Exploring the future of media technology
DEEP FAKES PRACTICAL AI SURFING SOUTH AFRICA OTT SHOWCASE BLOCKCHAIN START-UPS
3 WELCOME
I’m proud to have been a regular around the RAI in Amsterdam for some years now, as a producer for the IBC Conference programme, as a journalist for the IBC Daily and as a lone content creation geek learning all I could about the industry. But this is the first time I’ve had the honour of bringing a brand-new product to the show floor. You can bet we'll be handing out hella magazines at the show. And we hope you’ll take one – and read it – even subscribe. But our most important job will be to meet as many of you as we can and to find out what you need and how we can help you get it. FEED aims to be more than another trade mag. Whether you’re a lone YouTuber or multichannel operator, we want to help you create and deliver the best possible video content to the audiences who it will benefit most. Let us know how we can help. In this issue we'll examine esports, that new content genre everyone wants a piece of, but so few people (over age 35) understand. Esports tournaments are drawing in colossal audiences and esports companies are willing to spend money to give their events a high-end broadcast gloss. There's gold in them digital hills, but let's get educated first. Also we take a deep dive into artificial intelligence and machine learning. These buzzwords are going to become ubiquitous technologies, like IP production, VOD and mobile delivery – themes that are going to find their way into every part of the industry. Developing and directing AI's will become an increasingly valuable skill in the next decade. We hope you enjoy the issue. See you in Amsterdam! WELCOME US TO IBC!
EDITORIAL EDITOR Neal Romanek +44 (0) 1223 492246 nealromanek@bright-publishing.com
CONTRIBUTORS Ann-Marie Corvin Maria Korolov Adrian Pennington Phil Rhodes
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NEAL ROMANEK, EDITOR
nealromanek@bright-publishing.com @rabbitandcrow @nromanek
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CONTENTS
06 NEWSFEED
News from around the streaming world
18 IBC OTT SHOWCASE
We preview OTT solutions on show at this year’s IBC in Amsterdam
50 YOUR TAKE - AI
68
Bitmovin CEO Stefan Lederer tells us how artificial intelligence could revolutionise video encoding
52 DEEP FAKES
Maria Korolov ventures into Uncanny Valley with a look at the “deep fake” phenomenon
56 ROUND TABLE
62
AI and machine learning are the topics in this month’s round table. How will they affect the video industry?
62 XTREME
We go to South Africa for the Ballito Pro International Surf Event
66 HAPPENING
26
Our picks of the IBC2018 Conference sessions
68 START-UP ALLEY
This month’s round-up of new tech companies features specialists in blockchain technology
72 OVER THE TOP
Esports is real sports. But how real is real?
52
34
44
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5
ESPORTS FEVER
24 PRIME TIME READY What do esports producers need to do to adapt events for mainstream TV? 26 PRODUCTION Esports is turning to traditional broadcast suppliers to create big events and big TV
34 ROCKET LEAGUE
NEP helped bring the Rocket League championships to the UK for the first time
36 CASE STUDY - H1Z1 Lessons learned in the live streaming of the H1Z1 playoff 44 GENIUS INTERVIEW Dr. Florian Block studies esports - and it’s beautiful
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BREAKING NEWS FROM THE STREAMING SECTOR
FIRST AT THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has conducted trials, in partnership with several EBU members and industry partners, to shoot, process and distribute live high frame rate (HFR), UHD content with high dynamic range (HDR) and next‑generation audio (NGA) at the European Championships in Berlin and Glasgow. The trials involved the world’s first live distribution of UHD content with both HDR (HLG/BT.2100) and HFR (100 frames-per- second, 2160p100) and were said to be the
world’s first live distribution of UHD content with both HDR and HFR. At the European Athletics Championships in Berlin, the production workflow was set up in collaboration with the BBC, France Télévisions, IRT, RAI and ZDF, along with technology partners. The 2160p100 feed was used to derive two additional 1080p100 and 1080p50 signals. These three feeds were then encoded in HEVC and multiplexed for a live transmission via the Eurovision satellite network to RAI’s experimental test bed in
the Aosta Valley, Italy, and via the Eurovision Fibre infrastructure to the European Championships Broadcast Operations Centre based at BBC Glasgow. The 1080p100 video also included NGA sound in the form of 4+7+0 channel and scene-based beds, with four additional interactive mono object signals for two commentaries and two audio descriptions. A multitude of technology providers for the trial included ATEME, Dolby, Ericsson, EVS, Fraunhofer IIS, Jünger Audio, KaiMedia, Rohde & Schwarz and Sony.
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7 NEWSFEED
Updates & upgrades
NORDIC TV SUMMIT KICKS OFF
YOUTUBE TAGS MISINFORMATION
The Nordic TV Summit will be returning for its second year to Copenhagen on 27 September. The one-day conference will feature presentations, panel discussions and insight into the trends shaping TV and VOD services, particularly in the industry-leading Scandinavian region. The Summit is hosted by Amsterdam- based TV app developer 24i Media. Among this year’s keynote speakers and guest presenters are thought leaders from iFlix, TV2 Denmark, Viaplay, Altibox, Vionlabs, Sky UK, AMC Networks and Roku. The day concludes with a networking dinner. “We are very excited to announce such a terrific line-up of speakers for the annual Nordic TV Summit,” said Martijn Van Horssen, founder and CEO at 24i Media. “This year’s line-up of leading-edge speakers will showcase the best from in and out of the industry, demonstrating the media and entertainment industry’s ability to innovate and remain competitive.” For updates on Nordic TV Summit speakers and agenda, and to register, visit www.nordictvsummit.com.
