THE9TH

ANNUAL

BITMOVIN

VIDEO

DEVELOPER

REPORT

2025/2026Edition

CONTENTS

Welcome4

Keyfindings6

Methodology8

THESTATEOFTHESTREAMINGINDUSTRY

Thebiggestchallenges12

Innovationandpriorities14

AIandmachinelearning16

VIDEOENCODING

VideoEncoding20

Videocodecs22

Audiocodecs23

Livestreamingformats25

Distributionstreamingformats26

Low-latencystreaming27

Content-awareencoding29

VIDEOPLAYER

Platformsanddevices32

Playercodebase34

Developmentframeworks35

VIDEOANALYTICS

Videoanalyticsproviders38

Videoanalyticsdata40

Videoperformancemetrics41

Developmenttimespent42

Investigatingstreaming-relatedissues43

MONETIZATION,CONTENTPROTECTIONANDDISTRIBUTION

Monetizationmodels46

Adarchitecture47

CDNSolution49

Contentprotection50

andobservabilityissuesmakeplayback

reliabilityandroot-causeanalysisascriticalasever,especiallywiththerisingdemandforliveeventstreamingatscale.

Withnineyearsofdatabehindus,

thisreportdoesnotjusttracktrends,

ithighlightsthelong-termshiftsthat

definehowvideoisbuilt,delivered,and

experienced.Iamproudofwhatourteamandcommunityhavecreated,andgratefultothehundredsofprofessionalswho

sharedtheirtimeandinsights.

Ihopethisyear’sreporthelpsyou

benchmarkyourworkflows,navigate

industrychange,andcontinuebuildingexceptionalstreamingexperiencesforyourviewers.

Welcometo

the9theditionofBitmovin’s

AnnualVideoDeveloper

Report!

I’mproudtointroducethe9theditionof

theVideoDeveloperReport,ourmost

comprehensivetodate,witharefreshed

survey,significantlymoreresponses,andareturntoouroriginalIBCreleasetiminginSeptember.

Onekeyshiftstandsout.Costcontrolhasovertakenadinsertionastheindustry’stopchallenge.Videoteamsareincreasingly

SSAIcontinuestoleadinaddelivery

architectures.Wearealsoexcitedabout

thefutureofSGAIasthenewarchitecturetrendthatenablesricheruserexperiences.Beyondthesurveyfindings,multi-cloud

strategiesarebeginningtogainrelevanceacrosstheindustryasawaytoincreaseresiliencyandflexibility.Thenarrativehasclearlyevolvedfromexperimentationto

optimization.

AnothermajortakeawayisthatAIadoptionisnolongerexperimental,itisstrategicandROI-driven.Fromaccessibilitytodiscovery,personalizationtorecommendations,

AIisbeingdeployedwhereitdeliversmeasurableimpact.Speech-to-

text,tagging,anduserexperience

enhancementsareleadingtheway,whilegenerativeAIuseremainslimited.The

STEFANLEDERER

CEO,Bitmovin

messageisclear.AIismaturingfast,andvideoworkflowsarealreadyreapingthebenefits.

focusedonmanagingbandwidth,

storage,andinfrastructurecosts,evenasmonetizationmodelsdiversify.AVODandSVODarenowinclosecompetition,FASTadoptionremainsstrong,and

Despiteallthisinnovation,reaching

everyscreenwithaconsistentqualityofexperienceremainsaconstantchallenge.

Fragmentedplatforms,devicediversity,

45

67

KEYFINDINGS

Costcontrolandmonetizationpressures

.Controllingcost(bandwidth,storage)isthetopchallengeat38%,narrowlyovertakingadinsertion(35%).

.Regardingmonetizationmodels,AVODandSVODareinnearparity,FASTadoptionremainsstrong,andSSAIistheleadingadarchitecture.

.Comparedto2024’sspikeinadinsertionconcerns,thisyearshowsamorecost-consciousbalanceacrossmonetizationworkflows.

Experienceandreachremaincorepriorities

.Playbackonalldevicesremainsamajoroperationalchallengeduetoongoingplatformanddevicefragmentation.

