Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
chain - the INDUSTRY, and the perspective of the media consumption chain -
the USER. Behind these two perspectives, there is a technology drive and a busi-
ness drive. The technology drive is to a large extent summarized through efforts
such as the European framework initiative Networked Media and is thus well cov-
ered through research and development. However, Networked Media is not
complete without analysis and understanding of business perspectives [1]. In this
context:
•
The media production/delivery chain represents the business perspectives and
opportunities as well as the needs for investments.
•
The media consumption chain represents the buyers of the media and thus
represents the income potential.
Together, these two perspectives create the media value chain. The relative impor-
tance of each perspective in the media value chain is a chicken and egg problem.
In our analysis, we choose to put the user at the centre of attention considering that
the industry is there to serve the user and must understand their needs and percep-
tion in offered products and services.
The expectations and technical comfort levels of the users have evolved in
terms of complexity, as users are increasingly embracing advanced technologies
which fit their lifestyle (leisure, work and education). In this direction, a typical
user today utilizes an array of digital media providers, services and devices.
The framework to assess the user's behavior and the necessary technology
management is based on assessing the user experience in a consistent way, and
rewarding the user's loyalty through innovative packages and new engaging ser-
vices, and content delivered through their device of choice whenever and wher-
ever they want it. These assessments are crucial for the industry and drive their
innovations and investments in future new digital media and services.
Under these new conditions, the ultimate measure of media communications
and the services they offer is how users perceive the performance and especially
the quality of the media, in technical terms denoted by Quality of Experience
(QoE). QoE is typically the term used to describe the perception of a specific con-
sumer of a given product or service, in terms of added value, usability, and
satisfaction.
In this light, QoE can be defined as the characteristics of the sensations, percep-
tions and expectations of people as they interact with multimedia applications
through their different perceptual sensors (mostly restricted to vision and hearing
in today's audiovisual context). QoE is a combined/aggregated metric that tells if
Quality is good, acceptable or bad. The impact on the business model is obvious
although not always taken into consideration.
A poor QoE will result in unsatisfied users, leading to a poor market perception
and ultimately, brand dilution. Being able to quantify the QoE as perceived by
end-users can play a major role in the success of future media services, both for
the companies deploying them and with respect to the satisfaction of end-users
that use and pay for the services [2].
In our definition, we will view the media sector as consisting of four major
industries:
