Top 4 Broadcasting Technology Trends to

Watch in 2019

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 202 0,
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 tre nds 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.