YouTube has expanded its Google News Initiative, launched in March, to increase monitoring over news and information content on its platform and form closer partnerships with news agencies and experts. The company has allocated $25 million to establish a working group consisting of news organisations and experts to help develop new product features and to provide funding across 20 global markets to support news organisations in building sustainable video operations. The initiative will also try to showcase more local news on the platform – beginning with a roll-out in the US – and expand YouTube’s Top News and Breaking News features.
The platform has also started adding information from third parties, including Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica, “alongside videos on a small number of well-established historical and scientific topics that have often been subject to misinformation, like the moon landing and the Oklahoma City Bombing”. YouTube’s “information panels” feature, according to a post by Wikipedia, will include the following topics: global warming, Dulce Base, Lilla Saltsjöbadsavtalet, 1980 Camarate air crash, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Kecksburg UFO incident and the MMR vaccine. The labelling is visible only in the US at present, but will be rolled out globally.
Ericsson Media Solutions becomes MediaKind
Ericsson Media Solutions has relaunched as MediaKind. The
providers, operators, content owners and broadcasters looking to create and deliver immersive media experiences for everyone, everywhere.” The rebrand follows the acquisition by private equity firm, One Equity Partners, specialists in media and telecom investment, of a majority stake in Ericsson Media Solutions, in January. Angel Ruiz will continue as CEO of the company with Gowton Achaibar as COO and Head of R&D, and Mark Russell Chief Technology and Strategy Officer.
company will continue Ericsson’s work in the media technology space, but will emphasise the potential media has to inspire and unite humankind. In an announcement the company said the new branding “addresses a new age where media is the fabric of society, captivating audiences, changing perceptions and bringing us together. MediaKind’s mission is to lead the future of global media technology and be the first choice for service
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8 NEWSFEED Updates & upgrades
September’s IBC show in Amsterdam will see the return of the IP Showcase. The Showcase, organised by broadcast industry technical and standards organisations, provides instructional and case-study presentations and product demonstrations promoting the benefits of IP infrastructure for real-time professional media applications. The event has been running at big broadcast trade shows since IBC2016 and has been instrumental in helping the industry get behind the standards- based approach to IP. This will be the first IBC since the publication at the end of 2017 of the SMPTE ST 2110 Professional Media Over Managed IP Network suite of standards. This IP RETURNS TO AMSTERDAM
standard aims to help manufacturers more easily create interoperable IP-based broadcast studio products. The showcase will exhibit equipment from an estimated 50 vendors. Displays will highlight the benefits of IP signal transport and will focus on SMPTE ST
2110-10/20/21/30/31/40, the SMPTE ST 2059 Broadcast Profile for IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP), AES67 and AMWA IS-04/IS-05. The IP Showcase will take place in rooms E106 and E107 at RAI Amsterdam. Find more details at www.ipshowcase.org.
OTT READY TO GO IN TAIWAN
Taiwan Broadband Communications has launched a new OTT service called TBC GO. TBC GO is powered by Broadpeak CDN solutions, with the Broadpeak BkM100 video delivery manager and BkS400 HTTP video cache brought onboard to help reduce network bandwidth. The BkS400 HTTP video cache servers and BkM100 video delivery manager have been deployed within several points of presence (PoPs). The BkM100 monitors the popularity of content based on usage patterns, allowing Taiwan Broadband Communications to define a minimum number of viewings for each PoP before the content is cached. Taiwan Broadband Communications will use the BkS400 server to cache content at the edge level. Popular content is automatically provisioned to the edge servers while long-tail content remains in a larger central library. Leveraging HTTP adaptive bit-rate technology, the servers will help improve the quality of user video experience.
FINDING A RULE OF THUMBNAILS
UK broadcaster ITV will use AI to generate automatic cover artwork most likely to appeal to any given user segment. The project, developed in partnership with Swedish video experience company Accedo follows a prototype developed on top of the Amazon Web Services cloud platform. The aim is to use the emotional triggers of viewers to deliver personalised cover art in order to increase user engagement and video consumption. It has already been
tested using a number of video samples to generate thumbnails with different styles. Using AWS Rekognition video analysis tools as well as the company’s own products, Accedo will help ITV to validate the business case for the trial. A focus group with ITV customers will evaluate emotional reactions to different sets of pre- generated thumbnails of, for example, key characters. The observations will become the baseline for a prototype set of rules to preselect relevant thumbnails.
