At this week’s OTT Question Time we assessed the impact of OTT streaming on the environment. This is a complex, multi-faceted issue and we covered a lot of information including:

• The current lay of the land: how much OTT streaming is actually going? How has this increased over the past few years and even in 2020 alone as people have been at home more due to the pandemic?
• What does that translate to in terms of energy consumption? Can we put that into context against other forms of energy consumption like transport, aviation, farming etc.?  
• How exactly does OTT streaming impact the environment? Is it just a case of energy consumption or do we include the entire supply chain of building, selling and repairing related hardware (like servers, TVs, smartphones, tablets, cameras and even routers) in the mix?
• If we do include hardware, how are those devices are made? What resources, including precious metals, does it take to create a TV or smartphone or tablet?
• And what about producing content for broadcasters and OTT streaming services? Should we be more mindful of the environment and reduce the amount of on-location shooting and travel to help reduce the industry’s carbon footprint?
• Ultimately, how can we all, as consumers and as an industry, reduce the environmental impact of OTT streaming?

Joining our panel were Luke Gaydon, co-founder of Terra Neutra and Head of Business Development for Sports at Accedo, Lars Larsson, CEO at Varnish Software, Maria Ingold, CEO at Mireality and Gulliver Smithers, CTO at RampRate IT. 

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