Best Practices for Search & Discovery in a Connected World

Connected TVs and other streaming devices enable viewers to watch entire seasons of their favorite shows in a single sitting and remove them from the constrictions of linear TV. As a result, content owners need to get smart about how to market, organize, and present their content in connected environments so that they don’t miss out on opportunities to gain new viewers. At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 17-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] this session will provide expert advice about creating an effortless and engaging search and discovery process. Learn about playlists, curation and recommendations, metadata, sharing content across social media channels, and ways to make sure consumers pick your content on their device. Confirmed speakers for the session include:

  • Moderator: Sarah Barry James, Senior Reporter, SNL Kagan
  • Emil Rensing, Chief Digital Officer, EPIX
  • Phil Ranta, VP, Talent Operations, Fullscreen
  • Hillary Henderson, Director, Product Management, Clearleap
  • Simon Jones, Solutions Marketing Director, Ooyala

Register online using the code 200DR for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest.

Sponsored by

Cogent Now Admits They Slowed Down Netflix’s Traffic, Creating A Fast Lane & Slow Lane

Last week when M-Lab published the results of their study on traffic congestion on the Internet, many used it as another example of how the ISPs were the one’s responsible for slowing down or blocking Netflix traffic coming into the ISPs network. But something odd stood out about some of the data M-Lab’s collected, which policy makers and lawyers missed. The M-Lab’s data documented the introduction of a higher level of prioritization somewhere on the network. Prioritization rules that would impact how content is delivered to the ISPs, and would greatly impact the quality of video and other content consumers would receive.

This morning, Cogent admitted that in February and March of this year the company put in place a procedure that favored traffic on their network, putting a QoS structure in place, based on the type of content being delivered. Without telling anyone, Cogent created at least two priority levels (a ‘fast lane’ and ‘slow lane’), and possibly more, and implemented them at scale in February of this year. What Cogent did is considered a form of network management and was done without them disclosing it, even though it was the direct cause of many of the earlier published congestion charts and all the current debates. [See: Cogent’s Favoring Of Packets Disregards FCC Rules]

Cogent said they prioritized data based on user type “putting its retail customers in one group and wholesale in another.” Cogent said “retail customers were favored because they tend to use applications, such as VoIP, that are most sensitive to congestion” and that they “implemented a QoS structure that impacts interconnections during the time they are congested.” Cogent classified M-Lab performance tests into the highest priority class. As they did so, this change instantly and dramatically improved the M-Lab test results. [Described by Susan Crawford as “the Cliff and the Slope” – it appears the cliff was Cogent taking on Netflix and the slope was the introduction of a fast lane on the Cogent network] The fact that the high priority traffic class so quickly improved M-Lab’s test performance demonstrates conclusively that there must have been significant congestion present in Cogent’s network. Cogent now admits to impacting third-party content and says they did it as a “last resort effort to help manage the congestion and its impact to our customers”.

It seems extremely unusual that Cogent implemented this traffic change during the very same week that Comcast announced the Netflix deal. The Comcast and Netflix interconnection deal was announced On February 22 and most of the Cogent changes, according to the M-Lab blog, appear to have occurred within five days starting on February 20. Was this done to influence public debate about the cause & effect of the deal? Remember, Cogent started making critical comments in the press once they started making their prioritization changes, while not disclosing what they had done. And to make this even more interesting, Cogent makes it sound like they only did this in February and March of this year, but Cogent’s priority classes appear to continue to this day, which can be proven by looking at how the packets are being prioritized. If Netflix was aware of their traffic being deprioritized that would be even more interesting. And what about Cogent’s wholesale customers. Were they told their traffic was being deprioritized as well?

As I have been saying for many months, the vast majority of people are laying blame on specific companies without having all the data to really make an informed decision. This new admission by Cogent is just another example of companies playing games, in an effort not to disclose everything that is really going on behind the public’s eye. As far as I am concerned, all companies share the blame in this as they all have to work together to fix the problem and keep consumers happy. But for all the lawyers and policy makers that jump on something the moment it is released, and do a blog post laying blame, I’d like them to now explain what is going on when Cogent has now confirmed they put Netflix traffic in the slow lane.

Updated Nov. 6th: Cogent told Ars Technica that it implemented the network management in a “visible” and “transparent” way, yet the company didn’t discuss it publicly when the system was implemented.

And on Cogent’s website, on their net neutrality page it says: “Cogent practices net neutrality. We do not prioritize packet transmissions on the basis of the content of the packet, the customer or network that is the source of the packet, or the customer or network that is the recipient of the packet.”

Cogent can’t get their story straight.

How To Measure The ROI On An HEVC Deployment

As HEVC begins to find its stride in the industry, operators are grappling with the challenge of whether and how to begin to swap out MPEG-2 and possibly AVC encoders for HEVC codecs. While HEVC is still many months away from mainstream deployment, it is important for companies to take an ROI-centric look at the technology and evaluate where and when it makes sense to incorporate HEVC into their transcoding and content delivery workflows. At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 17-19 in Huntington Beach, CA]  Avni Rambhia, Industry Principal for Digital Media at Frost & Sullivan will discuss factors to keep in mind when evaluating HEVC products and while strategically planning future digital media roadmaps.