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STREAMPUNK 10 NewTek
Esports is just what NewTek has been waiting for. The company’s IP-based production tools are a hit with gamers streaming from one-room flats or from world stages TOOLS FOR YOUR ESPORTS EMPIRE
he meteoric rise of esports, now a billion-dollar entertainment sensation drawing hundreds of millions of viewers, seemingly
a royalty-free IP technology for sharing live video, audio, and data between compatible systems and software across Ethernet networks. With its long-standing investment in computers, software, and networks as the future of video production, NewTek has tried to position itself as a solutions provider for game streamers and esports producers at every level. NDI is now integrated into prominent game streaming software like XSplit, Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), and GameShow. The technology streamlines the process of capturing gameplay for live streaming or on-demand viewing, eliminating the need for supplemental hardware and workaround cabling, as well as unpredictable signal conversion that can interrupt both the viewer experience and the competitive aspect of gameplay. NewTek’s software-driven solutions are being widely adopted for esports event coverage and studio-style content creation. Natively accommodating the IP output signals from gaming rigs via NDI, while offering the functionality to incorporate conventional broadcast SDI video sources, IP
UPPING ITS GAME NewTek’s flexible IP-based solutions have been adopted by big esports events
happened out of nowhere. But considering human competitiveness and the power of connected technology, it’s easy to see how gaming quickly evolved from head-to-head encounters between family and friends, to high-intensity online showdowns with team-based tournaments selling out arenas worldwide. Today the phenomenon is burning up record bandwidth on game streaming platforms like Twitch, Mixer and YouTube Gaming, captivating viewers in arenas and on connected devices with professionally produced live events,which are even crossing over into mainstream broadcast. With this ongoing venture into spaces more commonly occupied by traditional A/V and broadcast technologies, synergy between multi-camera production and high-performance PC gaming is essential. Enter NewTek, a company which accelerated the desktop video revolution with products like its popular Tricaster vision mixer. At IBC2015, the company introduced NDI,
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11 STREAMPUNK NewTek
BECAUSE ESPORTS IS NOW SO POPULAR IN ASIA, THE COMPETITIONS ARE LIKE A MIX OF SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT cameras, graphics, effects, and more, NewTek live production systems like the TriCaster TC1 and VMC1 allow esports broadcasters to interconnect media sources and produce events to scale. The hardware does this without the scan converters, adapters, and all of the associated cabling that typical baseband broadcast switchers would
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STREAMPUNK 12 NewTek
normally require. NewTek systems support incoming video signals at their native resolution and frame rate, meaning gameplay content is being processed through the production in the same 1080p 60 format as its original machine, rather than being subject to down-conversion and up-conversion cycles. The technology seems tailor-made for the emerging game streaming market, and some of the most high-profile esports projects around the world have had NewTek hardware and software front and centre. NewTek tools featured prominently in the
McLaren Formula 1 team’s groundbreaking 24-hour Le Mans simulation race to crown the World’s Fastest Gamer. Held at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England, the global sports and technology brand hosted the best virtual racing drivers on the planet, pitting them in a competition that combined traditional broadcast workflow elements and a real-time, point-of-view gameplay presentation for simultaneous on- site production and live streaming. In Thailand, which boasts more than three million active esports participants, Studio INVATE live streams up to 15 major
tournaments in a calendar year, with an additional 30 medium-sized and small-scale events on the slate as well. The company pushes the envelope with NewTek’s VMC1 because the production has to account for more than just the video workflow, as co- founder Pachara ‘Benz’ Ruangrasameejantorn is quick to point out. “Because esports is now so popular in Asia, the competitions are like a mix of sports and entertainment. The live events have high energy music, with light and sound.” In China, esports organiser CGA Asia Pacific recently documented its process for presenting the finals of DJI’s RoboMaster tournament, a science and technology esports event held at Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, a multi-use stadium. With NewTek’s TriCaster TC1 as the centerpiece, CGA delivered a stellar live broadcast while simultaneously entertaining the 15,000 spectators in attendance. tapped NewTek solutions not only for its headquarters in San Francisco, but for its stage and streaming efforts at TwitchCon and must-attend gaming confab E3. In the end, NewTek’s easy-to-use tools, which leverage the power of IP networks as well as the flexibility of the A/V world, have made them a favourite in the field of esports – whether that’s amateur gamers with Twitch channels or big esports companies putting on events that reach millions. And perhaps most tellingly, game streaming powerhouse Twitch has
COMING OF AGE Live streaming video platform Twitch used NewTek technology at its E3 event
STREAMPUNK TOOL OF THE MONTH: NDI
Introduced at IBC in 2015, NewTek’s NDI (Network Device Interface) has evolved from an ambitious venture into a popular IP video technology, used by broadcasters of all sizes. With a royalty- free SDK download and development model, NDI has been embraced by a video industry increasingly turning to computers, software, and networks. This June, NewTek released NDI 3.5 for public download. This latest version introduces support for unicast UDP data transfer with FEC (Forward Error Correction) and automatic recognition of all possible paths between a source and destination, which together provide for better overall performance –particularly when higher latency networks are involved, such as those used with long-distance transfers. Coupled with continued support for multicast UDP and unicast TCP, and enhanced discovery for handling even more complex network
topologies and configurations, NDI 3.5 offers developers and users flexibility for implementation on real-world networks. NDI 3.5 also aims to power a 200% increase in the number of high-resolution IP streams it can support in a single process, accommodating double the number of 4K streams using approximately the same amount of bandwidth. NDI Studio Monitor has progressed from a simple network video viewer into a digital signage solution, with support for multi-window and multi-monitor configurations, per-instance audio assignment and overlay application, automatic launch and display, and browser-based remote control from any connected device with support for password protection. NDI Scan Converter, NewTek’s application for sharing computer screens across the network, now relies on the host system’s GPU for processing and allows
full-screen capture and multi-monitor region of interest framing at up to 60Hz. The new NDI Scan Converter also features independent audio source selection. NewTek has also released the NDI Virtual Input driver, which makes it possible to use NDI sources with everyday video applications like Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Skype, and Zoom. It includes support for full-frame rate video and audio including 1080p and 4K UHD at up to 60 frames per second. Plus, updated support for the latest versions of VLC Media Player and Adobe Creative Cloud.
