In a 1989 American TV commercial for Blockbuster Video, a man looks straight at the camera, surprised. He says, “I’ve never seen 10,000 tapes in one store!” He’s thrilled!
In real life back then, millions felt that way. Being able to pick one video out of thousands of options meant you could “go home happy.”
Things changed in early 2007, when Netflix debuted its new “Watch Now” feature. All of a sudden people could choose titles to watch on their computer. There was no need to go to a store. Viewers were instantly happy, at home.
Then there came a point when the happiness disappeared. It’s been that way for a while now.
With more streamable content available than ever, whenever and wherever you want, viewers become victims of the new virus: “streaming fatigue.”
Streaming fatigue is real, and it can strike anyone who has ever sat down on the sofa to be entertained by a streaming service such as Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Peacock, HBO Max, etcetera.
An early symptom of streaming fatigue is slight disorientation or dizziness. There is so much content to choose from. “Bridgerton?” “The 100 Foot Wave”? “House of the Dragon”? “Little Women: NY”? “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters”? Indecision can induce feelings of mild to moderate frustration.
Left untreated, symptoms can worsen. These include panic-clicking a title at random, and sticking with it, regardless of interest level or quality. Victims may experience general soreness from dissatisfaction with their choice, or with their lives in general.
A secondary wave of streaming fatigue typically manifests in starting and stopping show after show, only getting one minute into any title. No one is able to decide on anything. Nausea sets in and intensifies until it is time to go to sleep.
Severe streaming fatigue may result in passing out, divorce, or light vomiting. In very rare and terrible cases, victims of severe stream fatigue have been known to pick up a book.
With a new OTT solution from Vimond and Unified Streaming, video streaming becomes joyful again, and opens up possibilities for viewers and broadcasters alike.
The solution is called VOD2Live, or virtual channels.
With VOD2live, viewers just choose a channel or category they’re interested in, and the content is automatically curated for them in a virtual channel that emulates the familiar feeling of switching on the TV and going to your favorite channel. The need for extensive choosing is gone!
VOD2Live repurposes existing VOD (video on demand) content and makes a live linear video stream.
Vimond uses Unified Streaming’s virtual channel technology and their own CMS (content management system) called VIA. Via VIA, broadcasters, telcos, and media companies with their own content can drag and drop videos into whatever ranking they’d like. With these curated, personalized playlists, audiences won't have to spend much time thinking about what to watch.
But that’s not all.
With ad insertion, companies can turn the VOD2Live channel into a FAST (free ad-supported television) channel. Playing video on demand (VOD) content files taken from a recent, or not-so-recent, archive, and dropping ads into it enables long tail revenue generation.
By combining existing VOD content with live assets (say, for instance, a sporting event or concert that happens now, in real time), that same FAST channel can become a “virtual channel.” You have the best of both worlds, live content and already existing content. Of course, with virtual channels, ad insertion is possible too.
Prevent streaming fatigue. Try VOD2Live—brought to you by Vimond and Unified Streaming—today.
