VVC standard streamlines single-decoder multiview for personalized streaming sports

This development shifts multiview processing from the server to the edge, potentially lowering infrastructure costs for live streamers. By utilizing a single hardware decoder to handle multiple synchronized feeds, VVC bypasses the resource-heavy 'composite stream' approach used by legacy multiview services. This is a critical technical bridge for personalized sports broadcasting, enabling broadcasters to offer 'director-level' control without maintaining thousands of unique server-side feed combinations. Success depends on the penetration of VVC-capable hardware in consumer devices, which remains the primary bottleneck for widespread adoption.

VVC adoption is increasingly polarized between broadcast mandates and streaming hesitation. Per Streaming Media Global (March 2026), Brazil’s TV 3.0 standard has formally locked in VVC as its primary video codec for free-to-air services, aiming for broad availability by the 2026 World Cup. Similarly, Japan’s NHK has integrated multi-layer VVC for 8K delivery. However, in the OTT space, VVC faces a steeper climb. NETINT’s 2026 state of encoding survey found that while 29% of organizations are evaluating VVC, only 4% have reached production deployment, largely due to a fragmented licensing landscape and the rise of royalty-free alternatives like AV1.

Hardware support is the necessary precursor for the single-player multiview application Nokia describes. According to MC-IF (December 2025), mobile SoC leaders Qualcomm and MediaTek, who combined control over 50% of the market, are the key gatekeepers. While flagship smartphones began integrating VVC hardware decoders in late 2025, broader market penetration is not expected until 2027. This follows the historical trend seen with HEVC, which took four years from finalization to achieve native support in Apple’s iOS.

Competitive multiview solutions currently rely on server-side heavy lifting. For instance, YouTube TV’s customizable multiview, which began a wider rollout in April 2026 per GadgetHacks, uses server-side compositing to combine streams into a single feed before delivery. This ensures compatibility with older hardware like Chromecasts and Rokus but limits customization to specific channel pools. VVC’s subpicture architecture specifically targets this limitation, moving the logic to the device to allow truly arbitrary feed combinations without increasing the server-side encoding burden.