Stream High Definition Media Files, on Media Website, by Integrating a CDN

Zyxware Technologies | Updated 18 Aug 2021 | 2 min read

Eighty percent of the internet website audience already watch some form of video, but mainly in short form; the average length of an Internet video stream today is only about three minutes. This is changing rapidly and the long-form video, streamed, real-time, or batched, will soon become the dominant form of content. Delivering long-form video content is bandwidth-intensive. While most low-end websites have resorted to posting video content on YouTube, this might not be a good option for those media who wish to monetize the content exclusively on their website.

In the media business, latency in content or user-perceived slow response time is of huge concern. Slow response is the single greatest contributor to website audiences abandoning them. Audiences will move on to another site, after waiting for a certain amount of time if they experience freezing in video playback. Quality of content is of little value unless delivered intact to the user.

Content delivery networks have come as an answer to this issue and empower the media companies to stream bandwidth-intensive heavy media files across the Internet. A content delivery network replicates the content from the original server to cache servers - also called replica servers, that are spread across the globe. Content requests are then redirected to the cache server, that is closest to the user, and that server delivers the requested content. This is the reason why visitors get greater speed and higher quality.

The integration of a content delivery network also solved the common problem of flash crowds, where thousands of visitors come to the website and try to get the same content at the time. This can happen, for example, during webcasts of popular shows or sports events, or when the news is spreading about a natural disaster or man-made catastrophe.

The integration of content delivery networks added the ability of a network to adapt to increasing demands. It can act as a shock absorber for network traffic by automatically providing capacity-on-demand to meet flash crowd requirements. This capability will significantly increase the experience of the audience and the content provider’s reputation, resulting in additional revenue.