The streaming multichannel video market is a crowded one, with companies like Dish’s Sling TV and DirecTV Now competing against tech-driven companies, such as YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV
and Philo.
The content these services have is often similar, with the same suites of channels from the major content providers available across many of the offerings. Where they differ,
however, is in their product.
The user interface, recommendation engines and video delivery systems of each are unique. In some cases, they can be as synonymous with the
provider as the content. (Just look at YouTube and Netflix, which have become so proficient at delivering video that when one has a problem, it tends to become national news.)
The
product is where another competitor in the space has quietly been able to shine, according to new data from streaming TV intelligence platform Conviva.
Sony, through its Playstation Vue
streaming service, offers a suite of streaming channels similar to those offered by the vMVPD competition.
Conviva conducted a study of Playstation Vue’s streaming product
and benchmarked it against the competitors. Playstation Vue had a rebuffering ratio of 0.36%, compared to the industry benchmark of 0.4%, and the median of 1.12%. It hit that ratio while delivering
streaming video at a bit rate of 4.59 Mbps, compared to the industry median of 3.07 Mbps.
Playstation Vue had less buffering than its competitors in the space, even as it
delivered video that had a higher picture quality.
Just as the market is seeing a mad rush for content, with giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney securing exclusive deals with top
writers and producers, there is also a rush for product.
In order to compete, companies need to iterate their products, adding new features and increasing usability while also
improving video delivery.
Conviva’s data suggests Sony has performed well, but with competitors like Google’s YouTube and Hulu also playing in the vMVPD space, any
lead in product quality is tenuous.