(AGENPARL) – THE HAGUE (THE NETHERLANDS), mar 12 gennaio 2021
Brands are using video streaming in their marketing mix more than ever. Especially after 2020, the worth of live streaming for businesses has only increased exponentially. Last year, almost every other brand used video streaming in live or on-demand modes for marketing or hosting events.
A year ago, studies projected that the global enterprise video market will touch the 20 billion mark by 2023, which is nothing but a steep growth of 20% in the current market size. Looking at how enterprise video streaming came out as a savior for the brands in 2020, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same market touching the 20 billion mark in 2021 itself.
This post will guide small and medium businesses who are looking to implement enterprise video streaming in their operations for the first time in 2021. We will discuss 7 crucial aspects that anyone should definitely consider while choosing the right enterprise video solutions or video streaming services for businesses.
Enterprise video streaming services for businesses:
Crucial Aspects and Features
You don’t have to be a tech-wizard, know ins and outs of how to create a video streaming service, or have lots of business experience to understand these aspects. Just focus on some little details, which are decisive in the long run.
Most of the time, the solutions that you choose become the reason why you can’t compete with your rivals, or offer good quality video despite all your efforts. When it comes to streaming, the quality and experience depend on the set of features your streaming solutions offers. However, these features are not always in-built, and it’s not even necessary to have all the features inbuilt. Sometimes, you just need the compatibility with other solutions that can fill the gap.
Let’s understand in detail:
1.
White-labeled customizability
A white-labeled video streaming solution is the one that does not put its branding or logo in the interface. For example, you might purchase a live streaming tool from a solution provider named XYZ. If your users are seeing the provider’s branding or logo in the video player, it’s not a white-labeled solution.
Instead, a white-labeled enterprise video solution will either remove its branding or allow you to put your branding on the video-player and all other interfaces. In short, a white-labeled platform allows you to customized the interface into something that reflects your brand and business.
2.
Standard video player with
universal compatibility
There are tons of formats into which you can stream your videos. However, not all video formats can be streamed on all kinds of devices. For example, Flash was a major format for streaming videos in the past. To watch such videos, users needed to install the Flash plugin on their devices, which made the experience not-so-friendly.
Today, Flash has been replaced with more friendly standards like HLS protocol, which does not demand any extra plugin, and it is supported by all kinds of modern devices and video players.
Yet another aspect of universal compatibility is the video player. You could play flash videos on a flash player alone. However, we now have access to HTML5 video players, which are supported by all kinds of devices. Today, with a common streaming protocol and video player, one can stream across a wide range of smartphones, computers, televisions, and even wearables.
3.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. A CDN comprises a network of servers distributed across physical locations and connected via high-speed internet cables.
The benefit of using a CDN for your live streaming or VOD streaming is it facilitates speed, reduces redundancy, lessens latency, allows upscaling, prevents buffering, and free web-servers from unnecessary stress. You can have a dedicated web-server for hosting your streaming platform, while a CDN will manage the storage and seamless delivery of content to your viewers using dedicated media servers.
Please note that not all CDNs are optimized for video streaming. You will need a CDN with powerful media servers in the locations you want to serve. A CDN with servers only in Europe cannot be useful to stream in the USA.
4.
Monetization channels
Monetization channels are important for streamers who are looking to make money. So, it depends on your objective if you want to stream internally within your workforce, or you are streaming generate revenue from your live or VOD content.
For example, if you are going to use the live streaming tool to train your employees, you wouldn’t need monetization. However, if you starting a live or VOD streaming business, you will need monetization channels to generate revenue.
There are three major monetization channels that you can use for revenue generation:
· Subscriptions: Just like Netflix, which charges a monthly fee to let users watch its content.
· Pay-per-view: Users pay to unlock and watch individual content. Just like your cable operator lets you watch a movie after paying for it. It’s useful for hosting live sports and other live events.
· Advertising: You can allow your users to stream your content free of cost. However, you can show them ads to generate revenue. For example, YouTube free version.
Each method can be lucrative in varying situations. You can even adopt a hybrid of all these methods to please users of all kinds.
5.
API support
As explained earlier, no solution comes out of the box with everything built-in. However, it must offer you a way to add additional aspects on requirement; support for APIs is one such way. Instead of building everything in your solution, you can integrate an API from a solution that fulfills the requirement.
For example, accepting online payments from your users. Instead of building a payment solution into it, you can simply integrate the API from any payment gateway and start accepting online payments.
Take another example. Let’s say your live streaming solution comes with a built-in video player from a company named XYZ. Later on, you decide that the video player from the company ABC would be more suitable for your requirements. A good streaming platform must allow you to integrate the API from ABC without any compatibility issues.
In short, you should use an enterprise video streaming solution that you can customize by simply integrating the relevant APIs.
6.
Analytics
Data are the key to success for modern-day businesses. Especially with enterprise video solutions, you need data about every crucial event and user on the platform. Whether you are streaming for non-profit motives or running a professional streaming business, analytics makes it possible to monitor user behaviors and present fact-based resolutions for everything ranging from marketing to compliance and risk mitigation.
Make sure your enterprise video solution is equipped with ample data collection and analysis mechanisms.
7.
Customer support
Everything about video streaming is purely technical in the background. A solution might run into problems at any time due to random reasons. However, a perfect solution provider is the one who is available 24×7 for technical support.
8.
Pricing model
The pricing model of your solution provider plays a major role when you are running a small or medium business. There is no doubt that you can get the best of solutions by paying a fortune to some big-shot brand, but this is not an option for every other business. You must choose a solution with a pricing model that suits your objectives and budget.
There are mainly two types of pricing models for enterprise video solutions: SaaS and Self-hosted.
A SaaS solution is easier to adopt and comes in handy with less stress on you for maintenance. However, such solutions demand a monthly or annually recurring fee for as long as you want to use them. Besides, you can’t always have the option to choose your hosting or CDN provider, as there is no access to the source code in SaaS solutions.
Whereas, a self-hosted solution, as the name suggests, can be hosted on a web-server of your choice. You can choose your CDN partner, access the source code, and need not pay any recurring fee. Instead, they demand a one-time fee to offer you a permanent license of the software.
So, after going through all the aspects, choose wisely according to your requirements. All the best.
Image Credit: unsplash
Fonte/Source: https://datafloq.com/read/enterprise-video-streaming-solutions-8-features-look-2021/11695