.Observabilitygapspersist,withroot-causeanalysisforstreamingissuesoftentakinghoursinsteadofminutes.

.Liveencodingatscaleisrisinginimportance,drivenbytheshiftofsportsandeventsfrombroadcasttostreaming,butqualityandreliabilityexpectationsremainhigh.

Workflowanddeliverystrategiesarediversifying

.Resiliencyremainsatoppriority,withmultiplethird-partyCDNsthemostcommondeliverysetuptosafeguardperformanceandavailability.

.Commercialsolutionsaresteadilyreplacingpurein-housebuildsforencoding,DRM,CDNs,andplayers,givingteamsfastertime-to-marketandsupportedfeaturesets.

.Analyticsistheareawherein-houseremainsstrong,asteamscontinuetobuildcustompipelinesanddashboardstoretainflexibilityandcontrolovertheirdata.

.VODencodingcontinuestoleantowardsoftwareinthepubliccloud,whileliveencodingstillreliesheavilyonhardwareappliancesdeployedon-premises.

AIadoptionismainstreamandROI-driven

.ThemostusedAIapplicationsareaudiotranscription/speech-to-text,tagging/categorization,personalization,andrecommendations.

.Onlyasmallminorityreport“noplans”forAI,withadoptionfocusedonaccessibility,discovery,andQoEimprovementsratherthanexperimentalorgenerativeusecases.

89

METHODOLOGY

METHODOLOGY

Methodology

COMPANYSIZEJOBTITLE

Thisisour9thyearofrunningourBitmovin

conductedinJuly2025.Theresponsesprovidedstrongrepresentationoftheglobalmarket,

comingfromadiverserangeofvideodevelopersandindustryexpertsworkingatcompanies

locatedin49differentcountries.Participation

byregionwasledbyEMEAwith43%ofour

participants,followedbyNorthAmericaat31%,theAsiaPacificregionat19%andLatinAmericawith7%oftotalresponses.

Asanumberofthequestionsaremultiple

choice,youwillnoticethatanumberofthese

multiple-choice/answerquestionshavean

aggregatethatwillnotaddupto100%.Inthesecases,thenumberindicatesthepercentage

ofrespondentsthatchoseeachoption.Like

lastyear,wehaveusedarankingoptionfor

anumberofthequestionsandhaveadaptedsomeofthequestionstoalignwiththerecentadvancementsintechnologydevelopment.

Pleasekeepinmindthatthesurveywasopenforeveryonetoparticipate,buttheresultsmaybesomewhatskewedtowardtheBitmovin

customerbase.

VideoDeveloperReport.Thesurveywas

26%27%

1-50

1,000+

15%

51-100

16%

17%

301-1,000101-300

REGION

43%

EMEA

18%

APAC

7%31%

LATAMNORAM

28%

DEVELOPER/ENGINEER

14%

PRODUCT

8%

ARCHITECT/

CONSULTANT

5%

OTHER

26%

MANAGER/CEO/VP

5%

SALES&

14%

TECHNICALMANAGER

MARKETING

INDUSTRY

39%

22%

20%

5%

4%

4%

2%

1%

eSports&Gaming

1%

2%

Other

Entertainment&OTT

SportsTelco

&Cable

Broadcast

eCommerce

News

&Publishing

Health&Fitness

EdTech

&eLearning

TheStateof

theStreamingIndustry

Thestreamingindustryisinconstantflux,requiringvideoteamsto

balancenewstandards,changingworkflowrequirements,andevolvingviewerexpectations.Meanwhile,theeconomicrealitiesofthepastfewyearshaveguidedbusinessdecisions,influencingeverythingfromOTTrevenuemodelstotechnologyadoption.

Thisreportoffersasnapshotoftheindustry’scurrentstate,highlightingkeychallengesandtrends.Ouraimistokeepapulseontheevolving

worldofvideotechfromencodingandplayertechnologiestoanalyticsandmonetizationstrategies.

