The present study investigates the effects of smart speaker usage on consumers' digital content search, purchase, and consumption behaviors. Using a unique panel data set comprising information on ...household patterns of digital content (e.g., video on demand VOD) transactions and consumption and smart speaker usage, we found that the adoption of smart speakers is positively associated with the increased purchase of digital content but negatively related to the average rate of content completion. More specifically, we found that VOD content-related expenditures increased by 21.5% following smart speaker adoption but the average consumption of VOD content purchased decreased by 3.0%. We also examined millions of data points on TV remote-control use and conducted a survey via MTurk to support the validity of the findings. Smart speaker usage can reduce search costs, which subsequently increases search incidence and conversion rates, behavioral changes that can lead to a rise in purchases. We further show that the use of smart speakers for purposes other than information seeking is positively associated with purchases. We develop insights on how to elicit economic value from voice recognition technologies and provide implications for the design and implementation of effective voice commerce strategies.
We introduce a free-viewpoint rendering method - HumanNeRF - that works on a given monocular video of a human performing complex body motions, e.g. a video from YouTube. Our method enables pausing ...the video at any frame and rendering the subject from arbitrary new camera viewpoints or even a full 360-degree camera path for that particular frame and body pose. This task is particularly challenging, as it requires synthesizing photorealistic details of the body, as seen from various camera angles that may not exist in the input video, as well as synthesizing fine details such as cloth folds and facial appearance. Our method optimizes for a volumetric representation of the person in a canonical T-pose, in concert with a motion field that maps the estimated canonical representation to every frame of the video via backward warps. The motion field is decomposed into skeletal rigid and non-rigid motions, produced by deep networks. We show significant performance improvements over prior work, and compelling examples of free-viewpoint renderings from monocular video of moving humans in challenging uncontrolled capture scenarios.
The Advertisement-based Video on Demand (AVoD) model has attracted the interest of major streaming players aiming to expand their audience reach. However, this prospect is threatened by the ...escalating trend of viewers actively avoiding video commercials. Such behavior poses challenges to advertisers and raises concerns about the economic sustainability of AVoD platforms. Despite its significance, the existing literature lacks in-depth studies on effective ad management in AVoD platforms. In this paper, we address the research question: Can overlay advertising be the key to engaging viewers with ads while watching media content on AVoD platforms? To answer this question, we conducted an experimental assessment using advanced eye-tracking technologies to analyze viewers’ responses to personalized and generic overlay ads. The obtained results show that generic overlay ads do not effectively engage viewers, whereas personalized overlay commercials obtain significant results. Furthermore, we present a feasibility design study of the AVoD architecture, showcasing its capability to manage and display personalized overlay advertising. In summary, our findings suggest a promising path to establish meaningful engagement between viewers and commercials, thus enhancing AVoD platforms’ appeal to advertisers.
•An approach to display ads in AVoD platforms was proposed.•Eye tracking technologies were used to measure the viewersads engagement.•A questionnaire was used to investigate the viewers’ perception towards overlay ads.•A between-subjects experiment was performed using 52 volunteers.•Viewers were engaged to personalized overlay ads, but not to generic overlay ads.
The recent past has witnessed tremendous advances in the fields of storage computing and communication technology, enabling the realization of multimedia service networks. These networks lead to ...rapid consumption of network bandwidth due to the voluminous transfer of real-time data. An example of a multimedia service network is the Video-On-Demand service which enables the streaming of video on demand. In this paper, we consider the impatient behavior of viewers while waiting for the video and allow a fixed number of servers to take sleep when idle. We observe that idle servers consume a significant amount of energy. Dynamically sending servers into hibernation or sleep shall increase energy efficiency, leading to lower costs incurred by content providers. We enable a fixed number of servers to take a partial synchronous sleep when idle. We model it by a GI/M/c/N queue with abandonment and partial synchronous sleep mode. We propose a cost function for the model and examine the dependence upon the various system parameters. The number of servers that should be commissioned such that the system meets prescribed standards for performance, while minimizing associated cost is determined. Also, the performance measures of the model are compared on a variety of fronts, including cost and energy expended.
