Top Six Live Video Streaming Trends to Watch
Curious what’s in store for 2022? Hear from Barry Owen, Wowza’s vice president of solutions engineering, as he predicts the live streaming trends that will reign supreme in the year ahead. Barry sits down with Justin Miller, Wowza’s senior content producer, to discuss everything from augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to low-latency innovation.
For an even deeper dive into what lies ahead — across live and video on demand (VOD) streaming — check out Barry’s recent article, 10 Streaming Trends for 2022.
Top 6 Live Video Trends to Watch For in 2022
1. Hybrid Everything
Hybrid events became standard during the pandemic, as well as just about every other hybrid scenario imaginable. Some of the more innovative examples of ‘hybrid everything’ today include:
Essentially, anything that can be moved to a hybrid setting that blurs physical and virtual spaces, will be. Technology, more specifically video streaming technology, is key to this trend — with interactivity playing a major role.
2. Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and the Metaverse
For several years now, virtual reality (VR) has failed to live up to its hype. That’s finally changing in 2022 thanks to hardware, processing power, and bandwidth improvements.
Facebook is now banking on AR/VR technology, with everyone from Apple to Google developing a headset. Gaming is an obvious area where immersive video will see growth. It’s also being adopted in enterprise settings, education, professional sports, and more. We predict that cameras and headsets will continue to improve as immersive video finds its way into every industry.
3. Sports Betting
It’s difficult to catch an NFL game today without being bombarded by commercials for sports betting. Apps like FanDuel and BetMGM have seen extraordinary growth in the U.S. due to deregulation, with leagues and sportsbooks partnering up.
Two capabilities come into play for sports betting to be successful: low-latency streaming and synchronization. Real-time delivery will help eliminate problematic delays, ensuring that everyone has the same opportunity to place their bets in a time-synchronized experience. Expect on-screen betting overlays to soon be integrated into the live sports experience, making a frictionless experience for even casual viewers.
4. Low-Latency Innovation
Trends like interactive betting and AR/VR immersive video both require lightning-fast video delivery, making low latency a trend that’s here to stay. Advancements in streaming protocols help meet this demand, as do improvements in connectivity like 5G.
When it comes to low latency, the challenge will always hinge on combining high quality, speedy delivery, and large-scale viewing into a single solution. We designed our Real-Time Streaming at Scale feature specifically for these requirements, ensuring half-second latency to viewers across the globe.
5. Actionable Data and Analytics
Finally, real-time analytics and the ability to measure quality of experience (QoE) will grow in importance throughout 2022. Workflows made up of several content delivery networks (CDNs) or disparate vendors at each step don’t easily support end-to-end visibility, which is why observability has always been a challenge.
At Wowza, we continue to enhance monitoring across our video platform to answer the need for actionable data and will be sharing exciting news about our expanding analytics capabilities in the coming weeks.