LiveU 2018 ‘State of Live’ Report: HEVC Now Represents 25% of Worldwide Traffic

Underlines growth in HEVC adoption; data also shows a 55% increase in live transmission hours and emergence of 4K resolution in live broadcasting

LiveU’s annual ‘State of Live’ report has confirmed the growing adoption of the HEVC protocol as the industry standard with 25% of LiveU-generated traffic now HEVC-encoded. These figures reflect the increasing demand for professional-grade video quality, a trend most evident at this summer’s FIFA World Cup™ in Russia.

Live transmission hours have increased overall over the past year with over 2.2 million hours of live video delivered in 2018, representing a 55% surge in hours compared to 2017. These findings, collected for the second year, are based on data gathered from LiveU’s global customer base of 3,000+ users.

The adoption of HD resolution continues to rise as customers reduce the use of SD. UHD/4K resolution is emerging with sports leading the way, most notably in the US, Japan, and Western Europe.

In terms of geographic coverage, LiveU’s cellular technology is used in two-thirds of the world with customers in 132 countries.

Samuel Wasserman, LiveU’s CEO, and co-founder noted, “HEVC technology has undoubtedly transformed the market this year, enabling dynamic sports productions in the most challenging locations, as well as ongoing global news coverage. Looking ahead to 2019, we believe that live sports usage will continue to grow across multiple segments as HEVC offers the quality and reliability of satellite and other traditional transmission methods at a fraction of the cost. In-station services based around the IP distribution of content are also playing a key role in the industry, replacing traditional fiber and satellite services, and this will likely continue next year.”