TECHNICAL Furthermore, YouTube recently enabled ingestion of AV1 live streamed upload for content creators, however those streams are transcoded to VP9 in the cloud for distribution to viewers. H.264/AVC is maintained for the majority of videos consumed on the platform: this is more than sufficient, since there is often no requirement to present videos in quality beyond HD SDR. Moreover, the costs associated with re-encoding YouTube’s vast video catalogue would be substantial and prohibitive, considering the typically shorter length of content often covering niche or specific topics. Essentially, YouTube has an enormous library of content with fewer average views per asset when compared to SVoD and live viewing. In terms of codec choices, Lionsgate owned US streaming service, Starz, differs slightly. There are over 1100 movies available on the platform, but all content is presented in HD SDR only, so Starz employs a combination of H.264/AVC and VP9 for content delivery. AVC and HEVC are most prevalent H.265/HEVC offers a typical streaming service between 52% to 62% average bitrate savings over H.264/AVC across both standard and high definition (HD)
videos; and up to 64% for UHD/4K content. The cost of using H.265/ HEVC for encoding is almost negligible today; meanwhile HDR video effectively mandates the use of newer standards. Incumbents Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Netflix and Hulu are counted amongst more recent streaming services provided by Disney, NBC, Paramount and Warner Bros. which all utilise H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC for content delivery. As expected, the choice of codec is heavily influenced by the type of content being delivered. Some examples: n Video content on HBO Max is encoded in H.264/AVC for their entry- level plans and H.265/HEVC Main 10 profile for their “Ultimate” subscription offering 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos. n In the sampled content, Amazon Prime do not appear to use VP9 or AV1 for any of their assets, instead using H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC to encode video on their platform. n Netflix uses H.264/AVC and VP9 for all HD video content. They favour H.265/HEVC for 4K video, with the codec used across 95% of all assets made available on the service within the last year. There is indication that their usage of AV1 might be declining:
the codec was discovered in around 45% of sampled videos released over four years ago, but in only 15% of videos made available during the last year. Clearly, this assumes that older content has not been re-encoded since release, but hints at a probable transition from AV1 to HEVC as the favoured codec. Examining the data more widely across platforms, H.264/AVC usage shows a slight decline (from 71% to 65% over the last four years) when employed for encoding HD videos. H.264/AVC is not used for 4K content on any of the platforms studied in detail that support UHD delivery. Meanwhile, H.265/HEVC shows an increase in utilisation for HD content (from 73% to 78%) alongside a smaller uptick of two percentage points for 4K, revealing HEVC’s status as a long- standing preferred codec for UHD video assets. Streaming video: Subscriber demand The OTT (over-the-top) streaming video industry endured major changes throughout the past few years. At the close of 2022, there were 1.47 billion active SVoD subscriptions globally, with the industry posting a substantial 12% rise in subscriber numbers year over year. Leading service providers introduced price increases and curtailed the propensity for password sharing, with revenues increasing 22% as a result: today the SVoD industry alone is worth an estimated $85 billion annually.
Prevalence of AVC and HEVC usage amongst Streaming Video Providers
Since opening their account, the average user has spent 1103 hours watching Netflix. 183 hours watching movies, equivalent to 17% of viewing time. And 920 hours watching TV series, accounting for 83% of overall viewing time on the service.
Top Ten SVoD Services Worldwide 2023, by Subscription Share (%)
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Volume 46 No.3 September 2024
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