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14 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE AWS Elemental
SPUUL CHOOSES TOOLS IN THE CLOUD Indian content provider Spuul has turned itself into a one-stop shop for its audience with the help of cloud-based tools
TT video is becoming an increasingly viable mode of content delivery, allowing niche players from regional broadcasters to businesses to deliver content in a more targeted way. Singapore-based OTT service Spuul serves Indian content to viewers both in India and abroad across a range of platforms. The streaming service includes 150 linear TV channels that are also available in Australia and New Zealand. “The consumer is always the focal point for us, so when we initially started to think about global expansion and the type of content the consumer wants, we knew it would need to extend beyond our collection of Bollywood movies,” says Spuul CEO, Subin Subaiah. “That’s when we started to pull in linear TV and synthesize it with
right bandwidth and to the right device, you also need to do so at the right time. “An Indian broadcaster, for instance, is broadcasting content on Indian prime time, which may not be prime time in other regions where your customers are. AWS Elemental MediaPackage video origination
our movie catalogue to develop a one-stop content platform.” Spuul knew it would be a challenge to build its own OTT video infrastructure from scratch, so the company sought a technology partner. AWS, with its suite of cloud-based Media Services, offered a flexible, scalable solution. AWS Elemental’s MediaLive video processing service allowed Spuul to give even customers with a low-end mobile phone and a weak connection an optimum viewing experience. South Asian audiences overwhelmingly consume media on mobile devices rather than TVs, so this type of encoding optimisation was essential. “With linear TV, you also have to factor in an additional plot twist,” says Subaiah. “It’s not just about delivering content to the customer in the right rendition within the
GOING WITH A CLOUD-BASED INFRASTRUCTURE IS A NO-BRAINER
TRACKING CHANNEL CONSUMPTION: SERVERLESS DATALAKE
KENESIS FIREHOSE
KENESIS STREAMS
API GATEWAY CLOUDFRONT
CLOUDWATCH METRICS - ALARMS
S3: JSON
KENESIS ANALYTICS
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15 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE AWS Elemental
OTT DELIVERY: Spuul’s OTT platform was built using AWS Media Services, with Amazon CloudFront helping caching content on the network edges to make it accessible to a global audience.
STORAGE
Amazon S3
LIVE VIDEO PROCESSING
DATA TRANSFER
SOURCE
DISPLAY DEVICES
CDN
AWS Elemental MediaPackage
AWS Elemental MediaPackage
AWS Elemental MediaLive
Amazon Direct Connect
Amazon CloudFront
Live TV
and packaging service is a part of our OTT infrastructure, and has helped us map prime time in various locations and mimic the prime time in the location from which it was delivered. Matching those times has made a huge difference for customers.” With 150 channels, Spuul is organising and analysing a huge volume of data on an hourly basis. The content also needs to be available to watch on catch-up. Amazon’s S3 cloud storage provides scalable storage for the continuous supply of content being served and can position content. “Consumers today are also sensitive to the quality of content they’re consuming, making it imperative to reduce that fractional time it takes for someone to click on the button and begin to view the content. A global content delivery network service, Amazon CloudFront, takes our content and
caches it on the network edges. This makes it more easily accessible to consumers around the world without skipping a beat.” It’s hard to believe that only a few years ago, video content companies were very suspicious about the ability of cloud- based infrastructures to handle large volumes of live video, but it looks like we are entering a time where cloud systems are not only preferable, but necessary for
optimal video delivery. “Building an infrastructure on the ground requires capital investment. When technology becomes obsolete or goes out of fashion, replacement costs can run high. When you add up all these parts and weigh them against the benefits of a cloud-based architecture which allows you to scale quickly, going with a cloud-based infrastructure is a no-brainer. “
S3 RAW DATA
S3 DATALAKE CLEARED/ENHANCED JSON
SCHEDULED GLUE
S3: DATALAKE PARQUET
REDSHIFT SPECTRUM
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ATHENA ELASTICSEARCH NEPTUNE
ATHENA
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18 IBC OTT SHOWCASE Simplestream
BUILDING OTT SERVICES EASIER FOR SMALLER PROVIDERS At this year’s IBC Show in Amsterdam, Simplestream will exhibit VOD tools aimed at helping niche OTT players compete on a global level
VOD IN A BOX Simplestream which develops Software as a Service infrastructure for live streaming, catch-up and live-to-VOD, is using IBC2018 to launch new modules in its cloud-based streaming products. This includes new third-party integrations such as data analytics from Nice People At Work that track user behaviour, helping Simplestream’s customers optimise their overall data strategy and user service, according to chief commercial officer Dan Finch. “At IBC we will also showcase our cloud-based streaming solutions that dramatically reduce the costs, complexities and turnaround time in delivering OTT video services to market on time and on budget,” he adds. This includes VOD-in-a-Box – described as a multiscreen, end-to-end white- label streaming solution that enables broadcasters and content owners to deploy VOD and live-streaming content to market in as little as four weeks in a single territory or internationally. The solution includes support for all OTT platforms and a range of monetisation options, allowing any combination of subscriptions (SVOD), advertising (AVOD), pay-per-view and other transactional models (TVOD).