Internet video streaming applications have been demanding more bandwidth and higher video quality, especially with the advent of virtual reality and augmented reality appli-cations. While adaptive ...strea ming protocols like MPEG-DASH (dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP) allows video quality to be flexibly adapted, e.g., degraded when mobile network condition deteriorates, this is not an option if the application itself requires guaranteed 4K quality at all time. On the other hand, conventional end-to-end transmission control protocol (TCP) has been struggling in supporting 4K video delivery across long-distance Internet paths containing both fixed and mobile network segments with heterogeneous characteristics. In this paper, we present a novel and practically feasible system architecture named MVP (mobile edge virtualization with adaptive prefetching), which enables content providers to embed their content intelligence as a virtual network function into the mobile network operator's infrastructure edge. Based on this architecture, we present a context-aware adaptive video prefetching scheme in order to achieve quality of experience (QoE)-assured 4K video on demand (VoD) delivery across the global Internet. Through experiments based on a real LTE-A network infrastructure, we demonstrate that our proposed scheme is able to achieve QoE-assured 4K VoD streaming, especially when the video source is located remotely in the public Internet, in which case none of the state-of-the-art solutions is able to support such an objective at global Internet scale.
The rapid development of Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) services in Indonesia makes it promising. The change in consumers’ behavior from watching movies through television channels and cinemas ...to online streaming has encouraged industry players to look for innovation. The research aims to analyze factors influencing the intention to continue using SVoD with Netflix as the case study. The research combines two theories, namely Information System Success (ISS) Model and Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT). The research also adds an aspect of personalization which is one of the characteristics of SVoD services. There are 623 respondents who have used Netflix’s SVoD service at least once (purposive sampling) to participate in the research. The data are analyzed using the covariancebased structural equation model and facilitated using AMOS 26 program. The results indicate that service quality has a positive effect on confirmation. Then, system quality has a positive effect on perceived usefulness, and confirmation has a positive effect on satisfaction. Moreover, satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and personalization positively affect continuance intention to use SVoD services. Based on these results, the research is expected to contribute to SVoD service providers to evaluate their services so that users have the intention to continue using the SVoD services.
Dank der Zunahme an Video-onDemand-Angeboten hat die filmwissenschaftliche Forschung und Lehre einen scheinbar schrankenlosen Zugriff auf ihren zentralen Untersuchungsgegenstand. Allerdings birgt ...diese neue Situation eine ganze Reihe von Problemen und Herausforderungen, nicht nur in rechtlicher, technischer und organisatorischer Hinsicht, sondern ebenso in methodischer und in filmtheoretischer Perspektive. Der Beitrag benennt und skizziert diese Probleme und verweist auf mögliche Lösungen zur Verbesserung der Lage.
While recent platform theory within media and communication studies has been developed around US-based examples, platformization has taken a rather different path in China. Focusing on the video ...streaming service iQiyi, this article asks: What can we learn from approaching Chinese platforms not merely as exception to Western models, but as an opportunity for theory-building around platformization generally? We argue that Chinese online video represents a useful case for rethinking specific elements of platform theory as currently developed in English-language scholarship. Through a close analysis of iQiyi's interface and regulation, we develop two arguments. The first argument concerns the relationship between regulatory environment, market structure, and platform affordances; and the second concerns platform interfaces, personalization, and fragmentation.
Due to the explosive growth in multimedia traffic, the scalability of video-on-demand (VoD) services has become increasingly important. By exploiting the potential cache ability at the client side, ...the performance of VoD multicast delivery can be improved through video segment precaching. In this paper, we address the performance limits of client-caching-enabled VoD schemes in wireless multicast networks with asynchronous requests. Both reactive and proactive systems are investigated. Specifically, for the reactive system where videos are transmitted on demand, we propose a joint cache allocation and multicast delivery scheme to minimize the average bandwidth consumption under the zero-delay constraint. For the proactive system where videos are periodically broadcasted, a joint design of the cache-bandwidth allocation algorithm and the delivery mechanism is developed to minimize the average waiting time under the total bandwidth constraint. In addition to the full access pattern where clients view videos in their entirety, we further consider the access patterns with random endpoints, fixed-size intervals, and downloading demand, respectively. The impacts of different access patterns on the resource-allocation algorithm and the delivery mechanism are elaborated. Simulation results validate the accuracy of the analytical results and also provide useful insights in designing VoD networks with client caching.
The quest for content differentiation and audience engagement is paramount in the competitive landscape of Video-on-Demand (VOD) platforms. The paper proposes a system investigating VOD platform ...series data to recommend actors and themes to VOD vendors. To achieve this, we analyzed the storylines of 72 VOD movie series to extract keywords. Using these keywords, we generated a network using Social Network Analysis. By examining the network, we identified content gaps. After semantic clustering, we utilized TOPSIS to determine keywords with high centrality scores. These are a foundation for connecting peripheral keywords and generating new content. The paper's findings suggest that the proposed content-based recommender system can help VOD platforms create innovative storylines by leveraging structural holes in a TV series content keyword graph. The study also suggests that successful directors take risks by combining different keywords from various network parts. This approach allows them to attract a wider range of audiences and increase their chances of success.
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