Video streaming history

A brief history of video streaming

With YouTube and JWPlayer, video streaming started on a large scale. Me at the Zoo [2005, 184 million views], ushered in an era that could not have developed more rapidly. Others quickly entered the business, but sometimes failed due to the pace. The development led from an 18-second clip in 240p resolution, whose loading time normally exceeded the playing time, to movies in 4K resolution that can be played immediately.

The beginnings

After YouTube was launched in 2005 and was bought by Google back in 2006, a new era of Internet usage was announced. Other companies also wanted to use the new technology and the hype surrounding video platforms to establish themselves as early adopters, i.e. companies that used this technology that was still new at the time. Do you still remember Clipfish and MyVideo? Only two of the few providers who only benefited from the hype for a short time. In addition to YouTube, there are now only a few platforms with similar business models. In addition to Dailymotion and Vimeo, which are among the providers who have managed to fight their way to the top, today the major social media are also trying their hand at their own solutions. As far as content is concerned, a lot has happened in the last 17 years. Today, we watch videos with 4K resolution on all smart devices in the house, without any loading time.

From long load times to binge watching

At the beginning of the video streaming era, users had to wait longer for a video than the actual video was long. Of course, this ensured that the retrieval of content was limited. But only a short time later, the film industry recognized an opportunity to bring films and series to home computers via the Internet and thus generate more revenue. In the beginning, there was also the problem of long buffer times until the film was finally playable. As more and more providers specialized in movie streaming, better solutions quickly developed. In the beginning, platforms such as Videoload, Maxdome and Premiere offered the first VoD offerings with smaller flat rates — until 2014, Netflix was the first streaming giant and also launched a flatrate provider with a larger offering in Germany. Since then, other studios and niche providers have also ventured into the “streaming war.” Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu & Shudder are just a few of the many providers you'll find on the market today. Even larger media brands and television stations such as PLAYBOY, FREUNDIN or funk offer their own media libraries with a wide range of content on demand.

From long production times to live streaming

The last major development was the result of the use of live events from numerous providers. Live streaming quickly emerged as an opportunity not only to achieve greater reach, but also to sell tickets to viewers who are not there.

The first live stream was played back in 1993 by the band “Severe Tire Damage” via a small network. As a result, a larger market developed only slowly. It wasn't until 15 years later, in 2008, that YouTube launched a larger offering with YouTube Live, which also featured Felix Baumgartner jumping from space in 2012. Back then, ten years ago, but with an impressive twenty seconds delay. Today, live streaming is so sophisticated that providers focus primarily on solutions to reduce latency. As a result, live streams can be achieved today with minimal latencies of just one second.