The Business of Streaming and Digital Media

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Halftitle
3. Title
4. Copyright
5. Contents
6. Acknowledgements
7. Introduction
   1. About the authors
   2. The current state of the streaming and digital Media industry
   3. Who should read this book
   4. What this book will give you
   5. How this book is organized
   6. Hard facts and numbers
   7. Support—we’re here to help
   8. Further reading
8. Chapter 1: Why Get into Streaming and Digital Media?
   1. 1.1 The key question is not can you build a streaming business, but should you?
      1. 1.1.1 Digital media’s rapid rise
      2. 1.1.2 When technology becomes a business
      3. 1.1.3 Out of the technology ashes and into the fiscal fire
   2. 1.2 Using digital media for revenue generation: The value in managing your own content, channels, and customers
      1. 1.2.1 Content monetization
      2. 1.2.2 Channel control
      3. 1.2.3 Customer contact
   3. 1.3 Using digital media to reduce costs and increase communication: leveraging digital media for different applications
      1. 1.3.1 Telecommunication expense
      2. 1.3.2 Customer service
      3. 1.3.3 Information quality
   4. 1.4 Early successes show big returns if they’re done right
      1. 1.4.1 Case study: starbucks
      2. 1.4.2 Case study: new england cable news (NECN)
9. Chapter 2: Technology Primer: The Basics of Streaming and Digital Media
   1. 2.1 Introduction to streaming and digital media technologies
      1. 2.1.1 Internet basics: built for reliability, not quality
      2. 2.1.2 Static versus streaming at the content level
      3. 2.1.3 Enter streaming media
      4. 2.1.4 Streaming across the Internet
      5. 2.1.5 Internet distance does not equal geographic distance
   2. 2.2 Technical variations of Internet media from traditional broadcasting
   3. 2.3 The fundamental difference in cost structures between the old and new
      1. 2.3.1 Traditional broadcasting cost structures are heavy on fixed, low on variable
      2. 2.3.2 Streaming media cost structures are low on fixed, heavy on variable
   4. 2.4 Why broadcast quality is different from Internet quality
      1. 2.4.1 Start-up time
      2. 2.4.2 Playback consistency
      3. 2.4.3 Playback size (for video)
   5. 2.5 Typical quality measurements for streaming and digital media
      1. 2.5.1 Why nielsen and arbitron have had trouble measuring a digital media audience
   6. 2.6 Content security: digital media means a user can record an exact copy
      1. 2.6.1 Digital rights management and content encryption
      2. 2.6.2 Walled gardens
      3. 2.6.3 The “cheap and easy access” security strategy
      4. 2.6.4 PC client Content/Download managers
   7. 2.7 Case studies
      1. 2.7.1 palmOne
      2. 2.7.2 Ernst & Young
10. Chapter 3: The Four Keys to a Profitable Streaming or Digital Media Business
    1. 3.1 Given these technology issues, what should you focus on when building your digital media business?
    2. 3.2 Four key principles of a stable digital media strategy: scalability, security, intelligence, and quality
    3. 3.3 Scalability: a scalable delivery strategy can cut delivery costs over traditional broadcast
    4. 3.4 Security: digital rights management (DRM) security technologies make streaming and digital media safe and sound
    5. 3.5 Intelligence: getting accurate, reliable, usable usage and audience intelligence
    6. 3.6 Quality: assuring media fidelity and quality when delivering content over the Internet
    7. 3.7 Case studies
       1. 3.7.1 JP Morgan Chase
       2. 3.7.2 Unisys
11. Chapter 4: It’s Not Child’s Play: Learning from the Pitfalls of the Past Three Years
    1. 4.1 In the Internet land grab and rush for revenue, early companies forgot to manage the costs for streaming and digital delivery
    2. 4.2 You can avoid the top four mistakes made in the early days by understanding the business impact of licensing, security, distribution, and quality
    3. 4.3 Don’t let your strategy get sidetracked by the media player market share numbers
       1. 4.3.1 There are no agreed upon or default standards for platforms—yet
       2. 4.3.2 Understanding the impact of Windows Media, RealNetworks, and MPEG licensing plans on your business
       3. 4.3.3 Why you might need multiple formats, encoding rates, etc.
