Just saw an article on USA Today ( http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2061127 ) that raises the red flag on the future of traditional television. It seems as if the number of new cable TV subscribers is at an all time low suggesting that people are looking at other sources for video entertainment. Instead of paying high dollar for 300+ channels, more people are subscribing to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon TV. Even though the programming on these services is not real-time, people don't seem to care.
What does this information tell us? It tells is a couple of things. First, people are tired of paying the high fees for television service of which most of the channels or programming is of no interest. Think about it, how many channels are you paying for? Of those channels, how many are of interest to you? For example, I have over 300 channels available with my subscription. Of those channels I have about 3 television shows that I routinely watch outside of sports programming. Other than that, I could care less about the rest of what is on TV. What is interesting is that the three different shows I enjoy is spread across different tiers of service requiring me to purchase a larger package. Is this a random accident that I enjoy programming that makes me have more channels than I need? No, this is by design. Cable companies split popular networks across different pricing tiers so you will buy more.
I believe people are tired of paying high fees for lack of quality. Therefore, many are turning to Netflix and other services to watch programming on demand. This eliminates paying a lot for a little and allows flexibility in an individual's schedule. Sounds like a good idea? I am starting to think so.
Second, the quality of programming is horrible. Sitcoms are poorly written and stand as being family unfriendly. You will notice most sitcoms have a short life as compared to their ancestors. With a lack of quality coming at a high price it is no wonder that people are turning to on-demand programming from the Internet. It seems as if those who make programming decisions would remove the regulation that denies the consumer the ability to only order the networks they are interested in. I guess money talks. Looking at where the public is starting to look, things may change in the future.
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Friday, April 12, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Streaming; Solution for Quality Across Multiple Bandwidths
We have had the discussion of optimizing your video streaming by trying to determine the optimal video quality for the bandwidth of the majority of your viewers. You can read about that discussion here. You don't have to settle for a reduced video quality stream because you have a few viewers that can only watch your streams over cellular data. There is a solution.
Utilizing the Adobe Flash Live Media Encoder you can assign multiple output streams to be sent to the multicasting service or server. Look at the following image.
On the lower left hand corner you will see three different Bit Rates all selected. These Bit Rates each produce a video stream sent to the multicaster. In this case you will have three streams being sent from your computer. Depending on your audio settings the audio content will be added to each stream. As you can see in the picture Adobe calculates the stream sizes and tells you to total upload bandwidth needed for your setup. Just make sure you have enough "upload" bandwidth to handle your configuration. You can test your upload/download bandwidth by running a speed test here. Choose the closest server and run the test.
This is the easy part of the configuration. The other half of the setup depends on the multicaster and the software you are using for the player in your browser. First, the multicaster may charge you for each stream you send to them. If this is the case your setup could incur some higher fees. Second, if you have a multicasting service that allows multiple feeds, then you need to configure the player in your browser to test the bandwidth of the client and provide the appropriate stream with the greatest quality.
Many players are very different in design and setup. You need to refer to the documentation or product forums of the player you use. If you have not decided on a player and the multicaster does not provide there are plenty to choose from. Just do some research to see the capabilities of each of the products on the market before making a decision.
As always, start with one stream and work your way up. Taking one step at a time will be easier in the long run.
Utilizing the Adobe Flash Live Media Encoder you can assign multiple output streams to be sent to the multicasting service or server. Look at the following image.
On the lower left hand corner you will see three different Bit Rates all selected. These Bit Rates each produce a video stream sent to the multicaster. In this case you will have three streams being sent from your computer. Depending on your audio settings the audio content will be added to each stream. As you can see in the picture Adobe calculates the stream sizes and tells you to total upload bandwidth needed for your setup. Just make sure you have enough "upload" bandwidth to handle your configuration. You can test your upload/download bandwidth by running a speed test here. Choose the closest server and run the test.
This is the easy part of the configuration. The other half of the setup depends on the multicaster and the software you are using for the player in your browser. First, the multicaster may charge you for each stream you send to them. If this is the case your setup could incur some higher fees. Second, if you have a multicasting service that allows multiple feeds, then you need to configure the player in your browser to test the bandwidth of the client and provide the appropriate stream with the greatest quality.
Many players are very different in design and setup. You need to refer to the documentation or product forums of the player you use. If you have not decided on a player and the multicaster does not provide there are plenty to choose from. Just do some research to see the capabilities of each of the products on the market before making a decision.
