How It All Began

Today, if we want to watch a music video of a hit song, we do not download it; instead, we load the video on YouTube. Through streaming, we could avoid the hassle of downloading files, thus saving time, effort, and tons of data. But how did this technology start?

Radio Telegraphy

Photograph was taken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, photo number: GHQ SWPA SC 43 5901 by T/4 Harold Newman., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Radio

It all started with radiotelegraphy or the transmission of signals through radio waves. In 1986, Guglielmo Marconi obtained a patent for his invention of the first radio transmitters and receivers. By sending signals without electrical lines, the radio became an indispensable communication tool for maritime transport, in wars, and in 1916, to communicate weather patterns from Wisconsin. It was also then that the world saw the opportunity radio holds for more purposes.

Muzak

Harris & Ewing, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1920, George O. Squier, a U.S. Major General, had perfected a way of transmitting and distributing signals, which led to the development of Muzak. A subscription-based technology that allowed consumers to listen to music through their telephones. However, Muzak was not widely accepted by the consumers because of the hype about the radio. With this in mind, the company explored other opportunities and became background music for public spaces such as malls, elevators, and the likes.

Television

In July 1928, the television debuted, but very few owned a set due to its expensiveness. In 1962, several broadcasting providers appeared, which caused a large drop in the prices of TV, and by this time, about 92% of American homes owned TV sets.

21st Century Streaming

Due to the increased Internet access by the end of the 1990s and the advances in computer technology, more efficient yet affordable devices were made available to the public. As a result, streaming has now become a part of our everyday lives and is still shaping the way we consume media and pop culture.

Check out this infographic:

Infographic

The Birth of Video Streaming

YouTube

Me at the Zoo was the first video ever uploaded to Youtube way back in April 23, 2005

In February 2005, Chad Hurley registered the trademark, logo, and domain of YouTube and launched to a small subset of users. By December 2005, YouTube was made available to the public and was hitting 8M views per day. By 2006, the website was acquired by Google for $1.6B, and today, it has 2 billion active users with 720,000 hours of video uploaded daily.

Netflix

It was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. Netflix began offering subscription services in 1999, where consumers can choose movies and shows through their website, which would then arrive in the form of DVDs at their own homes. However, by this time, TV was still the crowd-favorite, which caused Netflix to gain a small number of subscribers. In 2007, Netflix launched its online unlimited streaming service, and by 2010, it discontinued the delivery of DVDs. In 2016, Netflix expanded its coverage in more than 190 countries, and today, there are around 195.5M subscribers worldwide.

iWant TFC

Launched in 2010, iWant TFC, formerly iWant and iWant TV, is a local streaming platform operated by ABS-CBN. Through subscription, premium users could stream original films and series, as well as content from ABS-CBN’s broadcast properties.

iFlix

Funded by an international investment firm, Catcha Group, and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, iFlix launched in the Philippines in May 2015. In July of the same year, the platform gained over 100,000 subscribers in Southeast Asia, becoming Asia’s fastest-growing Internet service.

Video Streaming Services

Disrupting the DVD, TV, and Cinema Industry Since 2010