Video on demand

Video on demand (VOD) is a way for people to watch movies, TV shows, and other videos whenever they want, using the internet instead of regular TV. Unlike old TV, where shows aired at set times, VOD lets you choose what to watch and when. You can watch on many devices, like computers, tablets, or smartphones, using services that stream the video right to your screen.

Many cable and phone companies offer VOD, letting you watch shows right away or download them to watch later. Popular services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, Max, and Paramount+ use a subscription model, where you pay a monthly fee to access lots of shows and movies. Other services, like YouTube, are free to use but show ads, and they also offer paid options for special content. VOD has changed how people enjoy entertainment, making it easier to watch what they love, anytime, anywhere.

Functionality

Video on demand (VOD) systems let users watch shows and movies on devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones. These systems work like portable media players or DVD players, letting users fast-forward and rewind videos. Some VOD services store shows on hard disks and use memory buffers to improve playback.

Cable companies have created their own VOD apps, such as NBC's Peacock and CBS's Paramount+, to offer television access on Internet-connected devices. These apps also combine VOD with live streaming services. Streaming video servers can reach many people, but the speed might not always be fast. Download VOD services work best in homes with cable modems or DSL connections.

History

See also: Streaming media and Original net animation

Development and early constraints

Video on demand services started in the early 1990s. Before this, it was thought impossible to send TV shows over phone wires because it needed much more data than a phone could handle.

VOD became possible because of two big inventions: a way to shrink TV data using special codes and faster internet connections through phone wires.

Early plans and trials

People had ideas for VOD as early as 1986, but the first tests used regular TV cables. One test in the UK used special players that worked like jukeboxes. Other tests used tapes to send videos. By the 1990s, companies like IBM and Bell Atlantic were testing new ways to send videos over internet connections.

United States regulatory and infrastructure developments

In the US, changes in rules in the 1980s let smaller phone companies try new video services. This led to many tests to see how well VOD would work over phone and TV wires.

Commercial launches

In 1997, a big company tried to mix movies with internet services but it failed. In 1998, a UK company launched the first full VOD service that mixed TV and internet on one box. By the mid-2000s, more companies in the UK and US started their own VOD services, letting people watch shows and movies on computers and TV screens.

System requirements

Unlike regular TV, VOD needed good internet connections with lots of data speed. New technology in 2000 made it easier to send movies over the internet with less data needed.

Rollout at scale

Today, VOD services are common in the United States and many parts of the world. Most internet users in the US watch videos online. Cable companies offer VOD services that let people pause, rewind, and fast-forward shows. Hotels often have VOD services too.

Commercial viability

Making VOD work needed many talks between companies to decide prices and who would make money. Cable companies started offering VOD as part of their subscription packages, letting people watch shows they already got on TV, but on demand. Some packages also had extra content.

Role of peer-to-peer file sharing

Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software helps share videos and movies without the high costs of traditional methods. This showed that it is possible to offer almost any movie ever made to viewers. Because these services were popular and easy to use, they may have helped create newer video-on-demand services. Some platforms like Spotify use P2P to grow better, and Netflix looked into using this method to handle issues with net neutrality from downstream providers.

Types

See also: Streaming media

Advertising video on demand (AVOD)

Advertising video on demand (AVOD) uses ads to pay for content. This lets companies that show ads on TV and cable reach people who watch shows using VOD. This model also lets people watch shows without paying subscription fees. Hulu was a big AVOD company before it stopped its free service in August 2016, moving it to Yahoo! View using the old Hulu system. Crackle adds ads that match the show being watched.

Data analysis

When tech companies add SVOD apps to devices like phones, tablets, TVs, game systems, and computers, it makes it easier for people to watch shows. This also helps companies learn what people watch. By learning this, companies can buy more shows that people like and advertise products that match what people watch. This data tells researchers what people watch, when they watch it, what they watch next, and even how many people watch the same show at the same time over days, months, and years.

Ad-supported video on demand (ASVOD)

Ad-Supported Video on Demand (ASVOD) gives free shows that are paid for with ads. Popular services include Pluto TV, Xumo, the Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Freevee, Popcornflix, Crackle, Tubi, Movies Anywhere, Vudu, Dailymotion, and YouTube. Walmart is adding ASVOD shows to Vudu, and YouTube Originals will be ASVOD by 2020.^{[needs update]}

Near video on demand (NVOD)

Near video on demand (NVOD) is a way for TV companies to let people watch shows almost right away. They show many copies of a show at short times apart, like every 10–20 minutes, on regular TV channels. This makes it easy for viewers to watch without having to be at the right time.

