The Evolution of Video Streaming and Digital Content Delivery

How we consume and receive digital media – such as video streams, VOIP information, photos, live TV broadcasts – is the latest frontier in digital infrastructure innovation. Now that consumers can experience a variety of content at home and on mobile devices, which technology investments must be made to ensure quality and consistent delivery? What opportunities are created for consumers across sectors of the economy such as healthcare, education, and entertainment, and what might be the obstacles for the companies building the delivery systems and creating the content riding over them? How might the FCC best protect consumers in such complex content delivery systems? And how might content such as video streaming – that has higher data usage than other forms of Internet material – impact a national broadband system that already faces high and growing demand?

On May 2, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings hosted a panel of industry experts to address the future of digital content delivery in the United States, including discussion on how the explosion of video streaming is changing how we consume content. Panel discussants also focused on findings and data from the forthcoming paper “Video Streaming and Content Delivery,” authored by Governance Studies Vice President Darrell West.