Don’tforget,youcanjointheconversationonsocialmediausingthishashtag#VideoDeveloperReport

1213

THEBIGGESTCHALLENGES

Whatarethetopthreebiggestchallengesyouareexperiencingwithvideotechnologytoday?

Costcontrolhasemergedasthetop

challengeforvideoteamsin2025,with38%ofrespondentsselectingit,overtakingad

insertionat37%,whichledlastyear.This

shiftreflectsasharperfocusonmanaging

bandwidthandstorageexpensesaseconomicpressurescontinuetoshapestrategy.While

monetizationworkflowsremaincomplex,

theconversationhasbroadenedtoinclude

efficiencygainsacrossthestreamingpipeline.

Playbackonalldevicesremainsamajorissue

at31%,highlightingongoingdifficultiesin

deliveringconsistentexperiencesacrossa

fragmenteddeviceecosystem.Othernotable

challengesincludepinpointingtherootcauseofqualityissues,maintainingconsistentmonitoringandanalytics,andachievinglowlatencyforlivecontent.Together,theseresultsunderscorea

marketbalancinggrowthambitionswiththerealitiesoftighterbudgetsandtheneedtooptimizeexistingworkflows.

THEBIGGESTCHALLENGES

Controllingcost(e.g.,bandwidth,storage)38%

Adinsertion37%

Consistentmonitoringandanalytics31%

Playbackonalldevices31%

Findingtherootcauseofissues27%

QualityofExperience(QoE)forviewers23%

Live(low)latency21%

Viewerengagementwithvideo18%

Watermarking/DigitalRightsManagement(DRM)18%

Delivery(CDNissues)13%

Qualityassuranceandtesting13%

Connectingpointsolutions9%

QualityofService(QoS)withbandwidthrestrictions9%

Sustainability/GreenStreaming6%

Other8%

1415

INNOVATIONANDPRIORITIES

INNOVATIONANDPRIORITIES

Advertising20%

(AI-generated)Recommendations19%

Livestreamingatscale12%

AI-generatedcontentandvideoenhancements10%

Wheredoyouseethemostopportunityforinnovationinyourservice?

Innovationprioritiesin2025centeron

monetization,personalization,andlive

performance.Advertisingleadsat20%,

reflectingapushtomodernizeadtech

stacks,improvetargeting,andboostyieldwithoutcompromisingviewerexperience.AI-drivenrecommendationsat19%signalastrongappetiteforusingmachinelearningtodeepenengagement,retention,and

discovery.Livestreamingatscale(12%)andAI-generatedcontent/enhancementshighlightparallelbetsonoperational

robustnessformajoreventsandcreativeefficiencygainsthroughautomation.

Otherprioritiesincludeimprovingreal-time

experiences,streamanddevicetesting,

andprotectingcontentintegrity,alongside

qualityupgradeslikeHDRandmore

efficientdelivery.Emergingareassuchas

sustainability,extendedreality,VoD-to-Live

workflows,andimmersiveaudioremainniche,eachat3%orless,suggestinginvestmentwillfirstfocusonmonetization,personalization,

andscalablelivedelivery.

Low-andultra-lowlatency

8%

Streamanddevicetesting

6%

Contentprotection

6%

Enhancedcolor(HDRorDolbyVision)

6%

Mediadeliveryanddistribution

5%

Sustainability/GreenStreaming

2%

XR(Virtual/Augmented/MixedReality)applications

2%

Other

2%

VoD-to-Live

2%

Immersiveaudio(i.e.DolbyAtmos)

1%

1617

AIANDMACHINELEARNING

AIANDMACHINELEARNING

Audiotranscriptionandspeech-to-text46%

Personalization35%

Taggingandcategorizingvideo35%

Forwhichofthefollowingvideousecasesdoyouexpecttousemachinelearning(ML)orartificialintelligence(AI)toimprovethevideoexperienceforyourviewers?

AIadoptionin2025issettobeamainfocusformanyservices,withthestrongestfocusonmetadata,accessibility,andpersonalization.

