2024年是WebRTC年吗?

There has been a lot of talk in the industry over the last few years about 实时流媒体. Vendors have tried to claim that delays between broadcast 和 streaming, resulting in the proverbial “you hear someone cheer before you see the goal,需要一种超低延迟的方法. I don’t buy it, 和 neither do the streaming operators. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard streaming operators who deliver live sports content say, “是的, 延迟很重要, 但可靠性, 可伸缩性, 质量要重要得多.”

当在线体育博彩在美国开业.S., those same vendors cheered: “Yay, 实时流媒体 is going to be big.“不幸的是，博彩并没有完全兴起. 事实上, one could argue that it has taken off just as much as interactive streaming. 根据 Statista, the user penetration rate of 在线体育博彩, which currently st和s at 1.到2024年，这一比例预计将仅增加到2%.3% by 2028.

好了，说够了.

I do believe that ultra-low-latency use cases are important. 事实上, I’ve had plenty of conversations with sports streamers about it, with some telling me they have parallelized their delivery architectures: part HTTP (for the majority of the audience) 和 part WebRTC (or another real-time approach for the part of the audience that wants to gamble or interact). The issue with WebRTC, 虽然, has always been one of scale. WebRTC基础设施更昂贵. 快递成本更高, 和 it takes a lot more WebRTC servers to h和le ultra-low-latency streaming with high concurrency than it does HTTP servers. 但成本并不是唯一的问题. WebRTC simply doesn’t have the same functional capabilities as HTTP streaming: no SSAI, no 数字版权管理.

我最近和一位来自 Phenix实时解决方案, a WebRTC streaming provider that has been around for almost 10 years beating the drum of ultra-low-latency streaming. 我知道它是怎么发生的解决了SSAI问题 (它实际上是在IBC 2023上宣布的, al虽然 I’m not sure anyone was really listening at the time). Phenix can now deliver server-side stitched ads in real time. 更重要的是
公司，像其他数字版权管理提供商，如 EZ数字版权管理和 Buy数字版权管理, can supply the 安全 that’s needed to keep content safe.

With large sports-streaming operators, WebRTC provides a real opportunity. 但是同样的运算符, 哪些公司在授权上花费了数十亿美元, can’t afford to just swap the ability to stream content in real time for basic OTT functionality like SSAI 和数字版权管理. 看起来, 虽然, that Phenix has finally provided the three key points of the “streaming triangle”: scale, 安全, 和广告. 当 you think about it, that triangle drives all live streaming. If you can’t scale it, keep it secured, 和 deliver ads, it’s a losing proposition.

The Phenix rep told me about a commercial customer for which the company delivered WebRTC streams to 500,000名同时观看者, but with a very interesting behavior: 3-minute connections followed by 5 minutes of disconnection over the course of 45 minutes or so. This Phenix case study demonstrates that the feasibility of a high concurrency (not the millions) under dem和ing conditions (creating 和 destroying sessions repeatedly is not server-friendly) with SSAI 和安全 might finally be the real-world proof point that greenlights streaming operators to embrace WebRTC as a viable protocol for those use cases, 比如赌博和互动, 这就需要超低延迟. 当然，这还是要归结到成本上. With WebRTC being a more expensive protocol through which to deliver, 流媒体运营商仍打算这么做
have to make the hard choice about who gets the WebRTC stream 和 who gets HTTP content. At least the decision will be made on ARPU, not on technical merits.

$20 that the Steelers make a first down on this play, anyone? 任何人?

免费的

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现在就订阅最新一期过去的问题

Why Streaming is Still Struggling With Real-Time Delivery

Why are we still talking about the challenges of low-latency streaming? 换句话说, with all the hype about 实时流媒体和 its evident advantages for high-interactivity applications ripe for monetization like iGaming 和 sports betting, why haven't we made more progress toward realizing real-time 和 its potential? 杜比的Ryan Jespersen, AWS的Evan Statton报道, 和 2G Digital's Allan McLennan discuss in this clip from 流媒体 Connect 2023.

2023年12月13日

Parks Associates' Jennifer Kent Talks Sports Betting 和 Real-Time Streaming

Parks Associates副总裁, 研究 Jennifer Kent discusses the forces driving ultra-low latency streaming including the ascendant sports betting industry in this interview with 流媒体 Editor-in-Chief Steve Nathans-Kelly at 流媒体 West 2022.

2023年1月2日