Media Professionals Think VR Will Become OTT ‘Mainstay,’ Level 3 Survey Finds
Media and entertainment professionals think virtual reality will become a “mainstay” of over-the-top streaming video, Level 3 Communications said in a Tuesday report. It commissioned a survey of 628 respondents from media and entertainment companies globally, and asked them about…
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the current state of OTT, the company said. It found that 45 percent of companies surveyed are offering OTT services, a 10-percentage-point increase over 2015, “indicating significant adoption,” Level 3 said. Of the companies offering OTT services, 52 percent are researching, getting ready to launch or have already launched VR-video content, it said. Two-thirds said they believe VR is here to stay but said “primary business and technical challenges” abound, including bandwidth limits, lack of consumer awareness and fear of competition from free services and user-generated content, it reported. Nearly half said their companies have plans for 4K broadcasts, 4K VOD streaming or 4K “live-linear” or live-event streaming, it said. "As the OTT industry continues to grow and evolve, this study shows there is more focus on not only delivering live streaming events -- which can be a challenge in itself -- but also streaming in 4K or even VR,” Level 3 said. “End users expect their video streaming experience to be seamless, even as they begin to consume next generation content, and this study reveals the ever-increasing importance for OTT providers to have a robust CDN [content delivery network] strategy to enable this upward OTT trajectory as well as the importance of a safe, secure, reliable network."