As always, start with one stream and work your way up. Taking one step at a time will be easier in the long run.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Streaming; Optimize Stream Settings
The number one complaint I get from people viewing my streams is their video is buffering or the video drops out. Every complaint I hear I take seriously because it could be a sign I have problems on my setup. 99% of the time the problem is on the viewer's end. I always ask them to give me a speed test result as the first step and then I will try to work out the problem. Actually the last complaint had a download speed of 22kbps. I am sorry, but you are not going to watch video at that speed no matter what I do.
Streaming quality is based on a compromise. To the end user quality is usually referred to as the ability to view the stream without any interruption. Some users are concerned about the resolution of the video because they want to view the stream full-screen on a computer, or send it to their TV screen. Therefore, when designing your setup, you must set your quality goal and design your output to achieve that goal.
The compromise as mentioned is better quality requires more bandwidth. If you want to run your videos in high definition at a resolution that would be suitable for full-screen or television, then you limit your audience to higher quality broadband service. If your goal is to reach every user no matter if they are on cellular data service then you have to cut the quality of your stream. There are options to output multiple quality streams but we will not get to that level in this discussion. We will hold that for another day.
If you are using Adobe's Flash Live Media Encoder then you have a screen that looks like the following:
Notice on the lower left section of the screen. You have input size and Bit Rate. The input size needs to be the input size of the video you are trying to stream. Make sure you select the maintain aspect ratio box so your video does not look distorted when it is on your website or video player. The Bit Rate section is very important. It is here that you can maintain or reduce quality. Notice that I have three listed in my setup. I am letting the player decide on the bandwidth quality to determine which stream to send to the client. In today's discussion we will only look at one of the settings.
My first line has the lowest video quality I am sending. My recommendation is that you start testing with only one stream and get it functioning at your highest quality and then work from there.
The drop-down list under the Bit Rate section will show you all of the options available for your to stream. Choose your desired Bit Rate and allow the output size to be automatically selected. If it is not automatically determined when you choose your Bit Rate then you may not have the "Maintain Aspect Ratio" box selected. If you want a decent quality feed my recommendation would be to start with a 500Kbps feed in the Bit Rate selection and begin your testing.
Video Bit Rate alone does not determine total output bandwidth. There is one other factor that adds to the equation and that is the Bit Rate of your audio feed. This section looks like the following:
My recommendation is to choose Mp3 as your format and Bit Rate of 128 Kbps. The application will display your upload bandwidth (which in most cases is the same as the client streaming download bandwidth needed) requirement. The addition of the two Bit Rate amounts (audio and video) gives you the total.
On the right hand side of the screen you will find the address and file name needed by the multicasting service. They will provide you the information needed for these sections. One additional feature found in Adobe's Flash Live Media Encoder is the option to save your stream to a file. This is useful in case you want to use a service like YouTube or Vimeo to host archives of your streams.
Get started streaming and enjoy your new avenue of sharing your ideas!
Streaming quality is based on a compromise. To the end user quality is usually referred to as the ability to view the stream without any interruption. Some users are concerned about the resolution of the video because they want to view the stream full-screen on a computer, or send it to their TV screen. Therefore, when designing your setup, you must set your quality goal and design your output to achieve that goal.
The compromise as mentioned is better quality requires more bandwidth. If you want to run your videos in high definition at a resolution that would be suitable for full-screen or television, then you limit your audience to higher quality broadband service. If your goal is to reach every user no matter if they are on cellular data service then you have to cut the quality of your stream. There are options to output multiple quality streams but we will not get to that level in this discussion. We will hold that for another day.
If you are using Adobe's Flash Live Media Encoder then you have a screen that looks like the following:
Notice on the lower left section of the screen. You have input size and Bit Rate. The input size needs to be the input size of the video you are trying to stream. Make sure you select the maintain aspect ratio box so your video does not look distorted when it is on your website or video player. The Bit Rate section is very important. It is here that you can maintain or reduce quality. Notice that I have three listed in my setup. I am letting the player decide on the bandwidth quality to determine which stream to send to the client. In today's discussion we will only look at one of the settings.
My first line has the lowest video quality I am sending. My recommendation is that you start testing with only one stream and get it functioning at your highest quality and then work from there.
The drop-down list under the Bit Rate section will show you all of the options available for your to stream. Choose your desired Bit Rate and allow the output size to be automatically selected. If it is not automatically determined when you choose your Bit Rate then you may not have the "Maintain Aspect Ratio" box selected. If you want a decent quality feed my recommendation would be to start with a 500Kbps feed in the Bit Rate selection and begin your testing.
