How to improve sports streaming in underserved markets

In this gallery, Camilla Neves, vice president of sales for Latin America at Qwilt, a content distribution company, shares its insights on the challenges content publishers face in massive live and streaming events, as well as explores how the industry standard Open Caching can help close the gap in quality of experience for viewers in underserved markets.

Since the final phase of the America's Cup and the Mexican Grand Prix until the Euro Cup and the long-awaited Paris Olympic Games, live sporting events are gaining great relevance this year, driving a significant increase in the number of spectators live streaming around the world. According to Amdocs, 51% of the American audience intends to watch the 2024 Summer Olympics via streaming, marking the first time in history that this channel has become the main viewing method for the event; in Tokyo 2021, only the 28% of viewers They chose this route.

He 51% of the American audience intends to watch the Olympics summer 2024 by streaming, marking the first time in history May this road become the main viewing method for the event.

This change in trend poses considerable challenges to the streaming service platforms and content delivery networks (CDNs) they depend on to bring these massive events to life on a live scale. Both must guarantee a high quality of experience (QoE) to viewers in all regions with no margin for error. But these massive live events push to the limit traditional content distribution methods. This is especially difficult for underserved markets, which often lack the CDN infrastructure necessary to support high-quality streaming.

The growing challenges of live streaming

A new survey published by Qwilt has shed light on the straight that raises the planning and execution of large-scale live streaming events. Based on responses to the survey 259 content editors, the report highlights current and emerging concerns and opportunities in the delivery of live events, including CDN capacity and performance, QoE metrics, event success, capacity requirements, and cost optimization. The survey revealed that when it comes to video distribution, the majority of content publishers (53%) believe that the CDN performance and capacity are the main concerns, and that these problems have been accentuated since the last Qwilt survey in 2022.

Most of the content editors (53%) consider that the CDN performance and capacity are the main concerns, and that these problems have been accentuated since the last Qwilt survey in 2022.

Los underserved markets, which are often located in rural or developing markets, such as rural areas outside of large cities like Brazil, present significant challenges for content publishers seeking to deliver exceptional and consistent quality of service for live-streamed events. These areas often lack the Robust CDN Internet Infrastructure necessary for high quality transmission. Access to CDNs can be limited or non-existent, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) often struggle with insufficient network capacity to handle live streaming demands, especially during peak hours.

This connectivity gap creates significant barriers for viewers in underserved markets, who are more likely to suffer. interruptions like him buffering, pixelation and other issues that degrade your viewing experience. These issues are especially detrimental to live sports, as viewers expect real-time immersion and want to see every moment as it happens. Bad streaming experiences can cause loss of viewers, who abandon streaming services in favor of traditional television.

The promise of Open Caching

Open Caching, the open specifications developed by the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA), offer a solution content distribution powerful and effective for underserved markets by placing content caches embedded in ISP networks and closer to viewers. This distributed network architecture reduces reliance on long-distance return links, which can often be congested in underserved areas. ISPs, including TIM Brazil, are adopting Open Caching solutions to go caches to rural communities, support increasing data volumes and improve the streaming experience across your network.

Open Caching technology improves the streaming experience for viewers in underserved markets in several ways. Caching nearby contents shorten the physical distance that data must go through to reach viewers, which results in a lower latency. Reduced latency minimizes buffering and ensures a smoother, more responsive viewing experience. To the decongest return links By using local caching, Open Caching frees up bandwidth for other applications, improving overall performance for viewers in these regions.

Storage in open cache allows the direct delivery from ISP-integrated edge caches and significantly shortening the travel distance of data, guaranteeing a faster flow reliable and as an adult quality.

Live broadcasts, especially sports broadcasts, benefit greatly from this technology. The unpredictability of live events, with traffic spikes at crucial moments, can overwhelm traditional CDN infrastructure, causing rebuffering and poor video quality. Emerging formats such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), UHD video, and immersive gaming further challenge traditional CDNs. Open caching relieve this pressure allowing the direct delivery from ISP-integrated edge caches and significantly shortening the travel distance of data, ensuring a more reliable and higher quality flow.

Additionally, Open Caching can help reduce costs to content providers and ISPs. Local storage of content reduces the amount of data that must be transported over long distances, which can be costly. It also increases the reliability of live broadcasts by reducing dependence on a single point of failure. If one cache server becomes overloaded, viewers can still access content from another cache server nearby.

Open Caching: before and after in the world of streaming

Open Caching has the potential to revolutionize live sports broadcasting in underserved markets. By offering a viewing experience more reliable and higher quality, technology can help bridge the digital divide and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy live sporting events in the quality they imagined. This means that sports fans experience fewer interruptions at critical moments, which increases your commitment and satisfaction. Improving the reliability and quality of broadcasting can lead to a most loyal and expansive audience for sports stations and streaming platforms.

With CDN performance and capacity still a top concern for content publishers, there is clearly a need for need for solutions like Open Caching to meet the growing challenges of live broadcasting. This ensures that all viewers, from urban centers to rural areas, can participate in live sporting moments shared globally with the same great digital experience.