What’s the one thing that immediately drives you away from an OTT platform? If you’re like most people, chances are you can’t stand slow streaming speed and high buffering time. The increased latency is one of the key factors that impact the viewing experience on any video streaming platform.
It’s even more crucial considering that the demand for OTT and streaming services is constantly increasing. Also, if you’re building an OTT platform, it will attract traffic from across the globe. Relying on a single localized server to cater to all your viewers will affect the performance of your OTT platform.
That’s where a content delivery network (CDN) steps into the picture. In this blog, we’ll delve deeper into the concept of a CDN and explore its benefits for OTT platforms.
What is a Content Delivery Network?
A CDN comprises a network of local proxy servers situated in geographically distributed data centers. These proxy servers can store various content assets, such as audio, video, and captions. Whenever a user accesses your OTT platform, the proxy server closest to their location is used to deliver content.
It reduces latency and buffering time, and improves the overall viewing experience. Also, it protects the master/origin server of your OTT platform from sudden traffic surges and cyberattacks. Some CDN services also provide an additional layer called master/origin shield between the origin and proxy servers for added protection.
Benefits of Using a Content Delivery Network for OTT Platforms
While CDNs have become the norm for most websites, they’re particularly essential for video streaming. It’s because streaming media such as audio, video, animation, etc., is more resource-intensive. That makes it more vulnerable to slow loading speeds and buffering delays.
Are you wondering whether investing in an OTT hosting platform with CDN service would be worthwhile for your OTT platform? Check out the following benefits of a content delivery network and make an informed decision.
1. Improved User Experience
Increased buffering and streaming speed is the biggest advantage that a CDN offers for OTT streaming services. Irrespective of where a user is located, they won’t have to wait for the content to load. A content delivery network also ensures that your OTT platform remains functional in the event of unexpected traffic spikes.
Apart from storing static assets on proxy servers, modern CDNs can also cache dynamic content, such as a user’s viewing history.
Whenever a user logs into your platform, they can quickly resume a video from the point where they’d stopped watching. All these factors contribute towards enhancing the viewing experience, and ultimately, reduce subscriber churn.
2. Enhanced Security
New-age content delivery networks provide numerous security features, including malware protection, bot detection, and request limiting. That helps protect your OTT platform from cyberattacks.
Even if your platform is under such an attack, the proxy servers are the only ones likely to get affected. Also, increasing the number of proxy servers will largely minimize the risk of DDoS attacks.
3. Better OTT Performance
The distributed network of proxy servers maintains a high uptime for your OTT platform. Even if the main server malfunctions, viewers won’t experience any delays or gaps in streaming media.
Combined with the reinforced security features, it ensures that your video streaming service is available round-the-clock.
4. Guaranteed Scalability
With a content delivery network, handling unprecedented traffic spikes becomes a cakewalk. That’s because the load is distributed across multiple local servers instead of overwhelming the origin server.
Furthermore, most CDN services will provide you with add-on proxy servers during a traffic surge. It comes in handy for scaling your OTT platform, as well as livestreaming.
Build a Top-Notch OTT Platform with a Content Delivery Network
High-quality content isn’t the only thing that’ll attract users to your video streaming service. If you want to acquire and retain subscribers, you must deliver a fast and seamless viewing experience.
Using a CDN enhances your OTT platform’s security, reliability, and scalability. Ultimately, it ensures that users don’t get turned off due to buffering delays or downtime. To launch your OTT app today, get in touch with us for a demo of MAZ and take advantage of our quick streaming services.