Viewers only need to wait a few minutes for the next copy of a movie to start. This needs a lot of space and reduces the number of channels a company can offer. It is mostly used by big companies with extra space. This way of watching shows has become less popular as VOD became more common, and TV companies want to give their internet services the most space possible.

Only satellite services like DirecTV and Dish Network still offer NVOD because they do not give internet services, and many of their customers only have slow internet that cannot stream movies or has limits on how much they can use. Before VOD became popular, cable pay-per-view company In Demand offered up to 40 channels in 2002, with several movies on four channels at once to give the NVOD feeling. By 2018, most cable pay-per-view channels had only 3–5 and were mostly used for live sports events like boxing and wrestling, comedy shows, and concerts. But these are becoming less popular because streaming services offer better deals to performers, and sports groups like UFC and WWE now sell their shows directly through services like ESPN+, the WWE Network, and apps from Fox Sports instead of pay-TV companies. In Australia, pay-TV company Foxtel offers NVOD for new movies on their satellite service.

Edge Spectrum, an American company with licenses for low-power broadcasting, plans to use its network and a system of digital video recorders to make it seem like VOD. Most of Edge Spectrum’s channels, when they are on, show televangelism.

Premium video on demand (PVOD)

Premium video on demand (PVOD) is a way to watch shows a few weeks or months before they are normally available, but it costs more. This started in 2011 when American satellite TV company DirecTV tested a service called "Home Premiere," letting people rent movies from big studios for US$30 each, 60 days after they came out in theaters. This only lasted a few months.

PVOD became popular again during the COVID-19 pandemic when many movie theaters closed around the world. Some movies that were already out, like The Invisible Man, were quickly put on VOD for a higher price, while others like Trolls World Tour came out at the same time on PVOD and in drive-in theaters, or only on PVOD.

Usually, these PVOD movies are sold through the same places as regular VOD, but they cost about US$20 for a 48-hour rental. Some studios and services used the name "Home Premiere" for this. Disney used the release of the live-action remake of Mulan in September 2020 to start a service called Premier Access. This cost extra (about US$26–30 depending on the country) on top of a Disney+ subscription, but viewers could keep watching as long as they kept their subscription. For Mulan, this meant a 90-day rental because the movie later became free for all Disney+ subscribers in December.

It has been reported that the pandemic changed how movies are shared, with studios making more money from PVOD than from theaters. Theater owners like AMC and Cinemark, and companies like IMAX and National CineMedia, lost a lot of money when theaters closed during COVID-19.

Push video on demand

Push video on demand (Push VOD) is when the company sends shows to a viewer’s TV box without the viewer asking for them. This is used by TV companies that do not have strong internet connections to give true VOD. Push VOD is also used by companies that want to put popular shows on people’s TV boxes before they ask for them. If a viewer wants to watch one of these shows, it is already there.

A push VOD system uses a personal video recorder (PVR) to store shows, often sent at night or all day using little internet space. Viewers can watch these stored shows when they want, right away without waiting. Push VOD needs the viewer to record shows, so there may be limited choices.

Subscription models (SVOD)

See also: Over-the-top media service and List of streaming media services

Subscription video on demand (SVOD) services charge a regular fee for unlimited shows. Examples include Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, BET+, BritBox, Canal+, Coupang Play, Crunchyroll, Discovery+, Disney+, Fandango at Home, GulliMax, Hayu, HBO Max, Hidive, Hulu, iQIYI, iWant, JioHotstar, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, SonyLIV, Star+, TVING, Viu, and ZEE5.

Economics of SVOD

Movie theater visits went down during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, worldwide theater earnings were 11.4 billion dollars, but in 2020, they were only 2.2 billion. To bring people back and because it costs a lot to make and advertise movies, it can be hard to know how much money to spend on a movie. VOD can have three ways of releasing movies: at the same time in theaters and on VOD, a day before in VOD, or only on VOD. Movie companies can earn money from these releases until people stop watching. After that, they can sell the shows to other streaming services and earn more money for a little while.

In 2013, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said, "When we start in a place the BitTorrent use goes down as Netflix use goes up." This means that as more people use SVOD, fewer people use online piracy, which helps production companies earn more money.

Behavior detrimental to SVOD revenue

Online piracy hurts companies that make digital shows. A study gave free SVOD subscriptions to people who used BitTorrent. The study showed that these people’s internet speeds went down with a free subscription, but it could not prove they used BitTorrent less.

Transactional video on demand (TVOD)

Transactional video on demand (TVOD) is when customers pay for each show or movie they watch. TVOD has two types: electronic sell-through (EST), where customers can keep a show forever after buying it online; and download to rent (DTR), where customers can watch a show for a limited time after renting it. Examples of TVOD services include the Apple iTunes Store and the Google Play Store, as well as VOD rentals from multichannel television (like cable or satellite) companies.