Video streaming has been integral in Asia Pacific consumers’ way of life amidst the throes of COVID-19 stress. What was once only an entertainment trend embraced by Netflix and Hulu aficionados has become more all-encompassing, as professionals across education, business and various sectors start incorporating video streaming into their day-to-day routines. According to research provider Media Partners Asia, total video streaming minutes on mobile across Southeast Asia markets alone reached 657 billion - for a 19% quarter-on-quarter growth in the second quarter of 2020.
Video streaming is seen to further provide new opportunities for real-time interactive engagement across the region, propelled by factors such as the proliferation of smartphones with HD quality resolution, Asia Pacific’s increasingly tech-savvy population, and improved network connectivity. With the right cloud and networking infrastructure, the trend will redefine user experiences and conveniences in years to come.
Videos: A way of life
Digital video streaming has been taking various industries across the region by storm, and one area that has seen benefits is telehealth. In fact, in one of Mercer’s surveys, 78 percent of Asia Pacific respondents shared about their readiness to use digital healthcare, as compared to 66 percent globally.
Digital video streaming is breaking barriers in diagnosis, with real-time streams connecting patients at home with doctors, preventing the risks of travel and Covid-19 infection.
Geriatric and pediatric care have especially benefited from video streaming in telemedicine, a subset of telehealth. Teleconsultations, remote care, interactive tele-surgical assistance, and remote procedure supervision are some of the other video streaming applications of telehealth that offer multiple advantages but also need a robust IT digital infrastructure.
As with telehealth, COVID-19 has also brought in drastic changes to education. Today, kids continue learning in virtual classrooms from the comfort of their homes. Real-time video streaming software is enabling interactive and collaborative learning. Besides formal education, yoga, meditation, music, dance, and fitness are taught through video streams today. At the same time, group video chats such as Houseparty are minimising the feeling of isolation for people away from family and friends during the pandemic.
Although video streaming is becoming a way of life, latency continues to be a challenge for applications across the world today. Chris Allen, Co-founder and CEO of Red5 Pro, says that most of today’s real-time video streaming technology introduces 10-45 seconds of latency between shooting a video to its display on our screen. Video streaming must also be able to manage thousands of concurrent users simultaneously. A scalable and resilient cloud infrastructure is the backbone that powers video streaming applications worldwide.
Cloud infrastructure that is agile, cost-effective, and scalable is vital for the success of high bandwidth solutions in domains such as telehealth, education, and entertainment. The right cloud infrastructure not only minimises the latency of video streaming but also makes scaling of apps, deploying of new products, and designing of highly reliable software fast and seamless.
Those looking to build top-notch live-streaming applications should consider partnering with a cloud provider that offers end-to-end cloud services. Some of these providers also offer management and developer tools that simplify the development of live-streaming applications on the cloud.
Today, the pandemic continues to impact the lifestyle of consumers in Asia Pacific, and various sectors are expected to see a surge in bandwidth-intensive applications. However, a word of caution for developers as they choose cloud services is that bandwidth costs can be substantial, perhaps even making up most of their cloud computing costs.
App developers often dismiss bandwidth costs as negligible and may overlook those costs until their app reaches a significant scale, at which point they realise the impact it has on their bottom line. Hence, it is recommendable for developers to work with cloud providers, where the pricing is competitive and unambiguous.
Consumers in the region are increasingly becoming more reliant on video streaming, which is now integral to their way of life. As the pandemic abates, video streaming will continue to provide new opportunities for real-time interactive engagement. With the right cloud and networking infrastructure, it will redefine user experiences and conveniences.
