Streaming under the microscope

A closer look at streaming: What works? What are the potentials?

Start a series after work or search for good how-tos and tutorials on YouTube during working hours. Amazon, Netflix, YouTube and the Media Libraries of Public Broadcasters are just a few examples of the sheer variety of streaming offerings. But if you look beyond the obvious scenarios, there are even more options for using video streaming.

Video streaming is essentially the retrieval of videos from the Internet and the caching of small portions of the video on the user device's local hard drive. In the following, we look at current usage and also areas in which video streaming still has potential for further development.

How is (video) streaming used?

Large Entertainment Providers in Particular Use Video Streaming Technology to Bring Films, Series and Live Formats to Audience Devices. But it is no longer just a pure entertainment phenomenon. Companies also use streaming to distribute educational content or for daily meetings. In this way, companies are making their events more accessible, as employees can attend them from anywhere. In addition, an internal company event, provided it is recorded, can still be accessed later as a type of video on demand content.

In addition to pure video streams, some companies use additional technological features, such as real-time translation, especially for live broadcasts. With this feature, an AI listens to the speakers during the event and transcribes the spoken word in the target language on the screen. So that users in several countries can watch the stream with the lowest delay, there are low latency or ultra low latency solutions.

Live streaming is used on a large scale, in addition to social media, especially on Twitch & YouTube. Here, influencers play the latest video games, react to other videos, talk to their followers or proudly present the latest achievements from their latest major purchase.

Thanks to ever better and faster Internet connections, providers and influencers can also create personalized experiences with streaming. In addition to quizzes, surveys, live commentaries and reactions, for various purposes, Netflix, for example, now also offers interactive films & series in which viewers can influence the further course of the story through their own decisions or talk via an integrated chat while watching the films without missing out on the film's content.

In which areas does streaming still have potential?

Video streaming is still used in corporate communications primarily on a smaller scale, such as team meetings. Major events such as conferences are streamed live less frequently, even though the trend here is clearly upwards. Because the technology required for this is already available. Providers that handle data in compliance with GDPR mean that even government institutions or banks can use the technologies for internal meetings and major digital events.

Accessibility using AI-based transcription solutions, live subtitles and image recognition gives people with disabilities enough opportunities to use the technologies. Image recognition software, for example, in conjunction with live subtitles and text-to-speech, can ensure that visually impaired people can participate in live streams. The live subtitles alone already enable hearing-impaired viewers to participate. The technology has developed so well in recent years that current solutions only have minimal error rates in automatic voice/image recognition. As a result of this technology, people with hearing disabilities can now also use live audio streams and podcasts.

There is also an interesting development in medicine. Useful examples of applications in remote diagnostics are available here. However, to ensure that patient data remains secure and nothing goes wrong during transmission, special requirements are required for the software & hardware used, which only a few of the streaming providers already meet.

The Rapid Progress shows more and more ways to use streaming not only in entertainment, but also for teaching and knowledge transfer. The Pandemic, for example, meant that school lessons also had to take place temporarily via live stream. This has pushed many students, teachers & parents to their technical limits, but it also had a positive side effect: The rapid development of the required technologies, which we can use all the more today to find new solutions to known challenges.