When you plan to launch your VOD or video streaming business, among all other important development-related aspects that you need to keep in mind would be the basic technology blocks that could be involved.

You see, this industry is rich in technology. Each problem that one might encounter while running a company or operating a business here can have multiple solutions. What can be most helpful, however, is an idea of the kind of problems one might encounter in the launching or development stages of a VOD or video streaming service, and the way/s to their solutions.

In most cases, partnering with some supporting providers can be a very cost-efficient solution. Several of the times you might experience that a technology provider who might be assisting you with some core functionality can also suggest other providers to help you with the other aspects of your VOD service.

Let us discuss some major technology blocks related to a VOD service, now.

Content Management Prior To Processing / Delivery

Content creation could be referring to capturing and editing content. Post this stage, the content might undergo changes at the hands of the various parties that it might be passing through before reaching you. On reaching you, it has to get ready for being used, and thus, get stored. A content, before being on its way onwards, might have to be

• Altered
• Added to
• Checked
• Prepared

and

• Scheduled

All these steps are parts of how you can control your content and make sure that it can move ahead. You are likely to encounter, too, many technological partners in this space – like for giving a processing solution, delivery solution, or even for the scheduling of content. Some important things that you should understand at this juncture are –

• The condition of the content as you receive it from the content creator
• How you might have to enhance the content – with Metadata, Bumpers, adding Subtitles, or Clippings
• The compliance checks you are expected to perform
• What the end platform requires – be it your own, or a third-party platform

Processing Of Content

This is one of the most crucial technology blocks related to the video streaming business. The provider you have in this space would be a very important associate for you. Keeping the technical complexity involved in mind, partnering with a service provider looks like a more cost-efficient option, and dependable too, though the job can be done in-house as well.

In case your video streaming service is D2C, the Content Processing Partner you have will be taking care that the entire content, along with the metadata, subtitles file, etc. is

• Transcoded
• Processed

and

• Packaged

to get it all prepared for the delivery system that you decide to use.

You need to note, also, that often, in spite of running a D2C VOD service, you could still have to send your content to a few end platforms. Perhaps a subset of your content could be sent to YouTube, or Facebook, so that you could channelize consumers to your platform, or to utilize their advertising products to fetch consumers to your platform. Or, if you had an agreement with it, you could be sending your content to the Sky platform in the UK.

Your service provider would have to make sure that your content is processed to meet the inflexible technical guidelines that these end platforms set for the delivery of content.

Delivery Of Content And Syndication

This part can be slightly complex. Just how complex would depend upon the service that you offer to consumers. If your content is offered solely via third party platforms, it would expectedly be up to those parties to meet the strict specifications set by these companies to handle the complexity of delivering the content to the consumers.

In case your video streaming service is D2C, a technology provider would be required for you at this stage of business. You might also need a number of partners.

You will need a partner to operate as an OVP or Online Video Platform to manage matters like where the content needs to get routed, and who can have access to it. Such partners will perform this job in collaboration with your Content Processing partner; because both these parties would be required for enabling the DRM (Digital Rights Management) and Encryption systems.

This is not all. You would also have to work in association with at least one CDN or Content Delivery Network, so that your content can reach as close as possible to the consumers. These CDNs are there to also ensure that his / her requested content is received by each consumer in the most cost- effective, and prompt way.

CDNs can, most efficiently,

• Take an asset at one time
• Cach it
• Make it available as per requirement

All this, by the way, is done on an ultra large scale. Only a rare few, Netflix being among them, can manage such a process in-house.

Selecting the right partner for the process of Content Delivery and Syndication can be tricky. However, your Content Processing Partner can assist you here, as they work with such companies for various other services, and can speak from experience.

Speaking of experience, you are most welcome to make good use of ours in any matter related to VOD Service development or streaming. At Ascentspark Software, we have a VOD platform that provides a robust, end to end solution for content monetization and distribution. Alongside, it combines world-class infrastructure and support, and cutting-edge technology to result in providing the best viewing experience for your customers, as it brings for you robust features for managing and monetizing your content. You can contact us any time for a free consultation, and demo.