For years, Apple has been using multiple third-party CDN providers, including Akamai and Level 3 in addition to delivering content via their own CDN. In some regions, for instance China, Apple will also use a CDN that specializes in that region, like ChinaCache and ChinaNetCenter. Apple’s had a multi-CDN strategy for some time and doing some traceroutes yesterday, I see that Apple has recently added Limelight Networks into the mix. I can’t tell when Limelight was added, but from the testing I do frequently on where Apple’s content is being delivery from, it looks like Limelight has been added within the last few months. There is no way to tell how much traffic Limelight has and you have to trace a lot of content to see it since Apple shifts amongst the CDNs, but the timing makes sense.

On Limelight’s earnings call this week, the company mentioned they signed up some customers that they had to give a low price point to, which would impact margins in the short-term, before they expected the economics of scale to kick in. While Limelight had no comment when I asked them about Apple, traceroutes don’t lie. I’ve also learned that Limelight has gotten more of Microsoft’s traffic, be it at a low price point, but a lot of volume. So two of the contracts they were talking to are clearly Apple and Microsoft. How much volume they have we don’t know for sure, but it all aligns with some of the points Limelight made on their earnings call.

Another interesting thing talked about on Limelight’s earnings call was they are not seeing any slow down in traffic growth, which is the exact opposite of what Akamai said on their call last week. So far, no other CDN provider or content owner I have spoken to has said anything about traffic growth slowing. In fact, yesterday Facebook reported earnings and said they now see 8B video views per day, up from 4B nearly six months ago. And Limelight said on their call that they “achieved a new record for both peak bandwidth and terabytes delivered” in Q3. Limelight also mentioned that their “largest software and gaming customers peak traffic levels” are “growing at extremely higher rates versus a year ago and even sequentially.”

I don’t buy Akamai’s excuse that customers overall traffic growth is down and that the decline in the growth of their media business is not due to pricing or competitive pressure, when it clearly is. Akamai simply isn’t getting as large a percentage of traffic from the big CDN customers as they use to be. Apple adding Limelight to the mix and Sony adding Level 3 to the mix are both examples of that.

I have one last-minute speaking spot that just opened on a round-table panel at the Streaming Media West show, taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA. The panel is on Wednesday, Nov. 18th from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Full details below. Contact me if interested.

Bye-Bye Browser: Product Strategy For OTT and TVE In The Post-PC Era
This session will discuss how TV Everywhere and OTT providers are adapting their product roadmaps to meet changing consumer behavior. The discussion will focus on how to manage PC-centric services that are in decline, mobile services that generate high traffic, but low monetization, and fragmented connected TV devices where there is no clear winner. We will discuss apps vs. web, single vs. multiple apps, hybrid billing models, in-app upgrades and why competition is a good thing.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] the Ultra HD Forum is moderating a session on the Future Of 4K and Ultra HD on Streaming Services. OTT Service Providers have already gone ahead of the traditional VOD providers by providing 4K content to their subscribers. But is it giving the consumers the wow factor that they’re looking for and is it really Ultra HD? Internet deployment models have continued to push traditional broadcast video with more choice and evolved viewer experiences that are deployed quickly and often without heavy reliance on standards. What does this mean for Ultra HD in OTT services? How does it scale across the industry and how is the term Ultra HD ultimately defined? This panel features senior experts from content owners, studios, technology providers and service operators to give their individual perspectives on how Ultra HD will scale across the industry and the evolution of the viewing experience over the next 5 years. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: David Price, Vice-Chair, Ultra HD Forum, VP, Business Development, TV & Media, Ericsson
• Nick Colsey, VP, Business Development, Sony
• Thomas Edwards, VP, Engineering & Development, FOX Networks Engineering and Operations
• Eric Grab, Co-CTO, NeuLion
• Richard Doherty, Director, E-Media Strategy, Office of the CTO, Dolby Laboratories

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] Mark Vena, VP of Worldwide Marketing at Sling Media, will analyze a living room debate millions of Americans are engaging in—deciding whether or not to cut the cord with their cable TV or satellite provider. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of OTT services as well as offerings from traditional cable and satellite providers. Attendees will hear about the economics and the industry headwinds that will help you make a decision to keep or shed a cable TV subscription.

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] Jonathan Hurd, Director at Altman Vilandrie & Company, will share the latest survey results on cord-cutting/shaving, TV Everywhere, mobile viewing, future viewing plans and more. The presentation will break down the results by age demographics and will feature findings not previously released publicly. Learn if the current strategy for cable channels to provide streaming options is the right move; what types of programming is keeping consumers tied to their MSO; and what this all really means for content producers and service providers

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] you can learn about “The Business Strategy Behind The Fragmenting OTT Market”. From Netflix, HBO and Showtime, to broader offerings like Dish’s Sling, CBS’s All Access and Comcast’s Stream, there are a lot of OTT options. Are we ensuring differentiated experiences for consumers or are we building a slew of “me too” services? With reports showing OTT revenues are expected to be over $10B within the next few years, are content owners building a healthy marketplace with enough competition and differentiation for revenues to continue to grow? This panel will explore the business strategies behind the unbundling & unraveling of the industry as it moves from cable to the cloud, and the subsequent sprint to build new OTT experiences. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Jim O’Neill, Principal Analyst, Ooyala
• Amit Ziv, VP, Business Development, Epix
• Michael Dube, Streaming Media Manager, NPR
• Jimmy Schaeffler, Chairman, CSO, The Carmel Group
• Cary Grant, CEO, PREMO

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.

At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 16-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] Avni Rambhia, Industry Principal for Digital Media at Frost & Sullivan will present the current state of the HEVC market in terms of point solutions within the end-to-end workflow. Just when we thought the roadmap for HEVC was crystallizing, a series of disruptions are creating a new set of uncertainties. Avni’s presentation will dive deeply into discussing newly emerging challenges, and translate those into implications for HEVC’s value proposition. Attendees will also get recommendations on the suggested roadmap for transitioning to HEVC, and what other alternatives are available to content businesses for broadening reach and increasing service profitability.

Register online using the code 15DR200 for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest, or $200 off a full conference pass.