Video on demand (VOD)
Video on demand (VOD) is video that viewers can watch whenever they choose, rather than at a scheduled broadcast time. The content is recorded, stored and streamed when a viewer presses play, with options to pause, rewind and skip. Streaming movies, online courses and recorded webinars are all examples of VOD.
Why it matters
VOD turns a video library into an asset that earns money every time someone presses play. It powers subscriptions, rentals and ad revenue, and keeps learners or customers coming back. The trade-off is ongoing cost: every title must be stored, encoded in several versions and delivered on request. That ongoing cost has two lines on FastPix, storage and minutes watched, and volume discounts apply automatically once usage passes 100,000 minutes.
How it works
- A team uploads or imports a finished video file into a hosting or video platform.
- The platform encodes the file into several quality levels so it plays well on any device and connection.
- The encoded versions are stored and cached on a CDN (a network of servers close to viewers).
- When a viewer presses play, the player requests the video and picks the quality that fits their connection.
- Viewers can pause, rewind or skip at any point, because the whole video already exists.
VOD vs live streaming: what is the difference?
VOD plays recorded video whenever the viewer chooses, while live streaming sends video as the event happens. VOD lets viewers pause, rewind and skip through the full file. Live streaming shares one moment with everyone at once, which suits sports, launches and town halls. Many services use both: they stream an event live, then save the recording as VOD for people who missed it.
What are the types of VOD?
The three main VOD business models are SVOD, AVOD and TVOD. SVOD (subscription video on demand) charges a monthly fee for the whole library. AVOD (advertising video on demand) is free to watch and earns money from ads. TVOD (transactional video on demand) charges per title, as a rental or purchase. Many services mix these, for example a free ad tier alongside a paid subscription.
How do I start a VOD platform?
To start a VOD platform, you need content, a way to host and stream it, and a way to charge for it. Most businesses use a video platform or video API for upload, encoding and playback rather than building it in-house. Then add a player in your website or app, sign-in and payments for SVOD or TVOD, and analytics to see what people actually watch. The video side of that flow can be one FastPix API call covering upload, encoding, storage and delivery, and the free plan encodes up to 10 videos for a first test.
Where it's used
OTT services build film and series libraries on VOD, while online learning platforms and SaaS products offer recorded courses, webinars and tutorials that people watch at their own pace.
Where it usually goes wrong, and how FastPix handles it
Teams often stitch VOD together from separate tools for upload, encoding, storage and playback. Each handoff adds code to maintain, and a failure in one step is hard to trace.
FastPix's On-Demand API covers upload, import, encoding and playback of video files. Uploads can be chunked and resumed, a signed video.media.ready webhook fires when a file is ready, and videos are delivered as HLS. There is one integration to maintain instead of several, and one place to look when a video fails.
By the numbers
- The BBC's iPlayer on-demand service launched on 25 December 2007. (Video on demand (Wikipedia))
Related reading
Watch: How FastPix VOD Dashboard Works | Upload, Play & Transform Videos Easily
