Cover Story experience content on their device of choice . R & S : What is really important is that every stage of the delivery process be reliably automated . That means incorporating standardised triggers to cue downstream processes , whether that is dynamic ad insertion , switching resolutions or opting in and out of live events . For that to be successful , the metadata carrying the triggers and downstream switching information must be a secure part of the stream . In turn , that means the monitoring systems must ensure that the relevant metadata is confirmed as being present , uncorrupted and in synchronisation with the audio and video . SSIMWAVE : Third-party service provider packaging and distribution of OTT channels have inherent benefits to scale viewership but often lack visibility into the perceptual video quality across the media supply chain – especially at the device level . Even the most pristine workflows from ingest to the device , including insights from CDN data logs and video player analytics , do not adequately capture the more holistic measurement of content performance , perception , and overall quality of experience . When content delivery workflows are split across multiple stages , identification , localisation , and resolution of QoS and QoE issues become significantly harder due to a lack of visibility across the delivery chain . Comprehensive QoE tools that trace quality from content creation to consumption in an apples-to-apples fashion can mitigate these concerns . By incorporating these tools into their offerings and sharing data directly with content owners , third-party service providers can help lift the whole
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ecosystem - supporting overall efficiencies , better decisions , and of course , better viewer experiences and ROI . Telestream : When a video network consists of a multi-vendor environment with many moving parts , there are more challenges because of the multiple different teams involved . It ’ s very common for people to assume that the domain they control is fine , and the issue must reside elsewhere . When encoding and packaging OTT channels , service providers need to monitor contribution feed before and after packaging with deep analysis on video sources that come from third party vendors . Pre and post encoder and packager monitoring is an absolute must in any video network . The ability to decode and analyse video and audio quality for impairments is crucial for maintaining Quality of Experience ( QoE ). Most encoders have difficulties when issues arise on the input , which is why it is important to monitor the source of third-party OTT channels before encoding and packaging . The same applies to the Content Delivery Network ( CDN ) which passes the ABR content along to the subscribers . Due to the dynamic nature of traffic within the CDN , things can change depending on viewership volume . A thorough proactive monitoring strategy can mitigate any type of disaster , especially when third-party CDN ’ s are involved and there is limited access and control on third-party vendor logs during operation . Torque : It all depends on the network topology and how the third party operator gets the content and pushes it into their CDN . If the service provider only provides the pipe and clients in one country with access OTT content in another country , then there will likely be many QoS issues . However , if the service provider gets the content and serves it from his own origin server into the CDN , then we do not foresee many issues . VeEX : Today , everything seems to pack OTT - TVs , streaming boxes , tablets , phones , etc . Ultimately , if the Internet access service works reliably , users will choose the player and streaming services that perform the best or have better user experience . Witbe : Measuring QoE is a major challenge for providers whose content is being distributed by another party , on an app they cannot directly control . The best way to measure QoE in these circumstances is evaluating performance the same way that the general public will : by testing content third-party apps on the same devices that customers use . Zixi : Visibility is always a challenge , but this is not necessarily a new characteristic of video distribution . If you consider that traditional models such as satellite broadcast provided very few insights to the content provider to assist in understanding QoS and QoE performance . Video operations teams now have the ability to proactively monitor hundreds of concurrent linear and event channels in purpose-built dashboards , often delivered to many discreet platforms and streaming endpoints . Collecting realtime performance data and inspecting it for actionable insights is now leveraging advanced AI / ML algorithms that can sift through billions of metrics to pinpoint incidents and predict future performance challenges . When there are issues , being able to rapidly generate digestible Root Cause Analysis reports , shareable across organisations , ensures that the classic ‘ fingerpointing ’ exercises that have plagued video distribution are becoming a thing of the past .