You’ve created a successful video platform? User base growing? Great!
More users also means more costs from your CDN to deliver your content, and it becomes harder to maintain high video quality for all those users. Users experiencing long load times or regular buffering are more likely to turn to another platform so this is an issue every successful OTT platform needs to address.
Traditionally, the cost of video delivery is proportional to number of users. The more users you have, the higher the CDN cost. Most of that CDN cost is the bandwidth to serve the “last mile” – to deliver content from their edge servers to the end-user’s device.
For users to have a good viewing experience, the edge servers need to be close enough to them so that the network route is short, and those servers can’t be overloaded with too many other users streaming content. If there is a spike in viewership, this can be a real challenge for a CDN to handle.
Onwards Multiplier solves both these problems, keeping costs down and gracefully dealing with spikes in viewership to ensure your users get the highest quality experience possible.
Onwards Multiplier works by harnessing the power of a connected audience. Any users viewing content on your platform become their own micro edge server, with the ability to share encrypted data with other users. This greatly reduces the load on your CDN, as a result saving you money. This also gives your users more sources for their requested content that are close by, improving their viewing experience.
CDN Efficiency Boost
Users who are watching the same video will be able to share the encrypted video data with each other, meaning that not all requests need be served by your CDN. As a result, there is less load on your CDN and you end up being charged less for bandwidth while serving more users.
How does this work?
When a client device sends a request to watch a particular video, Onwards Multiplier will look for options to serve that video content. The data can be retrieved from your CDN’s edge servers, from other users, or other networked devices you specify. Our algorithm will make decisions on the fly to find the optimal sources for serving that content. The algorithm updates itself dynamically based on local network conditions, the past performance of the sources in your network, and other factors.
If there aren’t any other users available, users can always get their content directly from your CDN to ensure a smooth viewing experience.
All streaming video content is delivered in discrete segments, and once a user receives a video segment they can share with other users on the network. As more users are added, the network becomes stronger and more sources become available. This maximises the efficiency between devices and ensures that you can continue delivering high quality video even when there are spikes in viewership.
Deliver Content Securely
Onwards Multiplier adds another layer of encryption on top of any content security mechanism you already have in place in your existing platform. Data transferred between authenticated devices is protected by DTLS (Datagram Transport Layer Security), which cannot be interpreted by any third party. Even if the data is intercepted during transmission, or extracted from a device, that data will not be playable.
Encrypted data chunks from your edge servers are sent unaltered, with the content decrypted only by the end-user’s player. As a result, DRM is fully supported and isn’t impacted by using Onwards Multiplier.
Improve Viewing Experience
CDN edge servers are meant to be as close to end clients as possible (measured by network layers, latency, and bandwidth), but even in the best circumstances those servers can be further away than other viewers.
Onwards Multiplier enables a more optimal network of devices where each client has a better chance to get their content faster, and as a result get a smoother viewing experience. This improvement in quality is even more significant in places where your CDN does not have local physical servers.
Onwards Multiplier removes the liability of relying only the CDN’s infrastructure, and allows more devices to become edges. When a user wants to watch a video, they will be served faster by having more sources available.
Flexible and Highly Scalable Architecture
Onwards Multiplier is designed to be compatible with existing infrastructure with minimum integration work, and can be run on top of most existing OTT platforms. You do not need to waste any of the expensive software and servers that are already in place.
Onwards Multiplier easily scales with your viewership. With minimal hardware requirements, the incremental cost per additional viewer is significantly lower compared to a traditional approach.
Cross Platform Support
Onwards Multiplier can be run on Web, Android and iOS apps, and works with live and VOD content. Many streaming protocols are supported, including HLS, MPEG-DASH, Smooth Streaming, and HDS.
Actively Managed Video Sourcing
When playing a video, Onwards Multiplier is actively checking for the quickest and most efficient way to deliver that content. For example, when viewers start or stop watching your video or if we detect any network slowdowns we will automatically adjust the streaming sources available. Our network management algorithm is guided by machine learning techniques, and can react to new conditions much faster than a traditional solution. Your users benefit from a dynamic, highly reliable network that traditional CDNs alone can’t match.
Quick Implementation
Our server-side components are completely standalone, no integration is required with your existing platform. For the client-side, we have an SDK for Android, iOS, and web players, with complete documentation and training to ensure easy and smooth integration. Changes to your app will be minimal.
Immediate Cost Savings
With Onwards Multiplier, you’ll see your CDN’s bandwidth cost go down immediately. Onwards will partner with you to implement the solution, and we only make money when you see the CDN savings. You’ll have access to reports showing exactly how much you’re saving, and Onwards will be with you at every step.
Onwards Multiplier can be used on top of existing infrastructure, minimizing the startup cost and saving the need to replace expensive software and equipment.
Improved Video Quality
With any OTT solution, your users sign up for the content you can deliver, but they stay because of the quality and consistency of the viewing experience. With Onwards Multiplier, you’re creating a mesh network for users that is stronger than a CDN alone and is designed to handle any sharp increases in viewers without sacrificing quality, minimising the chance of buffering and interruptions.
Easy Integration
Onwards Multiplier is built on top of industry standard technologies and protocols, to ensure high compatibility across any of your existing infrastructure, servers, and devices.
Using our knowledge in video streaming, networking, and client-side communications, Onwards Multiplier allows client devices that are consuming the same content to share with each other efficiently.