In a report published shortly before the festive holidays, live streaming and remote production solutions provider LiveU underlined the extent to which content sharing is now shifting towards IP-based delivery. The findings are outlined in the company’s annual ‘State of Live’ report, which outlines the trends registered over the past year based on data drawn from LiveU’s global customer base.
Among the key discoveries, the report points to the consolidation of newsgathering efforts and the reduction of on-site staff at live events, which have increased the reliance on IP-based content contribution and distribution across the globe – from network-to-station, station-to-station and production crews to sports teams, leagues and associations.
Primary findings include:
– 100% growth in the use of its LiveU Matrix IP cloud-based management and distribution platform worldwide. The average number of sessions by users has doubled with global media organisations relying on Matrix to pool live content, which has allowed for expanded live coverage for newscasts.
– Major milestone this past summer with more than 1,000 customers taking more than 30,000 live feeds per month for distribution to local, national and global news broadcasts.
– Increase in international content sharing with international broadcasters particularly interested in the US election, LiveU Matrix proved itself a powerful, easy-to-use content sharing platform for extending viewership of unique content. LiveU customers, such as CBS Newspath, have been leveraging LiveU Matrix to share up-to-the-minute election updates with its global affiliates. The news organisations also sold graphics packages, which provided quickly updated, accurate editorial vote count maps, and other updates.
Samuel Wasserman, LiveU’s CEO and co-founder, commented: “Our IP-based technology is inherently suited for remote productions. With the ongoing pandemic and subsequent health, logistical, and budget concerns, our cellular-based portable units have enabled live broadcasts to carry on from home and other locations. At the same time, the move to IP-based workflows has required producers to think differently about the way they create and share live content.”
He added: “In the midst of the pandemic, our customers were able to rise above the challenges and deliver content that informed, engaged and entertained viewers. As the market hopefully stabilises with the availability of vaccines, we see the return of live sports and the use of live streaming, remote production, and IP contribution and distribution growing even more. We look forward to new opportunities and growth in 2021 with major events such as the US Presidential Inauguration and the Summer Games in Tokyo.”
LiveU also highlighted the role of Matrix in delivering high-profile events such as the protests and riots in the US, and the SpaceX Crew Dragon project. Most recently, in November, LiveU Matrix played a key role on US Election Night with nearly 700 customers consuming 3,700 live feeds for distribution. The platform delivered more than 12,000 hours of video during the course of Election Day alone, with another 8,000 plus feeds over the remainder of election week – without interruption.