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INDUSTRY WATCH
close examination. For example, is video start-
up time important? For sites delivering news
it’s absolutely up there, but for sites focusing
on movies a smooth consistent streaming
experience with a high perceptual quality is
probably more important.
Akamai has conducted a number of studies
looking at the impact of stream quality on
audience engagement and retention, and
Secondly, media companies need to think
about the dynamics of delivery. Stream
delivery needs to be consistent, at the highest
possible resolution for the target device and
capable of dealing with any amount scale.
Thirdly, media companies need access to
analytics. If things do go wrong, companies
need to be able to efficiently diagnose the
issues and deal with them.
THE MARKET FOR LIVE
AND VOD STREAMING IS
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE
AND IN MANY COUNTRIES
ALMOST SATURATED.
we found that delivering a high resolution
video on a connected TV (above 5Mbps),
can engage a viewer in a storyline by up to
11% more than a low resolution stream (less
than 1.8Mbps).
We’ve actually found that a stream buffer can
decrease viewer engagement by up to 19%.
Video stream quality can also have a longer
term detrimental impact on the brand and is
one of the main reasons for viewer churn.
To help media companies understand
what ‘good’ looks like we’ve recently
released a paper that reviews a range of key
performance indicators against different
devices, different networks and across
different content genres.
Is it possible to achieve live
streaming at broadcast quality?
Yes, it is and the recent success of
broadcasters around the world delivering
the World Cup proves that. It does
require media companies to think slightly
differently about delivery however. The
challenge is really three-fold. Firstly,
ingesting a high resolution simulcast or live
stream into a CDN can be a complex task.
Companies need to think about ingesting
the highest possible bit rate, reliably and
with minimal latency.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Akamai has developed a range of
technologies over the past few years to
deal with these challenges such as our Live
Origin ingest service, media acceleration
technologies and advanced analytics all of
which help companies deliver a better than
TV experience.
How is it possible to handle sudden
spikes in traffic?
One of the challenges of delivering a live
stream especially with sports is you will have
a very high peak in audience numbers. For
example, with football matches we often see
almost 90–95% of the audience starting
to watch within 60 seconds or less before
kick-off. To deal with that, media companies
need to work with a delivery partner that can
handle these large traffic spikes. One of our
unique strengths is we are the most highly
distributed cloud platform in the world. With
over 240,000 plus servers located in 1,700
networks across 140 countries, we are able to
deal with significant spikes in traffic or surges
in audience numbers for our customers.
How can analytics be used to provide
visibility into video performance?
Good actionable insight is one of the most
important factors when delivering streamed
video. There are three aspects to consider.
Firstly, analytics can help to test services
before they go live. Being able to simulate
expected audience loads throughout the
workflow is critical. Testing services that
provide detailed actionable insights will
mitigate problems before they even arise.
Secondly, analytics that provide insight
into video metrics is crucial. It’s important
to be able to understand if problems are
occurring, why are they occurring and to
deal with them adequately. For example, if
the audience of a particular programme is
experiencing delivery challenges such as
a rise in buffering in a particular location,
good analytics will allow you to diagnose,
manage and resolve any issues.
The third aspect is ongoing performance
analysis into the way viewers are using and
engaging with a website or application to
search, buy or view content. By optimising
images or understanding the flow of the
engagement process, media companies
can keep viewers returning to their services.
Akamai has innovated and invested into all
of these areas as it’s a critical part of our
customers service environment. Taking a
360 degree approach to analytics across
the entire service stack is essential and in
a highly competitive market, can be the
difference between success or failure. n
THERE IS A
VERY LARGE
ON-LINE
AUDIENCE
LOOKING FOR
NEW CONTENT
EXPERIENCES
BUT THAT
DOESN’T
NECESSARILY
GUARANTEE
SUCCESS.
www.intelligentcio.com