Video Bit Rate alone does not determine total output bandwidth. There is one other factor that adds to the equation and that is the Bit Rate of your audio feed. This section looks like the following:
My recommendation is to choose Mp3 as your format and Bit Rate of 128 Kbps. The application will display your upload bandwidth (which in most cases is the same as the client streaming download bandwidth needed) requirement. The addition of the two Bit Rate amounts (audio and video) gives you the total.
On the right hand side of the screen you will find the address and file name needed by the multicasting service. They will provide you the information needed for these sections. One additional feature found in Adobe's Flash Live Media Encoder is the option to save your stream to a file. This is useful in case you want to use a service like YouTube or Vimeo to host archives of your streams.
Get started streaming and enjoy your new avenue of sharing your ideas!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Streaming; Software to Multicaster
Streaming requires utilizing a multicasting server or a multicasting service. Most people opt to use the service because of the expense and knowledge of the technology involved in setting up your own server. Setting up your own server requires a fairly beefy machine, however most of the expense can be found in the bandwidth necessary to provide feeds for everyone who wants to see your live content. For every outbound feed to a viewer you need upload bandwidth comparable to your stream settings. For example, if you stream your content at 512 Kbps and 100 people simultaneously view your feed, then your upload bandwidth requirement is 512,000 Kbps.
512 Kbps X 100 = 51.2 Mbps (upload bandwidth needed)
Finding an Internet Service Provider to offer you a 52 Mbps upload speed is almost impossible unless you are using asynchronus data connection in fiber optics which can be extremely expensive. Therefore, the best bet is to use an outside multicasting service that has the needed bandwidth to provide streams to your viewers.
Once you have decided on a multicasting service and you have your video and audio feeds coming into your computer then you need to send your programming out. To do this you need a piece of software that connects your feed to the multicaster. There are plenty to choose from, but if you are on a budget I would recommend Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder.
Adobe Information can be found HERE.
This software is very configurable taking your media stream and connecting it to a multicasting server. It gives you flexibility to configure the parameters of your stream quality and bandwidth. It also has the ability to save your stream to a file for editing or uploading to your favorite video archive and playback service like Vimeo.
The Flash Media Encoder is a fairly simple software to configure and use. Spend some time testing your settings to assure you have the best streams for your viewers. Too much bandwidth restricts your viewers to broadband and too small bandwidth reduces video quality. There are compromises so you have to test to see what works best for you.
The best thing about Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder is that the software is a free download from Adobe. Have fun streaming!
512 Kbps X 100 = 51.2 Mbps (upload bandwidth needed)
Finding an Internet Service Provider to offer you a 52 Mbps upload speed is almost impossible unless you are using asynchronus data connection in fiber optics which can be extremely expensive. Therefore, the best bet is to use an outside multicasting service that has the needed bandwidth to provide streams to your viewers.
Once you have decided on a multicasting service and you have your video and audio feeds coming into your computer then you need to send your programming out. To do this you need a piece of software that connects your feed to the multicaster. There are plenty to choose from, but if you are on a budget I would recommend Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder.
Adobe Information can be found HERE.
This software is very configurable taking your media stream and connecting it to a multicasting server. It gives you flexibility to configure the parameters of your stream quality and bandwidth. It also has the ability to save your stream to a file for editing or uploading to your favorite video archive and playback service like Vimeo.
The Flash Media Encoder is a fairly simple software to configure and use. Spend some time testing your settings to assure you have the best streams for your viewers. Too much bandwidth restricts your viewers to broadband and too small bandwidth reduces video quality. There are compromises so you have to test to see what works best for you.
The best thing about Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder is that the software is a free download from Adobe. Have fun streaming!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The Changing Game of Television and Radio
I have invested in a lot of time in the broadcast industry and over the past 5 years I have seen more change happen in Television and Radio than has occurred over the past 20 years. In the 1980's and 1990's radio stations were manned by a disk-jockey or air-personality on every shift, no matter the size of the station. Today only the larger market stations employ a full crew. Most of the smaller stations utilize a simulcast service for most, if not all, of their daily schedule.
Radio today is being challenged by Internet radio services such as iHeartRadio and Pandora. These services can be accessed over cellular data plans and offer a more tailored radio experience. Small station start-ups or music services can obtain a world wide audience without the significant costs of a regional or local radio station. This is presenting competition at levels never seen before.
Television has also experienced change. In the past, television stations or networks determined what programs or shows to air basically at the last minute. Today traditional television is being challenged by cable networks specializing in niche programming. Even more of a problem for traditional television are services such as Hulu and Netflix. With the introduction of On Demand TV (Roku and Apple TV) traditional television doesn't stand much of a chance. This is not to mention what online services such as YouTube has done to the industry.
