Advanced Content Delivery, Streaming, and Cloud Services

Chapter 8CDN Analytics: A Primer

Timothy Siglin

Braintrust Digital, Inc., Harriman, TN, USA

8.1 Introduction

Let us consider a scenario where a content delivery network (CDN) provider has successfully delivered, as part of a larger CDN federation, the “next big thing” in live online video entertainment to a global audience. As the primary CDN, the provider's job was to deliver both to other CDNs and directly to key access networks. From the provider's perspective, the event was a success, and the team congratulates each other for a job well done.

Long before the janitors sweep the floor and put away the chairs at the entertainment venue, however, it is time to get to arguably work on the most important phase of the provider's services: billing. To do so, a CDN must be able to measure both its metered capabilities and the overall quality of experience (QoE) of those who viewed the content. Some of these measurements occur in real time during the event itself, while others are compiled after the completion of the event and compared against metrics provided by other service providers as well as by industry benchmarks.

This scenario leads directly into the world of analytics, where measurement is key to successful revenue realization. Analytics are the measurements against which a CDN service is judged both in the moment and in the weeks and months to follow. CDN providers may very well “measure twice, bill once” to bastardize a carpentry truism.

In this chapter, we cover CDN analytics ...