he continuing growth of the OTT video industry has brought more content and platform options to the consumer, and in turn
NICHE SERVICES One customer is BAFTA and Emmy award- winning Little Dot Studios. Finch explains, “Little Dot partnered with us to build an international VOD service out of its Real Stories YouTube channel, which includes over 300 licensed and original documentary titles with over a million subscribers. It launched in January this year as an AVOD and SVOD service and is available on iOS mobile and tablet, Android mobile and tablet, and desktop worldwide.” VOD-in-a-Box also caught the attention of HistoryHit – a podcast produced by British TV personality Dan Snow that amassed more than 300 episodes and one million downloads per month. HistoryHit chose Simplestream to build Snow’s SVOD service HistoryHit.TV, that provides history buffs with original programmes as well as an extensive content library featuring images, maps, timelines and detailed explanations of key moments in world history. Launched last December, the service now has thousands of subscribers. “When it comes to OTT, we know what content owners and providers need – and sometimes, even more importantly, what they don’t need – and look forward to demonstrating this at IBC2018,” adds Finch.
has opened up new revenue streams for broadcasters, content owners and operators alike. While generalist giants such as Netflix still heavily dominate – with recent forecasts indicating the service could have 201 million streaming subscribers by 2023, an increase of 82% from 111 million at the end of 2017 – building, launching and managing OTT services is now essential for the survival of niche providers that traditionally don’t have the resources to do this. Fortunately for these smaller players, the flexibility and cost advantages of cloud-based OTT streaming technology removes the need for costly infrastructure upgrades. The simplicity in adopting a cloud-based system when creating these services means that the turnaround time in delivering a platform to market can be just a few weeks. As a result, smaller providers can test the market and tailor a service to be as simple or as broad as they like, without hindering current infrastructure, workflows or, importantly, revenue streams.
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19 IBC OTT SHOWCASE Axinom
SOLUTIONS FOR GLOBAL OTT Axinom will be promoting its range of OTT backend solutions at IBC2018 as well as a special SDK for frontend partners
s large broadcasters and telecom companies look for extra revenue streams, one obvious choice is to reach viewers outside
So, Axinom has introduced a special SDK for frontend partners. “The intention is to mitigate such risks, control the communication between backend and frontend and increase the development speed significantly,” says Jõgeva. Projects in production recently have put all this knowledge into action. Some of the company’s new international customers target over a billion potential viewers globally in multiple languages and with catalogues of hundreds of thousands of hours of content – both VOD and live. “The usage of various engagement models like SVOD, TVOD, and AVOD enable growing revenue streams and further expansion of these services,” says Jõgeva. “As the OTT market has been growing steadily year after year for about ten years, then many of the OTT service operators are on their second or even third major version of their platform. Bigger players will definitely seek to unify their offerings, especially on the backend side to reduce operational overhead and technical separation of the platform stack. Meanwhile, cloud environments become more important, to offer proper infrastructure as dynamic scaling and serverless set-ups bring tremendous value to OTT. “Unifying OTT offerings into one, single powerful platform, allows OTT service operators to benefit from significant performance improvements as well as the flexibility and sustainability of a central platform that can serve as a base for their future digital business,“ he concludes.
A TRULY GLOBAL SERVICE NEEDS TO FACE THE FACT THAT ITS USERS MAY BE TRAVELLING, SO THEIR PREFERENCES AND USER DATA NEED TO BE AVAILABLE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD SIMPLIFYING INTEGRATION One of the areas receiving attention in a complex OTT set-up is simplifying the integration between backend and frontends. In Jõgeva’s experience even minor mistakes formulating the API calls towards the backend can result in very high extra costs in terms of computing resources and ineffective CDN usage. In a multi-screen world with potentially tens of different client applications, such errors add up quickly. architecture – such dedicated units have been the key to our success.”
