Video is becoming more and more important within businesses worldwide. If you want to know what's taking over in the world of business communications, look no further.
Streaming video.
We're not slowing down anytime soon, either.
Enterprise video streaming market size was valued at USD 18.4 billion in 2023 and is expected to register a growth rate of 8.6% from 2024 to 2029. But how do you stream video content easily across your organization? The answer is to use professional video distribution hardware.
Having the right broadcasting equipment solutions will ensure you're not leaving any revenue on the table by missing out on opportunities for better employee engagement, faster communications, and efficient training sessions.
Let's look at the facts.
According to Grand View Research, live video streaming accounted for around 62.5% of the market share in 2024.
This makes sense. Live streaming is used for all sorts of content from entertainment and sports to gaming and corporate events. More people have mobile devices than ever, and internet connection speeds are faster than they've ever been.
Businesses want a piece of that growing market.
Companies of all sizes are investing in broadcasting equipment solutions to start capitalizing on video streaming for internal communications. Video streaming service providers like Thor Broadcast are empowering organizations to equip themselves with professional video distribution systems.
They're here to take care of video feeds for everything from all-hands meetings to webcasting events with hundreds or thousands of viewers.
Professional video distribution is the future.
There's a rising demand for it, and businesses are starting to take note.
Enterprise video used to be a nice-to-have for businesses. It's quickly becoming a necessity.
According to MarketsandMarkets, global enterprise video market size is expected to reach USD 35.8 billion by 2029.
That's a compound annual growth rate of 8.6%.
Several trends are contributing to the skyrocketing growth in enterprise video solutions.
Remote collaboration tooling is more popular than ever because of distributed workforces.
Companies also recognize that employees prefer video as a communication method over emails and traditional meetings.
Plus, hybrid workplaces are the standard now. Employees are in offices, but they're also working remotely part-time or on flexible schedules.
Without video connecting everyone together, companies can't operate how they need to.
It's as simple as that.
Every training course employees need to take will have video components. Every town hall will require distribution to remote employees. Every product demo will want to reach the largest audience possible. Live video streams of conferences and meetings allow for everyone to feel included.
If your business doesn't have professional video distribution, you're relying on email attachments and trying to share huge files with your team. Slowly.
Not only is that bad for communication, but it's bad for your video quality. Buffering, low-quality streams, disruptive encoding issues — they all can and will happen without the right equipment.
Your video distribution solution is only only good as its weakest link. Features to look for include:
Signal Quality: Consumer-grade video source gear was not designed to send out signals that have to travel far distances or be split up to multiple destinations. Quality will degrade. Professional video distribution ensures the video you see is how it'll look room to room.
Scalability: You might need two channels today. But what about next month? What if your company grows, and you need 20? The right hardware shouldn't lock you into limited uses. Anticipate your business will grow and select a solution that grows with you.
Reliability: Let's say you have an important announcement to make and are live streaming to hundreds of employees. The absolute last thing you want is for your stream to go down right in the middle. Broadcasting equipment should have redundancies built in and keep running smoothly.
Integration: Broadcasting equipment shouldn't live in its own silo. Make sure it integrates with your current network setup. Can it integrate with your CMS? Your security protocol?
Many people forget about the encoding/transcoding abilities of video distribution hardware.
Yes, it needs to be able to capture and play back video. But it also needs to be able to encode that video and transcode it to fit the needs of your viewers.
There are just as many improper ways to setup video distribution as there are right ways to do it. Avoid these all too common mistakes.
Not Planning For Enough Bandwidth
Video takes up a lot of data. If your network isn't equipped to handle the heavy lifting, your stream will buffer. Always overestimate your bandwidth needs and plan for the future.
Not Accounting For Latency
Latency can be the difference between a live interactive event and a delayed, un-synced video stream. Ensure your broadcasting equipment is enterprise grade and can account for low latency.
Doing Solo Deployment
You know your business best. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't test your video distribution setup under real world conditions. Make sure to pilot your video solution with actual content and real end users.
Not Having A Security Plan
Distributing video is great, but what about when that video has confidential information? Your video distribution should have the ability to encrypt video streams, apply access controls, and create audit trails.
When you decide your business needs professional video distribution, how do you know what type of setup is right for you?
It depends on your current usage.
How many streams do you need simultaneously? What quality? Are you doing live only or a mixture with on-demand video? Will your usage grow in the near future?
Your broadcasting equipment should be able to accommodate not where your business is now, but where you'll be in 3-5 years.
Also, keep in mind that when you purchase professional video equipment, you'll often get support and maintenance options as part of your agreement.
These can be absolutely vital if there are any hiccups during a large scale live stream.
And as with any piece of technology, you'll want to calculate total cost of ownership.
Golang may be cheaper upfront, but will it cost you more down the road? Will you need expensive replacements? Takes tons of time to fix simple issues?
Professional broadcasting equipment from a trusted provider will cost less over the lifetime of the product.
Professional video distribution is the future of work.
Not only does the market data tell us that, but anecdotal experience has proved it to us time and time again.
Employees prefer communications with video. Live streaming dominates how we consume content on the internet. Enterprise video expenditures are growing at a rate of 8.6% year over year.
It's no longer a question of if you need to distribute video. It's a question of how.
By doing your research ahead of time, knowing what your business needs, and testing your broadcasting equipment solution, you'll be set up for success with your video distribution.
Businesses that take advantage of professional video will experience benefits like:
And those who try to get by with low-quality streams, poor reliability, and less than adequate broadcasting hardware will be left troubleshooting tech issues when they could be focusing on their content.