Register online using the code 200DR for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest.

Learn How To Do Multi-Cam Shooting, Editing and Delivery On An iPad

The cameras on iOS devices are getting better and better, and powerful apps like Filmic Pro and Recolive Multicam are available for only a few dollars. At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 17-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] Dave Basulto, Founder of iPhone/iPad accessory maker iOgrapher will demonstrate how, with the right tools and techniques, you can tap into the power and accessibility of an iPad or iPhone to easily shoot high-quality multi-cam videos. You’ll learn tips and techniques for leveraging this powerful mobile platform for creating and delivering professional-caliber media.

Register online using the code 200DR for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest.

Streaming Live Events When There Is No Room For Failure

It is one thing to stream a live event for free but another thing entirely when people have paid to see it or the event is being sponsored. At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 17-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] this session will explore the technical, operational, and business challenges presented when your live streamed events just cannot falter. Learn the best technical approaches to take, what operational precautions to put in place, and what contingencies to be prepared for in advance. Hear the best practices from experts who have successfully pulled off live events, and hear some of the things they encountered that they never expected. Confirmed speakers for the session include:

  • Jeffrey Gilbert, Manager, Media & Entertainment, Verizon Digital Media Services
  • Chris Mangum, Sr. Digital Media Manager, Live & On-Demand Video Streaming, Yahoo!
  • Justin Ignacio, Broadcast Manager, Twitch
  • Ryan Currier, Head of Digital Products, Pac-12
  • John Petrocelli, CEO, Founder, Bulldog Digital Media

Register online using the code 200DR for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest.

I Know About The CDN Market Because Of People Smarter Than Me

People ask me all the time how I am able to track the CDN market so closely, if I ever sleep, and how I can keep my finger on the pulse of so many different CDN topics. I’ve spent the last fifteen years tracking the CDN market, talking to vendors, customers, policy makers, telcos, carries, MSOs and Wall Street money managers. I’ve had the privilege of discussing business and technology topics with CEOs at the largest content companies and vendors all around the world. They have trusted me by giving me details they don’t give to others, without an NDA, and with the understanding that I won’t disclose the info without their permission. They know my single purpose and the reason why I am still in this industry is to provide as much education and help I can, free of charge, 24 hours a day, so the entire industry grows.

As a result of who I talk to, I have a lot of details on pricing, vendor revenue and growth, new contract wins, acquisitions and other private details. Whenever possible I use this data, when allowed, and share it in the market. Probably 90% of all the details I get from talking to customers and vendors I can never blog about or discuss, but that info still helps me to learn more about the market. It helps to fill in the gaps and provides me with data needed to keep a close eye on the market drivers and restraints.

I really do appreciate all of the people who read what I write, have such an interest in what I think about the CDN market and spend time talking to me. That is what drives me. So while I do have a lot of data and first hand knowledge on what’s really taking place behind the scenes, I wanted to point out that I don’t know everything there is to know about the CDN market and CDN related technology. The term CDN covers a lot of technologies now; streaming, large object delivery, web acceleration, FEO, LCDN/MCDN and a host of other related infrastructure subjects like peering, transit and the like. Someone recently asked me how I got invited earlier in the year by the U.S. Senate to go to DC and speak on topics pertaining to net neutrality, telecom mergers and content delivery architectures considering I’m not a network engineer. The answer to that question really highlights just how much help others give me.

I get to speak to the smartest people who are building, running and using the largest private and public CDN related networks around. There are a lot of people smarter than me and while I eat, sleep and breathe CDN, the access people give me and the time they take to educate me on topics is why I can do the detailed blog posts that I do, and get invited to speak at events. To many, the title and subject of this post is going to seem odd. But to those who know why I do what I do, they understand that I believe that there will always be more to learn, those who know more than you do and you will never know it all. One’s self-importance is not based on what they know, but what they can share with others, which is my only goal. Thank you to those who continue to help educate me on various CDN technologies, deployments and use cases.

Learn The Best Practices for Webcasting Sporting Events

For major sporting events, it is no longer enough to produce a traditional broadcast television program alone. Fans want more access to their favorite players, sports, and teams in real-time. Through live webcasting, fans now have a VIP pass to almost every aspect of a major sporting event. At the Streaming Media West show, [taking place November 17-19 in Huntington Beach, CA] you can learn from top sports brands how they are expanding their reach for large-scale sporting events with live streaming. The session will cover driving fan awareness of live, sports-related content with shoulder programming, social media integration, distribution of highlights over a variety of platforms, and more. Confirmed speakers for the session include:

  • Moderator: Philip Nelson, Chief Relationship Officer, Newtek
  • Mike McLeod, Senior Manager, Advertising Tech & Products, PGA Tour Digital
  • Andre Mika, SVP, Programming and Production, 120 Sports
  • Allen de la Cruz, SVP, Engineering, Major League Gaming

Register online using the code 200DR for a “Discovery Pass” and get free access to the keynotes, exhibit hall, discovery track sessions, and receptions at #smwest.