their traditional territory via the internet. A simple plan in essence but one that introduces many technical challenges. That’s where Axinom is placing its focus. “You need to consider a plethora of languages for the metadata, various payment methods, different content catalogues and product offers, depending on the target market,” outlines Jürgen Jõgeva, director of Axinom Products. “A truly global service needs to face the fact that its users may be travelling, so their preferences and user data must be available anywhere in the world – keeping it in sync and compliant with many regulations is not a minor effort.” Axinom is promoting its range of OTT backend solutions that it says are capable of serving millions of users with huge content libraries of on-demand and live content, while also providing tailored offerings “and a highly performant service”. At the core is its Content Management System (CMS), together with its Backend Interfaces and Services (BIS), and Axinom DRM for Digital Rights Management. “Our focus continues to be on workflow, content management and automation, by using Axinom CMS, and delivering deep, complex integrations with third party services on the market,” explains Jõgeva. “Successful execution requires strong teams in development, project management, QA and platform
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20 IBC OTT SHOWCASE Rohde & Schwarz
LIVE OTT DISTRIBUTION NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM At IBC, Rohde & Schwarz will show off its RelayCaster technology which provides an economical alternative to CDN’s
n today’s multi-platform OTT-mad world the question of how to support live content contribution and primary distribution has
The RelayCaster appliance enables optimised contribution and distribution of live IP streams. FREEDOM FROM CDN s At IBC, Rohde & Schwarz will introduce the latest version which features integrated SDI/HDMI input and encoding. Among its claimed benefits are significantly improved reliability of contributing and distributing live content via unmanaged networks. Packet loss issues are efficiently resolved, says Lohse. “RelayCaster enables the replacement of expensive, dedicated links or contracts with CDN service providers,” he explains. “In contrast, RelayCaster is not limited to certain regions or data centres. It enables distribution of content across any distance, to any place that is reachable by Internet infrastructure. With optional encryption, data streams will be protected between all senders and receivers.” PUBLIC INTERNET PATHWAYS Dutch company MediaChoice is using the tech as the operating platform for a new service for local broadcasters. This service allows regional broadcasters to bring their live signal to a central data centre, which acts as a ‘media-hub’, allowing programming to be made available to telecoms providers, ISPs and other operators to add new channels to their IPTV and Internet/OTT offering. “All contribution and distribution is carried out over inexpensive consumer- level public Internet links, such as DSL or
DOCSIS,” says Lohse. “To enable reliable and secure transmission of the live stream, RelayCaster builds a fully redundant service with independent data centres.” Some 120 local broadcasters are being supported by the system and MediaChoice now plans to extend the service. “Consumers’ ability to access the content they wish, where and whenever they want is creating a technological revolution,” he adds. “RelayCaster is a good example of technology that is fuelling that revolution. It empowers users to create flexible and scaleable do-it- yourself content delivery networks, and by doing this it offers unbeatable levels of OPEX using internet capacity in such a creative way.” RELAYCASTER ENABLES THE REPLACEMENT OF EXPENSIVE, DEDICATED LINKS OR CONTRACTS WITH CDN SERVICE PROVIDERS
become a massive issue. The solution according to companies such as Akamai Technologies and Amazon CloudFront is a commercial Content Delivery Network (CDN). However, the new multi-platform distribution business model has, some argue, also created significant growth in operating costs. That’s because content owners such as media companies and e-commerce vendors pay CDN operators to deliver their content to their end users. In turn, a CDN pays ISPs, carriers, and network operators for hosting its servers in their data centres. For broadcasters, the whole issue of CDNs has become a major cost generator and can have a significant impact on operating costs and consequently their profitability. That’s the argument anyway from Rohde & Schwarz, a stalwart broadcast engineering company which is trying hard to turn the tanker in the direction of more fluid software waters. According to the firm’s Dr Marco Lohse, Director of R&D IP Gateways, the ideal solution for many broadcasters would be the ability to operate live content contribution and primary distribution over the public internet. “For many years this has been nothing more than a pipe dream, but now RelayCaster offers a new and radically different approach to commercial CDNs,” he says.
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22 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Edgeware
CHOOSING OTT For our very first TT TV Files, we explore how OTT is impacting and improving television viewing and look at new technologies by Edgeware
e are well past the tipping point of OTT TV delivery becoming a mainstream viewing technology. We’re now
somewhere in the middle of it. What tends to happen is the client might start playing the ad a second too late or early and you get a glitch in your ad experience. It’s particularly hard for DASH, which is the Android standard, to get right.” Edgeware’s ad enablement manages the segmentation of the ads and prevents this unwanted clipping. The company is demonstrating the technology in partnership with ad insertion company YoSpace at IBC2018. With the ad experience now completely fluid, ads of varying lengths need to be delivered effectively to highly segmented audiences across different devices, watching different types of content. The challenges and opportunities in this kind of highly targeted customised environment are only going to increase. GETTING SPIKE-Y One of the biggest challenges in OTT video is dealing with spikes in traffic. Around big live events, this has in the past proved a tricky – or at least expensive – stumbling block. “Last summer, with the Mayweather fight in the US, people had to wait about 20 minutes to get onto the system,” says Brandon. “Those sort of things have to be fixed and they can be fixed.” extending and multiplying CDN technology and has recently been developing CDN selection technology. This allows providers to build a certain amount of capacity for their own regular use, but then offload peak capacity traffic, or select different CDN service providers based on user geography or a lower quality video offering or any other parameters. Edgeware has long worked with customers to develop solutions for