YouTube has changed the rules to the entire game. One individual can film an event, documentary, or whatever is on his mind, with a single camera and poor audio equipment and have a world wide following in minutes. This person can advertise their video by email and social media with practically no cost. He or she can allow advertisers the ability to show ads on their videos which in turn makes the film producer a few dollars to support his or her Internet video making addiction.
The Internet and home based video producers are changing the game of television. With immediate access to both excellent and poor video content, YouTube viewers enjoy sifting through millions of online videos and share their favorites with their friends. What is the next step for television and radio? Are you the next Internet Video Producer?
Radio today is being challenged by Internet radio services such as iHeartRadio and Pandora. These services can be accessed over cellular data plans and offer a more tailored radio experience. Small station start-ups or music services can obtain a world wide audience without the significant costs of a regional or local radio station. This is presenting competition at levels never seen before.
Television has also experienced change. In the past, television stations or networks determined what programs or shows to air basically at the last minute. Today traditional television is being challenged by cable networks specializing in niche programming. Even more of a problem for traditional television are services such as Hulu and Netflix. With the introduction of On Demand TV (Roku and Apple TV) traditional television doesn't stand much of a chance. This is not to mention what online services such as YouTube has done to the industry.
YouTube has changed the rules to the entire game. One individual can film an event, documentary, or whatever is on his mind, with a single camera and poor audio equipment and have a world wide following in minutes. This person can advertise their video by email and social media with practically no cost. He or she can allow advertisers the ability to show ads on their videos which in turn makes the film producer a few dollars to support his or her Internet video making addiction.
The Internet and home based video producers are changing the game of television. With immediate access to both excellent and poor video content, YouTube viewers enjoy sifting through millions of online videos and share their favorites with their friends. What is the next step for television and radio? Are you the next Internet Video Producer?
Friday, January 11, 2013
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest calls itself a virtual pinboard. The following is a quote from their website:
Upon this realization, I had to find out how many people are using this service. Utilizing the Nielsen 2012 Social Media Report I found the following quote.
Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.
Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.I signed up for Pinterest the other day and spent some time playing around with it. Before I knew it I found myself engulfed in areas that interested me. I began to follow others who had interests that were like mine and re-pinned many of their items. At first I did not think I was interested in finding recipes or new shoe styles, however after spending some time browsing through the magnitude of pictures and information I found what I consider to be an advertiser's dream. There are incredible opportunities for an organization's products to be connected to people who like items like they provide.
Upon this realization, I had to find out how many people are using this service. Utilizing the Nielsen 2012 Social Media Report I found the following quote.
Pinterest had the largest year-over-year increase in audience and time spent of any social network across PC, mobile, and web apps.In the U.S. Market alone Pinterest surpassed over 46 million unique visitors. This is something that any producer of a product should be intently aware of. So if you have not checked out Pinterest, you may want to spend some time fining your interests.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Top Social Media of 2012
There are so many different ways a person can share their insights with the world that one often wonders which one to use. The yearly Social Media Report from the Nielsens is usually a great avenue to determine where the most activity and users are. Advertisers must also watch this information to make sure they are spending their money in front of the greatest audience.
The 2012 Social Media Report gives us some insight on the trending of the top Social Media Networks of the year. Facebook has been a hard hitter in the social media realm but this year seems to be a year of change. Still reporting in with over 152 million unique visitors in the PC access demographic, but they are down 4%. However, the way people access Facebook is drastically changing to the mobile device market. There has been an increase of over 85% of visitors in the mobile web and mobile app department accommodating for slightly more unique visitors than those accessing by PC.
Twitter was accessed on cellphones and other mobile devices through the web and Twitter apps by almost 67 million unique users which illustrated around 140% increase over the previous year. The PC market for Twitter topped slightly over 37 million unique visitors and reported an increase of 13%. Other statistics can be found on the Nielson website.
Some people have mentioned that Facebook is on its way out and that may be true from the PC market, however as an advertiser I would not recommend bailing on that service yet. Twitter is still running strong and is something organizations need to pay attention to. Social media networks change very frequently and how we use them to promote our products and services should change along with them.
Keep up the work and reap the benefits!
The 2012 Social Media Report gives us some insight on the trending of the top Social Media Networks of the year. Facebook has been a hard hitter in the social media realm but this year seems to be a year of change. Still reporting in with over 152 million unique visitors in the PC access demographic, but they are down 4%. However, the way people access Facebook is drastically changing to the mobile device market. There has been an increase of over 85% of visitors in the mobile web and mobile app department accommodating for slightly more unique visitors than those accessing by PC.
