WATERLOO — A new study from video quality measurement and optimization specialist SSIMWave of Waterloo, Ont., finds the media industry lacks a clearly defined picture of how bitrate optimization impacts the viewer experience and suggests a consistent, objective standard is needed.
The study is based on a survey of 300 OTT providers, broadcasters and multichannel video providers. The survey was conducted by streaming industry expert Dan Rayburn, a Frost & Sullivan analyst, on behalf of SSIMWave.
The survey showed wide variations in the methodologies used by respondents to understand bitrate optimization and in how metrics are collected.
While more than 35% of survey respondents relied on technical approaches, such as peak signal-to-noise ratio or PSNR (14%), structural similarity index method or SSIM (11.3%) and Netflix-developed video multimethod assessment fusion or VMAF (10%), a further 8.3% of respondents said they relied on viewer surveys and 3.3% said they had no plans to check the impact of optimization at all.
“As consumers turn to streaming as their primary source of video entertainment, quality is becoming increasingly important,” said Dr. Abdul Rehman, CEO and co-founder of SSIMWAVE, in the news release. “These results underscore the need for a consistent, objective measuring standard that can help operators choose optimization strategies that balance cost efficiency with the need to maximize viewer satisfaction.”
According to the survey, the top methods used by the industry in general to measure the impact of optimization on the viewer experience are: PSNR (14%), third-party platforms (13%), providers’ internal video engineers’ methodologies (12.7%), and SSIM (11.3%).
Among multichannel video providers, PSNR (18%) was the leading methodology, while the top method used by broadcasters was third-party platforms (23%). Internal video engineers’ methodologies (27%) was the dominant method used by OTT respondents.
In addition to the impact of bitrate optimization, the survey also highlighted quality of experience (QoE) and delivery costs as the top two concerns streaming providers have as they begin to scale viewership. More than 35% of respondents identified “measuring our QoE success with viewers” as the top issue, while more than 21% said the main concern was “increased delivery costs”.
However, the survey also shows 32.3% of respondents do not believe their QoE creates an advantage over competitors in the market, and another 23% were unsure of how to measure their QoE versus that of competitors.
The full survey will be discussed during a webinar, titled “OTT Insights: Best practices for optimizing bitrates, costs and viewer experiences”, on July 16 at 11:00 a.m. ET. For more information and to register for the webinar, please click here.
