流媒体 East: Day 1 Keynotes Highlight Entertainment and Enterprise Challenges

流媒体 East 2009 kicked off today at the New York Hilton, 首先是两个主题, focusing on entertainment and the enterprise as each pertain to online video.

这两个主题演讲是接连提出的, with the first being delivered by Akamai CEO Paul Sagan, who discussed the "tipping point" or critical mass of high-definition content on the web, defining HD content as 720p delivered at 1 - 2 megabits per second.

“我们已经看到了content交付的转折点,萨根说。, "both in terms of audience sizes and in terms of quality of delivery."

Sagan covered a variety of topics in proving this point, 我们将在以后的文章中讨论这个问题, but his key points dealt with how we reached this tipping point and what the ongoing challenges are.

Sagan walked through a timeline from the Victoria's Secret 1999 fashion show event that exposed the limits of streaming video at the time, where "one user too many spoiled it for every viewer" to the recent Presidential Inauguration video where the number of online viewers—almost 10 million, according to Sagan's estimates—reach that of a typical cable show.

"HD has reached a tipping point,萨根说。, "and we see more than 20% of users in the U.S. 至少有5Mbps的一致带宽. 美国以外的机会甚至更大.S., but the bottom line is that many viewers—once exposed to HD online video—don't want to go back to standard-definition content. The advertising revenues will follow the HD-centric trend, as research shows that viewership lengths also increase as the quality increases."

在光谱的另一端, 格雷格·莫斯, 高级副总裁, enterprise streaming media at Bank of America (BoA), talked about content that is delivered to a large internal audience but may never see the light of day outside the organization.

"Raise your hand if you have a content distribution system at your work,莫斯问, 许多人举手. “现在，如果对你有用，请举手."

很少有人举手, so Moss asked the audience to tell him what issues they faced: metrics, content, 它支持, quality of delivery were several of the issues named.

莫斯说:“美国银行也有类似的问题. "I was hired to help distribute content to our associates, as some of our business partners didn't understand it and didn't necessarily want it. 所面临的挑战, 正如我在美国银行上船时所看到的那样, 如何向300人提供有针对性的content,在50多个国家拥有超过5000名员工."

Moss said his manager's manager gave him advice on how to rapidly implement the system, 花了2年多的时间来设计和部署.

莫斯说:“这都是关系的问题. “合作伙伴, associates and key champions / stakeholders were all part of the process that helped our Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs group implement the system.

莫斯说他的组织提供内部网, 内部邮件和视频, 每年制作超过600个视频.

"What we needed was a better way to deliver these videos beyond just the VHS tape and DVD,莫斯说, 这样我们就可以迅速地, 高效、安全地交付content."

讨论交货质量, Moss suggested success is definitely defined by quality, 但也需要通过用户利益来评估.

"I asked my wife what she thought about streaming media, and she responded that 'it does that buffering thing and then when you make it big, 真的很臭。”,莫斯说. "She drove home the point that it's not about the technology but about the user experience. 但我们也知道, 如果我们能提高质量, we could increase our viewership rates and lengths, 怎样才能提高合伙人的满意度呢, 并提高客户满意度和留存率."

Moss had an opportunity to test this model of delivering targeted DVD quality video to an individual or a group of individual, and tracking of viewership as well as surveys of associates, during the recent announcement of BoA's acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

"We created and launched seven videos on vision and stability in just a few days,莫斯说, "and we used our survey systems to gather feedback to craft future messages. Our associates responded by telling us the videos helped understand senior management's decisions and vision, and that they really appreciated the speed at which we delivered this 信息 to them, 再加上提供反馈的能力."

Finally, Moss said security is paramount, including authentication and encryption.

如果我给米奇发一段视频,莫斯在谈到一个典型的安全场景时说, "but Kevin later logs on to Mitch's computer; I don't want Kevin to be able to watch the video I sent to Mitch. I also don't want Kevin to be able to upload it to an external site or to send it along in the external network or video site."

"In the end, our goal is to deliver the whole experience, not just video quality,莫斯说. “拥有更高质量的content, and associates' freedom to consume this content at their own pace in their own location, we feel we've been able to deliver not just an efficiency ROI but also a return on satisfaction from our associates."

流媒体 East 2009 continues through Wednesday, May 13, at the New York Hilton.