Choosing future-ready IP video distribution solutions
In today’s rapidly evolving media landscape, Tier 1 media, sports, entertainment, and technology companies that deliver live events and on-demand video are facing greater challenges — and more competition — than ever before. This makes it the perfect time to reevaluate what works and what doesn’t, in terms of workflows and video distribution solutions. Some may fear that transitioning from fiber or satellite video distribution to IP technology could mean giving up some of the control they’ve become accustomed to. Others may consider whether building an in-house IP video distribution system is a viable option. Let’s take a look at the real costs behind building your own in-house IP technology vs. what the transition to an established IP video distribution solution involves, in terms of cost efficiency, monetization, and control over content and data.
Traditional media companies have lost attention share of audiences to other platforms, resulting in a need for greater efficiency and profitability. These same companies also have opportunities to get content onto streaming platforms, FAST channels, and social media platforms — avenues to recapturing audience share and ad revenue. In order to capitalize on these opportunities, you need the right technology: IP video distribution.
New distribution models require new infrastructure
Companies still generate revenue through linear-type distribution models, but digital platforms offer a new world of options. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms are not nice-to-haves — they’re absolutely necessary.
The networks, local television markets, and cable networks now have to program for these new platforms and increase capabilities to match the demands of ad distribution. Today, Tier 1 media companies have thousands of different advertisers buying ad inventory, compared to the hundreds they had in the past.
Several digital platforms appear to have infinite space and capacity for large sports programming packages, such as the NFL, which is turning its Sunday Ticket programming into channels on YouTube TV.
FAST channels — free ad-supported streaming television — is another trend that allows networks and cable channels to produce more specific, targeted programming channels with the ability to generate custom-directed ads for viewers. It’s a completely different scale for the sales operations of these companies. FAST channels are also attracting new challengers who are able to build very profitable, dynamic niche businesses, sometimes making millions of dollars in ad revenue. This is putting even more pressure on major media, sports, and entertainment companies.
That's what’s driving the need to have the right infrastructure to reach and monetize on these new platforms.
IP video distribution disrupts traditional players
Turning around these large networks, however, is like turning around a battleship. They were purpose-built for the content distribution business models from 20 years ago. Now, they’re faced with the need to be more nimble and flexible in order to distribute content on new platforms.
Large networks, as well as midsize and small networks, see this new opportunity to redistribute and monetize their highly valuable content libraries. However, these types of opportunities require a whole new way of thinking. They also require hard decisions, including looking for alternatives to older, more restrictive video distribution models, like satellite and fiber.
Deciding whether or not to build an in-house solution
The pressure, competition, and opportunities involving video distribution and monetizing content are real. This leads some media, sports, and entertainment companies to consider whether to build their own in-house IP technology or partner with an established, proprietary IP video distribution solution.
The traditional build-it-yourself model for companies requires a large capital investment in one in-house system, whether it was satellite or fiber. The system would take months to build and was designed to operate for decades, with the understanding that the build-out cost would depreciate over time.
Many have now moved away from satellite and fiber to IP video distribution, which is an important first step. However, the mentality still exists to build it once, regardless of the costs, and plan to operate the same system for decades. That type of thinking no longer aligns with today’s quickly evolving media landscape and dynamic customer base.
What drives companies to build in-house?
We don't see too many media companies today that can invest millions of dollars in building and maintaining a robust scalable distribution platform that will give them access to the platforms they want, with the flexibility and scale for the future. It’s a losing business proposition.
Some move forward with it anyway. However, these are challenges the industry's never experienced before, and if you don't have faith that somebody understands a challenge and has a solution that fits, you're going to be more likely to build it in-house — even if you don’t understand the challenge yourself.
LTN understands these challenges very well. We’ve seen them at other media companies, and we can solve many of them with the right solutions. In fact, we’ve created the tools to help media companies thrive in a hybrid linear-digital world.
Relying on IP video distribution expertise
The LTN Network enables Tier 1 media, sports, entertainment, and technology companies to streamline and scale IP video distribution while maintaining cost efficiency, ultra-low latency, and high reliability.
