CDN - New Video Broadcast Standard
On April 25, the world premiere of the 6th season of the Game of Thrones series took place. Together with the rest of the world, the continuation of the cult saga became available to viewers of MegaFon.TV. The expected surge of audience interest is a serious test for the MegaFon network, which will deliver terabytes of video content to subscribers without loss of quality. The solution of this extremely difficult task is the own decision of the CDN. How to show the film qualitatively via the Internet and discourage the user from contacting torrents - company representatives Alexey Sechkin and Yevgeny Denisov are talking about this.
The release of “hot” new products like the next season of “Game of Thrones” and the opportunity to watch them legally via the Internet in HD quality - all this testifies to the significant qualitative leap that the Russian online broadcast market has done in recent years. He stood firmly on his feet, found his users and follows the general world trends, the main ones of which are the legality of the content and the ability to watch it from any device, in high quality, without resorting to loading on the media.
This is confirmed by the figures: according to research by iKS-Consulting , the Russian online video market has become the largest in Europe, and the number of unique viewers of Russian licensed video services has reached 60 million. The growth of legal video services in RuNet continues, and the arrival of Netflix, the world leader in VoD, to Russia is another confirmation of this.
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And although not all Russian users agree to part with the video “for free” from torrents, nevertheless the number of people decreases. And there are objective reasons for this - the development of gadgets, the mobile Internet and, of course, the active struggle against pirated content by copyright holders and the regulator.
General Director of the Association "Internet video" Alexey Bardin :
All this suggests that the volume of video traffic will only increase, which means the problem of its delivery to the end user will be all the more relevant.
Taking into account global and Russian trends, the problem of the technical readiness of Russian operators' networks to pass large volumes of traffic is becoming more acute.
Delivering video without using a distributed network implies a powerful source server and a wide Internet channel to it. However, with an increase in the number of requests, there is a risk of overloading the channel or server.
There can be no compromise for the viewer: either you provide the traffic with high definition, without “glitches”, buffering and scattering into pixels, or you do not do it at all. This can be achieved only with the help of a distributed content delivery network, either privately or through outsourcing.
Until recently, the question of which decision to choose a video broadcaster - one’s own or a rented one - was practically not. Almost all large content providers developed their own solution on their infrastructure (some continue to do so to this day).
However, in the case of the development of the infrastructure of its own network, additional costs for its creation and support arose.
Recently, the situation has changed. First, the acquisition of foreign network equipment, together with a jump in the exchange rate, has become an expensive investment. Secondly, traffic and geography of views grow at an explosive pace, and the cycle of purchasing equipment that can last up to six months may simply not keep pace with them. Therefore, now even top video recorders use the CDN service or shift this network, at least, the task of transmitting peak events.
With the help of CDN, video broadcasters, on the one hand, reduce costs, and on the other, significantly expand the coverage and improve the quality of broadcasts.
At the expense of the CDN network investment may be reduced by an order of magnitude.
There are two types of video content delivery: streaming (Broadcasting) and video download on demand (VOD - Video on Demand).
In the case of streaming broadcasting, which is a continuous broadcast in real time, the CDN network takes the video stream from the source (server, camera, software), processes it in various formats, multiplies and delivers to the player the user from the CDN node nearest to it.
To display video on demand via CDN, a demanded static file is loaded into the cache of CDN nodes and also sent to the subscriber's device from the nearest server.
It is a mistake to believe that the CDN service for the delivery of its content is advisable to use only large media resources. The realities are such that CDN will be in demand for any video, in case it needs to be delivered to users located in another region or even a city.
MegaFon not only offers the CDN service on the market, but also, of course, actively applies it in its media projects. Therefore, we have a great opportunity to show the effect of using a CDN for broadcasting video content on the example of our own cases.
In 2015, via CDN, TV content was broadcast as part of the WiFire project of MegaFon's NetByNet subsidiary. Following several months, the following results were recorded.
Also in 2015, the updated MegaFon.TV service was introduced, which immediately got on the CDN rails. Within literally half a year, the service gained popularity, which was reflected in the growth of the subscriber base and the amount of downloadable traffic. In April 2016, the CDN network sent 1,242 Terabytes of video to MegaFon subscribers. In January, the service withstood the traditional increased load, which fell on December 31 - January 1, when about 67 Terabytes were downloaded.
Successfully coping with the growing volume of downloadable traffic, the service attracted new viewers. In April, the number of unique viewers per hour was almost 60 thousand people per day. On New Year's Day, December 31 - January 1, the number of unique visitors amounted to 273 thousand people.
The show of the first episode of the 6th season “Game of Thrones” at once broke the records of attendance and MegaFon.TV downloaded traffic on CDN. For the first two days after the premiere (April 24, 25), the number of unique visitors was 427 thousand people, i.e. more than one and a half times more than on the New Year. The volume of downloaded traffic was 126 terabytes, i.e. 2 times more than in the New Year.
The practice of MegaFon shows that CDN technology, if not directly, then significantly affects such basic target video resource KPIs as traffic attendance, traffic, and efficiency of broadcasting top events. CDN allows you to successfully withstand the peaks of the audience surge during the top events, when the load increases 10-15 times. But the new tests are still ahead - for 2016 the next record of spectator interest in Internet broadcasts is predicted - during the European Football Championship and the Olympics.
MegaFon.TV and CDN MegaFon are ready for this. And your video resource?
Online video in Russia and in the world
The release of “hot” new products like the next season of “Game of Thrones” and the opportunity to watch them legally via the Internet in HD quality - all this testifies to the significant qualitative leap that the Russian online broadcast market has done in recent years. He stood firmly on his feet, found his users and follows the general world trends, the main ones of which are the legality of the content and the ability to watch it from any device, in high quality, without resorting to loading on the media.
