlined and targeted advertisements. Big Data and audience analytics, are the new trends in the broadcast and TV industry and are taking TV advertisement to the next level. Subscriber information and data pulled from multiple sources including social TV, networked engagements, audience measurements tools, etc., is shaping television advertising. To sell targeted, dynamically inserted ads into both live TV and content consumed on-demand, is new age TV advertising. Targeted and segmented data collected by media generates powerful behavioral and actionable insights into audience engagement, content preference, curated content delivery, targeted advertising, segmented viewership, digital consumption patterns, etc. Leveraging the data and generating powerful and personalized audience engagement creates a new age for television. 

4K to Immersive Viewing: 

Television has moved way beyond its years of electro-mechanical rotating mirror drum scanners and Cathode Ray Tubes. With multiple transformation since then, the latest to enrapture the box is Ultra HD. Ultra HD refers to two different resolutions; 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 px) and 8K Ultra HD (7680 x 4320 px). Today, 75% of households in the United States have at least one HDTV. Ultra HDTV’s is the natural progression. Several entertainment studios are preparing their footage for viewing in 4K Ultra HD. 8K Ultra HD is exactly 16 times the resolution of Full HD. In 2014, NHK Japan’s research laboratories successfully transmitted 8K television signals via a single standard UHF terrestrial broadcast channel over a distance of 27 km. NHK, plans to deploy 8K at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. 8K Technology is still largely experimental at this point, and is still several years away.

We understand and follow trends and advanced technologies in broadcast industry and Sahi is here to help. With our long-term experience and our team who are expert in broadcast system design and installation, we have been working hand-in-hand with our clients in evolution, optimizing workflows, maximizing technology utilization and assisting in enabling new business models.