Twitter was accessed on cellphones and other mobile devices through the web and Twitter apps by almost 67 million unique users which illustrated around 140% increase over the previous year. The PC market for Twitter topped slightly over 37 million unique visitors and reported an increase of 13%. Other statistics can be found on the Nielson website.
Some people have mentioned that Facebook is on its way out and that may be true from the PC market, however as an advertiser I would not recommend bailing on that service yet. Twitter is still running strong and is something organizations need to pay attention to. Social media networks change very frequently and how we use them to promote our products and services should change along with them.
Keep up the work and reap the benefits!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Rapidly Determining Online Ad performance
Determining advertising performance is a huge deal. With traditional advertising such as newspaper, billboards, radio, and television, one has to wait for the campaign to run to determine if his or her advertising money was well spent. This is not the case with Internet advertising. Internet advertising offers the ability to see almost immediate results. Lets take a look at the process.
We will use Google AdWords for an example. Google AdWords allows you to create Internet advertisements that will display alongside of search results in a Google.com search. Google Adwords also allows your ads to be displayed on the webpages of people who want to reap advertising returns by allowing Google to post relevant ads on their site. In either case, Google AdWords connects the advertiser with his target demographic by product interest.
Here is how it works. Google AdWords allows the advertiser to create ad campaigns that connects a product to a potential buyer by connecting search and content terms to your ad. You are given the opportunity to create an ad in its entirety including header, content, and link. You choose the word connection, how much you want to spend (bidding), and the times you want your ad to run. Google will then match your ad with search terms and website content to display your ads. Your ads can, and probably will, be placed along side of other relevant ads.
When your ad is clicked, the potential buyer is taken to your site, and you are charged for the click (unless you are paying by impression). Seems simple enough right? Here is where the beauty comes in. Using Internet advertising on places like Google AdWords and Facebook ads, you can immediately see the results. Being able to quickly see what is happening allows you to do some creative strategies. The largest advantage to this is where you can produce more than one ad per campaign and balance the frequency of their appearance. Each ad should be slightly different while still advertising the same thing.
After starting your campaign with two different ads for the same product, you should begin to see which ad is getting the most clicks. After a small amount of time, drop the poor performer and develop another ad to take its place. You will begin competing the two against each other. Every so often continue to drop the poorest performer and replace it with a new ad. This will allow you to develop an ad that performs well and achieves your goals.
This has just been an overview. Think about the possibilities of competing ads to develop the ultimate ad campaign. The Internet allows you to adjust your ad in a matter of hours rather than waiting to see what is happening in one or two months. Besides, the Internet has a much larger audience base than your typical billboard or newspaper run.
We will use Google AdWords for an example. Google AdWords allows you to create Internet advertisements that will display alongside of search results in a Google.com search. Google Adwords also allows your ads to be displayed on the webpages of people who want to reap advertising returns by allowing Google to post relevant ads on their site. In either case, Google AdWords connects the advertiser with his target demographic by product interest.
Here is how it works. Google AdWords allows the advertiser to create ad campaigns that connects a product to a potential buyer by connecting search and content terms to your ad. You are given the opportunity to create an ad in its entirety including header, content, and link. You choose the word connection, how much you want to spend (bidding), and the times you want your ad to run. Google will then match your ad with search terms and website content to display your ads. Your ads can, and probably will, be placed along side of other relevant ads.
When your ad is clicked, the potential buyer is taken to your site, and you are charged for the click (unless you are paying by impression). Seems simple enough right? Here is where the beauty comes in. Using Internet advertising on places like Google AdWords and Facebook ads, you can immediately see the results. Being able to quickly see what is happening allows you to do some creative strategies. The largest advantage to this is where you can produce more than one ad per campaign and balance the frequency of their appearance. Each ad should be slightly different while still advertising the same thing.
After starting your campaign with two different ads for the same product, you should begin to see which ad is getting the most clicks. After a small amount of time, drop the poor performer and develop another ad to take its place. You will begin competing the two against each other. Every so often continue to drop the poorest performer and replace it with a new ad. This will allow you to develop an ad that performs well and achieves your goals.
This has just been an overview. Think about the possibilities of competing ads to develop the ultimate ad campaign. The Internet allows you to adjust your ad in a matter of hours rather than waiting to see what is happening in one or two months. Besides, the Internet has a much larger audience base than your typical billboard or newspaper run.
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