BBC has solved ‘streaming lag’ that caused World Cup fury

BBC has solved the iPlayer ‘streaming lag’ problems that caused World Cup viewers to overhear their neighbours celebrating goals up to 45 SECONDS before they saw it (but the update won’t be ready for the Euros in 2020)

  • BBC researchers said they have now managed to ‘eliminate’ the streaming delay
  • They altered the way live data is packaged and processed by BBC iPlayer
  • The broadcaster says it hopes the updated system will be ready by 2022
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The BBC has fixed a problem that meant World Cup fans streaming matches on iPlayer this summer were hit with delays of up to 45 seconds compared to live TV.

The time delay meant some online viewers had the action spoiled when they overheard neighbours celebrating goals they had not yet seen on their feed.

The BBC said it has now managed to ‘eliminate’ the lagging picture by altering the way live data is packaged and processed by its iPlayer streaming platform.

However, the changes won’t be ready to roll-out nationwide for four years, meaning fans watching the Euros online in 2020 will suffer the same delays again.

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The BBC has fixed a problem that meant World Cup fans streaming games on iPlayer in the summer were hit with delays of up to 45 seconds compared to live TV. Pictured is England striker Harry Kane celebrating a goal against Panama during the tournament

More than 43 million people watched a World Cup live stream on the BBC – more than double the number that watched all games online during Euro 2016.

‘Obviously, viewers were frustrated this summer hearing goals go in before they saw them, or finding out about a red card decisions on social media first,’ said Chris Poole, lead research engineer for the BBC’s Research and Development team.

The new iPlayer software changes the way the online streaming platform processes information as it is transferred from live events

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Live TV viewed online is often behind by several seconds because it takes longer to reliably beam video over the internet than to broadcast it.

This is because live terrestrial broadcasts are rarely ‘packetised’ and is instead sent out on the spectrum where anyone can tune-in.

Video streamed online is broken into small packets of data, which are then sent over the internet and reassembled by the recipient’s device.

Each individual viewer online stream is sent these packets of video and audio data.

When these packets are too small, processing each individual packet becomes inefficient for broadcasters.

However, when the snippets of information are too long, it takes longer to send and creates significant delays to live streams.


During England’s historic penalty shootout win over Colombia, the BBC iPlayer delay meant those watching on live TV were celebrating victory while those streaming the game were still waiting for Eric Dier to take his winning penalty (pictured)

HOW HAS THE BBC FIXED ONLINE STREAMING DELAYS?

Video streamed over the internet is often several seconds behind live TV.

This is due to the way data is packaged and transferred for each medium – it takes longer to reliably send video over the internet than to broadcast it.

Video streamed online is broken down into small packets of data, which are bundled and sent over the internet and reassembled by the recipient’s device.

When these packets are too small, processing each individual packet becomes inefficient for broadcasters.

However, when the snippets of information are too long, it takes longer to send and creates significant delays to live streams.

BBC claims it has found a way to make smaller packages that can be passed through the iPlayer system much faster.

It said viewers of the resulting streams see events ‘at the same time as they would see it if they were watching on TV’.

The BBC claims it has found a way to make smaller packages which can be passed through the iPlayer system quickly — and can be used on existing hardware with a simple software update.

It said viewers of the resulting streams see events ‘at the same time as they would see it if they were watching on TV.’

The BBC’s R&D Unit has already carried out preliminary experiments using its new livestreaming software.

The BBC is presenting its results at the International Broadcasting Convention, which started on today in the Netherlands.

‘We’re hoping that the demonstration we’ll be showing at IBC will help accelerate the work taking place across the industry to eliminate long delays from internet streams.’

However, the researchers said the BBC would need the co-operation of the whole broadcasting industry to get the system up and running for viewers nationwide.


More than 43 million people watched a World Cup live stream on the BBC – more than double the number who watched all games online during Euro 2016 (stock image)

The number of people watching online and on mobile devices is on the rise, particularly with millennials and Generation Z viewers.

Around 45 per cent of streams are through mobiles, a shift from years ago when people were streaming through fast broadband, Mr Hall told the Guardian.  

Neil Hall, product team lead for BBC Sport, acknowledged in July that World Cup viewers watching live on mobile devices were facing an average of 20-second delays compared to those watching on BBC One.

This meant that, during England’s historic penalty shootout win over Colombia, those watching on live TV were celebrating victory while those streaming on iPlayer were still waiting for Eric Dier to take his winning penalty.

Mr Hall admitted the delay was ‘one of the big issues in emerging technology’.

Mr Poole said: ‘The days when all media will be distributed over the internet are not too far away. With that in mind, we’re hoping that this work will help to make our internet-streamed live video as good as it can possibly be.’

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