This is confirmed by the figures: according to research by iKS-Consulting , the Russian online video market has become the largest in Europe, and the number of unique viewers of Russian licensed video services has reached 60 million. The growth of legal video services in RuNet continues, and the arrival of Netflix, the world leader in VoD, to Russia is another confirmation of this.
')
And although not all Russian users agree to part with the video “for free” from torrents, nevertheless the number of people decreases. And there are objective reasons for this - the development of gadgets, the mobile Internet and, of course, the active struggle against pirated content by copyright holders and the regulator.
General Director of the Association "Internet video" Alexey Bardin :
In the heyday of the DVD-market, which undoubtedly was paid (and people paid for real money and pirated, and legal disks for legal disks), its income was $ 3 billion. In 2014, the entire market for legal Internet distribution of content brought about 125 billion rubles, that is, about 2 billion dollars at the current rate. So talk about the fact that our users are not willing to pay for anything is a myth that is diligently distributed by pirates and replicated by the media.CISCO company in its report "Visual Network Development Index" predicts an increase in video traffic from 2014 to 2019 6 times. The main drivers for the growth of video content in Russia and in the world are now such technical achievements as, for example, super high resolution video. By 2019, the share of HD and Ultra HD will increase to 70%. For comparison, in 2014 the share was 34%. It is already clear that in the near future, spherical and circular video technologies and virtual reality platforms will give growth impetus.
All this suggests that the volume of video traffic will only increase, which means the problem of its delivery to the end user will be all the more relevant.
Build a network or not?
Taking into account global and Russian trends, the problem of the technical readiness of Russian operators' networks to pass large volumes of traffic is becoming more acute.
Delivering video without using a distributed network implies a powerful source server and a wide Internet channel to it. However, with an increase in the number of requests, there is a risk of overloading the channel or server.
There can be no compromise for the viewer: either you provide the traffic with high definition, without “glitches”, buffering and scattering into pixels, or you do not do it at all. This can be achieved only with the help of a distributed content delivery network, either privately or through outsourcing.
Until recently, the question of which decision to choose a video broadcaster - one’s own or a rented one - was practically not. Almost all large content providers developed their own solution on their infrastructure (some continue to do so to this day).
However, in the case of the development of the infrastructure of its own network, additional costs for its creation and support arose.
Recently, the situation has changed. First, the acquisition of foreign network equipment, together with a jump in the exchange rate, has become an expensive investment. Secondly, traffic and geography of views grow at an explosive pace, and the cycle of purchasing equipment that can last up to six months may simply not keep pace with them. Therefore, now even top video recorders use the CDN service or shift this network, at least, the task of transmitting peak events.
With the help of CDN, video broadcasters, on the one hand, reduce costs, and on the other, significantly expand the coverage and improve the quality of broadcasts.
At the expense of the CDN network investment may be reduced by an order of magnitude.
How video content is delivered via CDN
There are two types of video content delivery: streaming (Broadcasting) and video download on demand (VOD - Video on Demand).
In the case of streaming broadcasting, which is a continuous broadcast in real time, the CDN network takes the video stream from the source (server, camera, software), processes it in various formats, multiplies and delivers to the player the user from the CDN node nearest to it.
To display video on demand via CDN, a demanded static file is loaded into the cache of CDN nodes and also sent to the subscriber's device from the nearest server.
It is a mistake to believe that the CDN service for the delivery of its content is advisable to use only large media resources. The realities are such that CDN will be in demand for any video, in case it needs to be delivered to users located in another region or even a city.
Using CDN in MegaFon projects
MegaFon not only offers the CDN service on the market, but also, of course, actively applies it in its media projects. Therefore, we have a great opportunity to show the effect of using a CDN for broadcasting video content on the example of our own cases.
In 2015, via CDN, TV content was broadcast as part of the WiFire project of MegaFon's NetByNet subsidiary. Following several months, the following results were recorded.
Also in 2015, the updated MegaFon.TV service was introduced, which immediately got on the CDN rails. Within literally half a year, the service gained popularity, which was reflected in the growth of the subscriber base and the amount of downloadable traffic. In April 2016, the CDN network sent 1,242 Terabytes of video to MegaFon subscribers. In January, the service withstood the traditional increased load, which fell on December 31 - January 1, when about 67 Terabytes were downloaded.
Successfully coping with the growing volume of downloadable traffic, the service attracted new viewers. In April, the number of unique viewers per hour was almost 60 thousand people per day. On New Year's Day, December 31 - January 1, the number of unique visitors amounted to 273 thousand people.
The show of the first episode of the 6th season “Game of Thrones” at once broke the records of attendance and MegaFon.TV downloaded traffic on CDN. For the first two days after the premiere (April 24, 25), the number of unique visitors was 427 thousand people, i.e. more than one and a half times more than on the New Year. The volume of downloaded traffic was 126 terabytes, i.e. 2 times more than in the New Year.
The practice of MegaFon shows that CDN technology, if not directly, then significantly affects such basic target video resource KPIs as traffic attendance, traffic, and efficiency of broadcasting top events. CDN allows you to successfully withstand the peaks of the audience surge during the top events, when the load increases 10-15 times. But the new tests are still ahead - for 2016 the next record of spectator interest in Internet broadcasts is predicted - during the European Football Championship and the Olympics.
MegaFon.TV and CDN MegaFon are ready for this. And your video resource?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/283358/
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