The latest from Touchstream
When streaming providers try to understand the experience of their viewers, they most often turn to player data as part of a data analytics function within operations. However, there are two problems with this approach. The first is that analysing data from just the end of the workflow only tells you what’s happening there, and […]
Live events are rapidly becoming the most important streaming content. People watch live video 10 to 20 times longer than on-demand content, and it also earns 27% more minutes of watch time per viewing. Only it’s not just the amount of time spent. The number of people watching is growing steadily too, with 63% of those aged 18-34 viewing live-streamed content […]
CDN performance monitoring plays a pivotal role when it comes to providing a great viewing experience, as streaming operators must keep an eye on various key workflow components. For example, if encoders don’t operate properly, segments can get corrupted or quality can suffer. If the player isn’t running optimally, it can result in failures and […]
Touchstream Achieves AWS Technology Partner Status Touchstream is pleased to announce the deepening of its relationship with Amazon Web Services within the AWS Partner Network (APN). In 2022, Touchstream achieved AWS Technology Partner status, completed the AWS Foundational Technical Review (FTR), joined the AWS ISV Accelerate program, and released upgraded native integrations with many AWS Elemental […]
With competition in the streaming market heating up, maintaining a high level of OTT performance is an absolute must. Otherwise, the failure of even just one component to perform can set off a vicious chain reaction: technical issues cause delivery errors or increase your buffer ratio, leading to lower viewer satisfaction and your brand taking […]
Using multiple CDNs is a way of life in today’s streaming world. From scalability to resiliency to ensuring the best quality of experience, many streaming operators have built powerful business logic to not only help them evaluate CDNs in real-time but switch between them on a user-by-user basis. Unfortunately, none of that solves the underlying […]
To help offset the loss of subscription revenue driven by subscriber churn, many streaming platforms are exploring ad-supported options. While some providers, like Hulu and Peacock, have been including ads for a while, others such as Netflix and Disney+ are just about to roll out their ad-supported offerings. Meanwhile, Free Ad-Supported Streaming (FAST) providers, like Pluto and […]
Streaming operators struggle to provide exceptional viewer Quality of Experience (QoE). Not because they aren’t skilled, but simply because the video streaming tech stack is a hodge-podge of different technologies, sometimes hosted by third-party providers, with little to no interoperability. This complicates identifying the upstream or downstream impact of an issue as traffic moves through the streaming workflow. […]
Cloud monitoring for your streaming video components is already complicated. With multiple cloud vendors, like CDNs, combined with containers and instances, it can be difficult to capture the data needed to ensure the best viewer experience. This gets even more complex with serverless functions. This evolution of the video tech stack isn’t easily monitored–which is […]
When viewers have an issue with performance, quality, or availability, the results can be catastrophic to the business. Not only do they watch less content, but they also abandon more content and even cancel their subscriptions. For OTT services that rely on advertising, that’s detrimental to the bottom line. The same holds true for SVOD, as […]
