Most of us can relate to the fact that the struggle is real when we live stream. While most Western countries enjoy faster and cheaper Internet access, many developing nations struggle with poor Internet connections at double or thrice the price that their Western counterparts pay for. It’s something that really won’t bother you if you just use the web to browse and access social media and not for video watching, or worse, for work. Poor connections can still do its job of loading pages and help you stay updated on what’s viral and trending online. However, Internet connectivity is a major headache for people who love to stream online or even use the web to earn money. And rebuffering is a common complaint experienced by most web users who loves watching their favorite videos via the World Wide Web.
Back in the days, you only had the television and the occasional video rentals of favorite movies to keep you entertained during your free time. But that was eons ago. Blockbuster has long since been bankrupt and most kids these days have no idea what a VHS is and how it works. For them, watching videos can easily be done on Youtube or any video sharing site on the web. Even young kids have subscriptions to their fave Youtube channels to help them pass the time. At least, they no longer have to deal with common issues like scratches on DVDs when they stream online. And best of all, most homes have Internet connections nowadays, so everyone can basically live stream and thus relate to rebuffering issues when live streaming.
“Pretty consistently, rebuffering is identified as the worst thing that could happen,” says Jon Dahl.
Dahl is one of the founders of Mux, a Bay Area startup that aims to solve video quality control problems faced by mid-sized companies. Today, Mux released its “2017 Video Streaming Perceptions Report,” an attempt to learn from consumers what video issues bother them the most.
Stalling and rebuffering was far-and-away the biggest annoyance, rated “most frustrating” by 47.0 percent of those surveyed. It was followed by failed video playback at 19.9 percent, slow load and start times at 18.8 percent, and low picture quality at 14.3 percent.
When people were asked about the most frequent problems they faced, rebuffering again took the lead with 41 percent.
Mux’s survey also asked consumers where they place the blame when something goes wrong. When they experience rebuffering or slow load times, they usually blame their internet service provider. But, when they experience poor picture quality or playback failures they blame the app publisher providing the video stream.
One finding that surprised Dahl is that 95.5 percent of those surveyed rated stream reliability and quality as very important to their viewing experience.
The Millennials are leading this shift from conventional media to online and live streaming considering most of them are glued to their screens every single day. These busy young professionals who juggle and multitask just about everything under the sun won’t stick around waiting for their favorite shows to air and watch everything else that is shown on television even if they don’t like it that much. They will only watch what they want at a time most convenient for them and live streaming happened to solve that problem for them.
Consumers may be connecting various smart devices and appliances in their homes, but it’s nothing compared to the number of Internet-connected TV devices.
The majority (60%) of broadband homes now have at least one TV connected to the Internet, based on a new study.
The devices used to make those TVs connected also is shifting, according to the study by the NPD Group.
The study comprised a survey of 5,400 U.S. adults in a panel, which represented reporting from more than 12,000 televisions installed within 34,000 household rooms.
Streaming media players are the most commonly installed Internet-connected TV device, with more than a third (35%) of U.S. Internet homes having a streaming media player, an increase from 29% last year.
And people are not just live streaming from their computers, laptops or smartphones but with other gadgets like smart televisions. And since the technology has become more affordable today, most household now have at least one smart TV where you can watch both traditional broadcast media as well as live stream on the web. Unfortunately, old-school broadcast media can’t match the level of flexibility offered by live streaming, a lifestyle now embraced by most Millennials. And you’re all good to go as long as you have a stable WiFi connection.
The only downside here is that not all the time you can rely on a stable WiFi connection. You may end up suffering from frequent rebuffering that can mess up your entire viewing experience. Although most of the time you can speed up your connection by simply restarting the modem, at times the real issue has to do with your Internet provider itself. If you have higher demands for a better WiFi coverage that you are currently not getting from your current subscription, your options include upgrading your current package or switching to a better performing provider or end up struggling every single time you live stream online.
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