Audiotranscriptionandspeech-to-text

leadsat46%,reflectingapushtoimprove

captions,searchability,andcompliance

atscale.Personalizationandtagging/

categorizationfollowclosely,eachat35%,withrecommendationsalsohighonthelist.

Quality-focusedapplicationsarenext,with

videoqualityoptimizationandQoEamongthetopfiveuses,indicatingteamsareleveraging

AItorefineencodingladders,predictissues,

andtargetfixesbeforeviewerschurn.Computervisionworkflowssuchasobjectdetection,

scene/shotboundaryidentification,andin-

picturelogodetectionarematuring,supportingchaptering,highlights,andbrandsafety.

GenerativeAIisemerging,andweexpectittobeoneofthemainfactorsinfuturereports,

butitstilltrailsthesefoundationalapplications.Finally,only4%reportnoplanstouseAI,

underscoringitsshiftfromexperimentationtocorepipelineinvestment.

Recommendations

33%

Videoqualityoptimization

29%

Objectdetection

26%

Sceneorshotboundaryidentification

23%

QualityofExperience(QoE)

20%

Obscenitydetection/contentcompliance

20%

Generatingvideoorimagecontent

19%

In-picturebrand/logodetection

18%

QualityofService(QoS)

16%

NoplanstouseAI/ML

4%

Other

2%

Video

Encoding

Encodingiswhatmakesstreamingpossible,transformingrawvideocontentintoadigitalformatsuitableforonlinedelivery.Thissectionexplorestrendssurroundinginfrastructuredeployment,videocodecusage,andstreamingprotocoltrends.Wealsoexaminethefactorsdrivingencodingdecisions,suchascost-efficiency,scalability,andtheneedtosupportdiversedevicesandplatforms.

Don’tforget,youcanjointheconversationonsocialmediausingthishashtag#VideoDeveloperReport

2021

VIDEOENCODING

LiveEncodingVODEncoding

SOFTWAREENCODER-PUBLICCLOUD

25%

29%

SOFTWAREENCODING-PRIVATECLOUD/ON-PREMISE

30%

32%

MANAGEDENCODINGSERVICE-PUBLICCLOUD

23%

26%

MANAGEDENCODINGSERVICE-PRIVATECLOUD/ON-PREMISE

17%

15%

HARDWAREENCODERAPPLIANCE-ON-PREMISE

29%

14%

Wheredoyouencodevideo?

Encodingstrategiesarehybrid,balancing

control,cost,andperformance.Privatecloud

oron-premsoftwareleadsforbothLive(30%)andVOD(32%),withhardwareappliances

closebehindforLive(29%)butfarlessforVOD.Publiccloudsoftwareiswidelyusedtohandle

peaksandexpansion,whilemanagedservices,

especiallyinpubliccloud,tradecontrolfor

speedandsimplicity.Livepipelinesfocuson

reliabilityandlowlatency,whileVODemphasizesscale,automation,andefficiency.

VIDEOENCODING

LiveEncodingVODEncoding

COMMERCIALENCODER

48%

38%

OPENSOURCEENCODER

18%

29%

IN-HOUSESOLUTIONBUILTONOPEN-SOURCE

20%

24%

Whattypeofencoderdoyouuse?

Encoderchoicesfollowahybridstrategy

splitbyworkload.Commercialencoders

leadforLive(48%)overVOD(38%),

reflectingthepremiumonreliability,vendorsupport,andreal-timeperformance.VOD

workflowsleantowardflexibilityandcostcontrol,withopen-sourceat29%andin-

housebuildsat24%.LivepipelinesprioritizestabilityunderSLA,whileVODincreasinglyblendsopen-sourceandcustomlayersto

adoptemergingcodecs,optimizecost,andfine-tunequality,oftenwithinthesame

organization’sbroaderencodingstrategy.

2223

VIDEOCODECS

Planningtoimplement

AUDIOCODECS

Planningtoimplement

65%

41%

21%

16%

8%

6%

13%

15%

7%

2%

3%

6%

4%

7%

5%

3%

H.264/AVCH.265/HEVCAV1H.266/VVCVP9MPEG-5/EVCMPEG-5/L