into the OTT 2.0 phase, where existing OTT video delivery methods are being honed and augmented, and trials of new OTT technologies are everywhere you look. In fact, OTT is proving itself not just as an alternative delivery method, but as a preferred one, and video delivery has entered a phase where some content is only available online. “It feels like it’s been a while now since OTT was the poor relation of television, where you expect slightly less quality,” says Richard Brandon, CMO of OTT technology provider Edgeware. “If you want to watch BBC content in 4K, for example, you have to do it online. It’s struck us that OTT actually is the way to get the best possible TV experience now.” From a viewer’s perspective, OTT TV offers all sorts of benefits. But from an operator’s perspective, there are substantial – and largely untapped – advantages. AD ENABLEMENT While OTT has disrupted the traditional TV advertising model, it has offered a host of new opportunities, including the ability to target individual viewers with ads, but replacing and customising ads in a video stream takes some finesse. “We’ve got a lot of interest at the moment around ad enablement when you’re doing the repackaging and segmentation of the ad,” says Brandon. “If you’re replacing an ad in a live stream, the default way you do it is to simply chop the ad up into segments. That segment will normally have an ad start marker
THE UNIQUE THING ABOUT LIVE EVENTS IS EVERYONE WANTS TO START WATCHING THEM AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME
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23 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Edgeware
OTT ACTUALLY IS THE WAY TO GET THE BEST POSSIBLE TV EXPERIENCE NOW
MAKING YOUR MARK At IBC2018, Edgeware will demonstrate its watermarking technology in which a bitstream is embedded in the image as it is sent out. “The system is very difficult to break. There are other ways of doing watermarking, but most of them are inefficient when it comes to the CDN. Typically what people do is create two versions of every programme – an A and a B version – and they’ll send out the segments in a randomised order which essentially creates a code of A and B segments. Viewers don’t know it, but you may be watching A, A, B, B, and I might be watching A, B, A, B. You can unpick that if someone tries to pirate the content, but that has a lot of overhead because you have to send out twice as much information through the CDN.” Edgeware’s watermarking method makes subtle changes to some pixels in some of the frames. The watermarking is invisible to the human eye and executed on the fly as the content is being sent out from the CDN. The transition to OTT is being taken on by traditional broadcasters and satellite providers and Edgeware is helping them in the transition. “OTT is an interesting market because it allows smaller channels to expand distribution, but it’s also bringing about a massive shift in the attitude of more established broadcasters and satellite providers as well. “Obviously, there’s a convenience factor in moving to OTT. But why might you move wholeheartedly? The people who are going to make this work are those who are seeing it as a way of surpassing what they can deliver in broadcast.”
“Using multiple CDN providers is a trend a lot of people are adopting,” says Brandon. “We’re helping people extend that, so not only can you use multiple CDN providers, but you could also build capacity for most of your regular traffic, but still have the ability to offload peak traffic.” Streaming popular live events requires some technological forethought. To manage the streaming of the FIFA World Cup or Olympics, or the international premiere of everyone’s favourite Netflix series, requires some level of prediction in advance when a lot of viewers are trying to come onboard. “It’s the onboarding process that is often overlooked in this. It’s alright to say,
‘We have enough capacity for steady state – when we have a few million people watching, we can stream it.’ But you also have to set up all those sessions. And the unique thing about live events is everyone wants to start watching them at about the same time.” As a solution, Edgeware offers automatic ‘predictive load balancing’ technology. When the system sees a queue of viewers building up, it starts to copy that content onto more servers than would otherwise naturally be needed to hold that content. It gets ahead of the curve by prepopulating servers with content and preventing congestion.
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24 YOUR TAKE QYOU Media
Words by Curt Marvis, CEO and co-founder of QYOU Media
Simpler, shorter games and more family-friendly content are just two ways esports could attract a mainstream audience
Broadcasters have realised that younger audiences are cutting the cord not because they don’t want to pay for TV, but because the content they want to watch is not always available on linear channels. Digital- first content is a huge part of the diets of millennial and generation Z viewers, and broadcasters are evolving their offerings in line with these tastes and habits. However, the esports content found on video streaming platforms, such as Twitch and YouTube, typically attracts a niche audience that is already deeply embedded in the world of online gaming. Therefore, linear broadcasters need to adapt the esports format so it is TV friendly and relevant to a wider audience. PLAYING BY TV RULES As esports makes its way into the mainstream arena the genre will have to play by TV’s rules. Broadcasters need to
adapt esports format so it is compatible with traditional TV formats. For example, tournaments streamed online typically last several hours without pause and focus on complex games such as League of Legends and Starcraft II . These games can also be violent which restricts the age of the audience that can watch them and means they can only be aired on TV at certain times. Shifting the focus onto simpler, less violent games, such as Street Fighter or Rocket League , will allow broadcasters to reduce the length of esports programmes from hours to minutes – making the genre more family-friendly. Condensing esports into shorter time frames will also allow TV audiences to focus their attention on forming emotional attachments to the players and teams. In the case of traditional sports, storytelling techniques are used to amplify the
CURTMARVIS: Esports is starting to be recognised as an exciting and growing sport in its own right
ntil recently, esports was viewed as little more than an armchair activity played by teenagers. But competitive gaming has been
gaining huge momentum on streaming platforms such as Twitch, and is now drawing more viewership than the cable news network CNN. This trend shows no signs of slowing any time soon and is expected to reach 380 million viewers worldwide this year, up 13.5% from 2017. For TV providers, there is a huge opportunity to make esports relevant to a mainstream audience by adapting its format so that it is compatible with linear TV.
