By now many media companies are fully aware of the value of analyzing data about how consumers are (or are not) using their video services. Today’s discussions are far more focused on developing clear KPI goals and how to analyze giant pools of data, rather than whether to do so. However, a key set of data is sometimes ignored outside of the engineering team – it is just as important to understand as AMA (average minute audience). That vital data is usually called QoS Metrics or Quality-of-Service.
Academic studies on QoS as far back as 2012 have shown that technical smoothness of video streaming presentations has a major impact on viewer experience, brand sentiment, and retention. Matching QoS measures (bitrate adjustment, automated re-buffering, sound sync, latency, and jitter – among other log-able states) combined with watch time and start time (for both live and live linear deliveries) can go a long way in explaining why consumers watch something, bail out early, or why titles might suddenly show improvement. In other words, the reason consumers show favoritism over one piece of content versus another can have more to do to with the content stream quality than the content itself.
From the perspective of the viewer, after finding the content they want, it has been shown over and over again that the most important things are how quickly a video starts playing, how good the stream quality looks and sounds, and whether there is an absolute minimum of “spinning wheel” buffer moments. Optimizing video experiences with the highest quality, and the least delay, continues to be the single most important factor in delivering successful consumer experiences.
As Zixi continues to improve on its already five-to-six-nines of service quality, the next demand coming around the bend is the need for – no surprise – more data. Media companies are looking at ways to layer in even more information with their live video distribution workflows. From frame-to-frame metadata, referrers, device data, rights information, transacti
on data, keywords, demographic and ad data, and on it goes. The faster content companies can understand how people are using, talking about, transacting, or buying in relation to content, the faster they can take action to adjust and take advantage of new opportunities.
Zixi’s R&D team fully understands the necessary, evolving nature of data analytics in businesses that stream video. APIs and SDKs are a key part of the ongoing development process of the Zixi Platform and ZEN Master software tools. Zixi service and OEM partners, as well as many customers, are developing optimized reports that help businesses make quick, informed, actionable decisions.
Learn more about the ZEN Master tools and Zixi’s Cloud services and give us a call. The Zixi team is excited to share up-to-the-minute developments taking shape on the platform daily.