    4. 4.4 The changing value of CDNs for streaming and digital media distribution
    5. 4.5 The most common outsourced application—live webcasting
       1. 4.5.1 Understanding the basics
       2. 4.5.2 Determining your business needs
       3. 4.5.3 The bigger picture
    6. 4.6 Quality is so important it deserves its own chapter—Chapter 5
    7. 4.7 Case studies
       1. 4.7.1 Bumble and bumble
       2. 4.7.2 New york city public schools
12. Chapter 5: Quality and Content Are King and Queen of the Digital Media Realm
    1. 5.1 If you don’t have good content or sufficient quality, don’t bother
    2. 5.2 The definitions of “good content” and “sufficient quality” change depending upon your target audience, usage, price charged, etc.
       1. 5.2.1 How streaming perspective works
    3. 5.3 Some content is excellent for streaming or digital media, while others are unsuitable
       1. 5.3.1 Your content dictates the kind of technology you use, not the other way around
    4. 5.4 When determining the best quality for your company, make sure you understand the four sides of the digital media “business square”
       1. 5.4.1 Calculating bandwidth chart based on user consumption
    5. 5.5 If you change audience size, then you’ll have to change your delivery strategy
    6. 5.6 Content size does matter when it comes to streaming and digital media
       1. 5.6.1 Session length of streaming and digital media
    7. 5.7 Encoding bit rates affect content quality—and your target audience
    8. 5.8 Case studies
       1. 5.8.1 Citigroup
       2. 5.8.2 Marist college
13. Chapter 6: Streaming or Digital Media Project Management: How to Implement and Manage a Profitable Business
    1. 6.1 Based on interviews with people building these systems today, here are some guidelines for building and managing a streaming or digital media business
    2. 6.2 Pricing: understanding costs and what you should pay
       1. 6.2.1 The service provider business
       2. 6.2.2 Educating yourself before you talk to providers
       3. 6.2.3 Choosing the right provider is easy
       4. 6.2.4 The going rate
       5. 6.2.5 Our best advice: negotiate
       6. 6.2.6 Quality—getting your money’s worth
    3. 6.3 Build versus buy
       1. 6.3.1 Quality
       2. 6.3.2 Control
    4. 6.4 Understanding the most commonly used multimedia applications for enterprise communications
    5. 6.5 A summary checklist to use when building a successful streaming business
    6. 6.6 Case studies
       1. 6.6.1 The Cooper Companies
       2. 6.6.2 Office Depot, Inc.
14. Chapter 7: Beyond Streaming Media: What Streaming and Digital Media Means to Other Areas of a Media Business
    1. 7.1 The Internet can significantly impact other areas of a media business
    2. 7.2 Managed delivery: cut weeks out of media production cycles and push post-production times to the limit
    3. 7.3 Using media as part of a customized web portal to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction
    4. 7.4 Putting your knowledge into action
    5. 7.5 Case studies
       1. 7.5.1 MasterCard
       2. 7.5.2 Wisconsin department of transportation streams historic bridge float
15. Appendix A: Use of Streaming and Digital Media Report
    1. Statistically significant research data
    2. Findings contained in the report
    3. Executive summary
    4. Media usage and preferences
16. Appendix B: Enterprise Streaming: Return on Investment Report
    1. Enterprise streaming: return on investment report
    2. Report summary
    3. Return on investment: identifying and measuring return on investment
    4. ROI summary
    5. Major research conclusions
    6. Summary conclusions and predictions
    7. Training and education
    8. Investment
    9. StreamLearning summary
17. Glossary
18. Index