Streaming media forecast for the future

Streaming media, storage and distribution demand for Australian businesses has risen by 68 per cent, according to the recent Integrate 2018 ANZ Industry Research Report. So how can the AV industry use this rise in demand to ensure that the business flows downstream?

According to the recent Integrate Report, almost half of all businesses in the AV industry have spent money on technology in this space in the last 12 months and over 80 per cent of respondents believe this spend will only increase over the next five years.

The rise in streaming services in business is not surprising, considering the volume of workers that have moved away from the traditional Monday to Friday working week in a central office.

Almost 50 per cent of Australian workers now spend at least half of their week working outside of the office, either from home or remotely, making streaming services vital for workforces to stay in touch.

But it is not just business that is latching onto streaming services. Improvements to AV and IT technology in this space has paved the way for anyone to become a media star from their own home.

How e-sports and gaming are impacting streaming media

YouTube has been the king of digital video since its inception in 2005.

Today users are able to use the service to stream their activities live, which has given rise to professional gamers and video game commentators to become global superstars.

Ninja, who broadcasts himself playing the biggest video game on the planet right now Fortnite, has over 12.8 million followers while nearly 400 million people have viewed his streams on Twitch.

PewDiePie – who describes himself as a comedian and video game commentator – has over 79 million YouTube subscribers.

Platforms like Twitch and live streaming functionality in social media platforms mean anyone can become an internet sensation – particularly in the popular media of video games.

While television networks struggle for advertising revenue and Hollywood has suffered numerous scandals in recent years, the gaming industry pulled in $36 billion in revenue in 2017.

In the first quarter of 2017, Twitch had almost 1 million concurrent viewers at any given time. YouTube Gaming had 272,000. It is a space that AV installers cannot ignore with this sector set to continue to rise.

Streaming places increased demand on computer systems so gamer rigs need to be even more high end to be able to run the software at high settings while also streaming to the public in high resolution.

Gaming monitors are also becoming more and more high end, with curved screens, daisy-chained multi panel setups and 4K resolution monitors becoming the norm for all gamers, especially those who stream.

Integrate exhibitors introducing streaming services

Casio Data Projectors Australia offers a range of projectors that can stream data from remote locations to a large audience.

The are expanding beyond just business as well, with solutions for education that enable the modern classroom. Teachers can roam the classroom and control the screen from the palm of their hand while students can work on their tablets and share their work in real time.

Honey Badger Technologies is another exhibitor that is taking streaming services to a wide audience, working with the hospitality industry to provide best-of-breed guest technology solutions in the Australian and South Pacific hospitality sector. Their system allows guests to stream from over 1000 apps directly to their hotel room television.

And PanoTek provides a range of controllers for streaming services, including powerful Video Wall Controllers featuring scalable graphics technology, signal capture and stream decoding. Different streams can live together on the same screen, be brought up in size or shrunk to suit and be delivered in 4K resolution for the clearest image of multiple streams at once.

Casio Data Projectors Australia, Honey Badger Technologies and PanoTek are all current or previous exhibitors at Integrate. If you would like to be among the AV industry’s leading showcase of new products – contact the team about exhibiting options.