Partnering with LTN for IP video distribution offers scalability, content versioning, and automation that create efficiencies and support bandwidth for experimentation and leveraging new avenues of growth. This would not be possible with an in-house solution.
LTN workflows give clients more control over content and data
Some companies may think that transitioning to third-party IP technology means giving up control. Perhaps they have experience with workflows where video flows from point A to point B, in a very linear path, using familiar pieces of equipment. They can trace it, splice into it, and monitor it. They know where the video comes in and where it goes out.
IP video distribution is more complex. You can't cut a wire and splice in to see exactly what's on that particular wire and know what direction it’s flowing in. With IP, multiple video signals flow in both directions. IP technology also requires a completely different set of tools, paired with the expertise to distinguish what’s essential to monitor and what’s not.
Major media, sports, entertainment, and technology companies rely on LTN for expertise in IP technology. The proprietary LTN Network and LTN Ecosystem of fully managed solutions are designed to help navigate a constantly evolving media landscape. LTN provides unparalleled visibility into IP video distribution. and the cost efficiencies of an established ultra-reliable private IP infrastructure. With LTN workflows, our clients have greater control over their content and their data.
Satellite distribution workflows do not guarantee customer control. In fact, customers lose control of their video the moment it leaves their satellite antenna. Their video travels up to the satellite in the sky and the receive systems on the ground. We have even heard of satellite failures, where satellite companies would have to visit their customers’ broadcast distribution facilities, take the video signal out of the facility, and move it to the satellite company's own facility to get the signal where it needed to be. With satellite video distribution, customers don’t have the control they expect. The antidote to loss of control is visibility.
Expert IP video distribution mitigates excess capacity
If you make the investment to build an in-house IP video distribution solution, you will probably be faced with excess capacity. Overbuilding is a near-universal issue that exists in IP workflows. There's a lot of wasted capacity in an IP workflow when only one customer is using certain infrastructure. The bandwidth of these IP systems is so massive that you need multiple customers to take advantage of the capacity in the network switches to get a return on the infrastructure investment. With an established IP network, multiple customers using the same IP infrastructure means lower costs for everyone.
Fully managed IP video distribution prevents in-house blind spots
Building an in-house solution involves a lot of moving parts, which means a lot of things can go wrong. An LTN Tier 1 customer that built their video workflows within AWS recently experienced reliability and cost issues. When they move over their workflow to LTN using our technology to implement the solution, they quickly benefit from greater reliability and cost savings.
Tools for greater monetization and control
LTN created the right tools to provide more control and visibility for our customers’ content, including the ability to make the necessary modifications to video workflows. We give our customers access to a set of APIs that enable them to use their own booking and management systems, conditional access systems, and ad insertion systems. The tools also let them have the same levels of control as our LTN technical operations center (TOC), including the monitoring, control, and distribution of the feeds.
Some of our customers even ask us to create more tools to solve their particular challenges and control more of their video, from audio format to bit structure. As their dedicated technology partner, LTN works with them to make it happen.
Supporting a hybrid linear-digital strategy
Media companies understand that the future is moving toward OTT streaming platforms and IP video distribution. However, linear television is still a major revenue generator for their large channels. They can't abandon their linear partners and need to have hybrid workflows that work for both.
But they simply can’t send their linear feed directly onto a digital platform and expect to get the analytics back — they require enhanced metadata decorations that enable the measurement, feedback, and analytics that companies need. Building the infrastructure to satisfy the digital platforms, however, just doesn't make economic sense. It makes more sense for them to outsource the systems that work with the digital platforms, while still being able to utilize their existing linear infrastructure.
LTN not only has the infrastructure to reach these new OTT platforms, they also make it easy to implement. The metadata add-ons that we can attach to video enable more downstream capability at the player level to provide companies with the analytics they're looking for.
Don’t build it yourself when you can rely on established expertise
When considering whether to build your own IP technology or partner with an established IP video distribution solution, the challenges of an in-house solution can quickly outweigh the benefits. Earning maximum ROI on your content requires a fully managed Tier 1 solution that spins up quickly and supports your business goals for efficiency and growth.
Learn more about making a seamless transition to IP video distribution, and reach out for a demo.