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25 YOUR TAKE QYOU Media
human aspect of the sport and encourage audiences to root for an individual or team. Broadcasters can apply this same technique to esports in order to build an emotional connection with fans. There are plenty of esports teams and players that have a unique story with an appealing human-interest angle. For example, there’s the story of Amer “Miracle-” Al-barkawi. Al-barkawi is famous in the esports world for setting records on Dota 2 in his first year of gaming. However, it’s his humility and belief that he really isn’t one of the best players on Dota 2 that has endeared him to audiences and led to documentaries being made about his journey to success. MAINSTREAMING GEEKDOM Another way esports can be made TV- friendly is through broadcasters and sports organisations working together to turn it
into a global sport. FIFA and the NBA have already started expanding into the world of competitive gaming, which is helping to drive the genre’s growth outside of its core fan base. Introducing esports programmes that feature popular sports are helping broadcasters make the format more relevant to mainstream audiences. Esports has made a rapid transformation in recent years. It has shed the stigma of being a hobby for gaming addicts and is starting to be recognised as an exciting and growing sport in its own right. Any forward-thinking broadcaster wanting to reinvigorate their programming line-up to win over younger audiences, should be looking to include esports content in their services. However, in order for esports to succeed on TV, it needs broadcasters to adapt the format and narrative to make die hard gaming fans and mainstream audiences want to tune in.
Broadcasters need to adapt the esports format so it is TV friendly and relevant to a wider audience
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26 ESPORTS FOCUS Production
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27 ESPORTS FOCUS Production
Words by Adrian Pennington
Only a few years ago, esports were operating out of makeshift studios. Today’s events use OB trucks and professional equipment to push the limits of live broadcast
sports has finally moved into the mainstream. You can tell because its merits as a possible Olympic event have finally been debated
– with all the scepticism of middle-age punditry – on BBC Radio. After football, gaming is arguably the second truly global sport and continues to outpace growth predictions. Game- streaming platform Twitch registered 355 billion esports hours viewed last year, and market intelligence company NewZoo forecasts the industry will be worth $1.6bn (£1.2bn) by 2021.
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28 ESPORTS FOCUS Production
Will Waters, VP of ‘Customer Success’ at NewTek believes the reason for this popularity “has a lot to do with the live aspect of the events and the excitement that anything can happen.” Its rise also goes hand in hand with higher production values, demanded by broadcasters like Sky and ITV (partnered with esports network Ginx) and by enthusiasts themselves. “Esports audiences are generally much more attuned to experiencing higher quality because many games are available to play in HDR and UHD,” says Jens Fischer, an account manager for broadcast equipment vendor EVS. “The digital engagement or social media aspect of gaming is also an important part of the live events. Not only do audiences want to see the best possible quality, they also expect a more engaging live experience.” All of which has prompted esports producers to upgrade their kit and work with vendors more associated with live TV outside broadcasts. “A major difference between conventional sport and an esport event is that the audience at the venue don’t just want to sit and watch the game. They want to be truly involved,” says Fabian Leimbach, technical director at ESL, a leading esports producer and event organiser. ESL’s UK studio operation in Leicester has room for several teams of gamers, commentators and an audience of up to 100 fans. The largest studio is broadcasting three or four times a week and includes a range of products from Ross Video.
“We wanted to take a step up from our previous equipment and create slicker and more professional-looking broadcasts, but we also wanted to ensure that these broadcasts could be easily and consistently run by the people on the team who aren’t actually broadcast engineers,” says Sam Deans, ESL UK’s production director. OB TRUCKS ROLL OUT Esports is one of the few sectors that is actively embracing large trucks and flypack formats. “Esports companies like to make a statement to their tech-oriented fanbase, and a large truck/flypack definitely adds to the wow factor,” confirms Marc Genin, VP, Gearhouse Broadcast USA. “I would say that, currently, esports is probably the only growth market for large OB trucks outside of entertainment.” Genin finds similarities with the music and entertainment market where the first thing an esports company looks for in a city is a venue with status – a Hollywood Bowl or Royal Albert Hall. “These venues add to the excitement level of the event and add kudos. Of course, most of these venues do not have a large control room and typically have just a screen control room. The only alternative is to bring in a large truck or flypack to service the event.” On some events such as Call of Duty, the client will supply the qualification infrastructure that is typically a ‘multiple production in a box’ solution as made by Ross Video, NewTek or Blackmagic
During a live esports game, anything three- minutes old is forgotten
Design. Again, there’s a demand for high quality broadcast equipment for the main programme for which a large truck/flypack is the answer. “It has the capability to take in the client-supplied feeds and mix them into a full broadcast production. In short, high production values for a major tournament are always asked for.”
TEAM SPORTS Esports production teams like this one at a GPL League Of Legends tournament in the Philippines are using gear from the likes of NewTek, EVS and Blackmagic
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