Content is king, and these days, video content is more popular than ever. Whether it’s a viral video enjoyed on a social media site, a binged TV show, live sports streamed from a popular platform, or content captured from a plethora of video-enabled sensors, an estimated 80 percent of all internet traffic today is comprised of video data. Video is increasingly integrated within nearly every facet of our lives, and its impact is clear – a recent report from InterDigital and Futuresource Consulting found that the video entertainment industry has nearly double the carbon footprint of the aviation industry. While this statistic is staggering, our research teams at InterDigital are developing innovative solutions to increase the efficiency of broadcast and streaming services and in the process reduce the energy impact associated with our voracious video consumption.
The “glass-to-glass” nature of the video value chain starts when content is captured by a camera lens, then continues through rendering, transmission, distribution, and typically concludes at the end user display. Each aspect of this value chain consumes energy, so cutting-edge innovation is unlocking new ways to drive efficiency and reduce the energy consumed by TVs, smartphones, and consumer electronics that display video.
The Challenge
In 2024, the top devices for consuming video included TVs, set-top-boxes, gaming consoles, smartphones, tablets, and media streamers, and together they consumed more than 357 Terawatt hours (TWh) of energy – more than the annual electricity consumed by the countries of Australia and Norway combined. Though eye-opening, these numbers represent a 17 percent decrease in energy consumption since 2020. In fact, as older devices are replaced by more energy-efficient alternatives, the overall energy consumed by 2028 may decrease by another 12 percent.
Of video-enabled devices, televisions are by far the largest consumers of energy. Televisions have the biggest screens with the most pixels, and each illuminated pixel requires energy. Recent advances have helped broadcasters, streamers and device makers achieve new efficiencies, but TVs energy demands still top the list of all consumer electronics (CE), as producing light efficiently remains a difficult problem to solve.
Looking towards the future, most devices are expected to experience a decline or maintenance of energy consumption by 2028, but smartphones represent an interesting anomaly. Global smartphone use is becoming increasingly pervasive; there are currently roughly 4.8 billion smartphones worldwide. A growing number of video-enabled devices are consuming more and more video content each year, revealing the need for truly innovative solutions to drive efficiency and reduce energy consumption on these battery-constrained devices.
An Innovative Solution
Pixel Value Reduction (PVR), a technology developed by InterDigital, offers a scalable solution to a goliath of a problem.
All device displays consume energy to produce light to show crisp, high-quality video content, and PVR achieves energy savings by intelligently analyzing and lowering the brightness of pixels in a display without impacting perceived image quality. PVR achieves energy reduction in two ways. The first approach prioritizes a “just noticeable difference” to preserve the creative intent and integrity of the content while achieving energy savings. The second approach targets specific levels of energy reduction and can be better targeted to streaming providers who already customize their streams to accommodate customer internet speeds or device characteristics. InterDigital also applies AI expertise to Deep PVR applications to find the optimal balance between image quality and energy savings.
InterDigital’s award-winning research and innovation on PVR has produced some promising outcomes. Not only has PVR been shown to reduce energy consumption on TV displays by up to 15%, but early tests of PVR applied to smartphones have revealed a noticeable extension of the device’s battery life. These improvements and efficiencies inevitably reduce costs for operators and consumers, alongside their positive impact on the environment.
Amid growing video consumption and evolving viewing trends, our devices work hard to satisfy our diverse needs. It’s not ironic that solutions that address the brightness of a tiny pixel can have such a huge impact. In fact, if InterDigital’s PVR technology were applied to all televisions and devices streaming the 2024 Paris Olympics worldwide, we could have saved enough energy to fuel roughly 12,000 European homes for one year. Innovative solutions, at scale, can deliver really meaningful results. At InterDigital, we are proud to lead research and contribute our innovation to standards that can deliver a positive impact to all.