Slow load times and buffering are annoying for viewers, and detrimental for video service providers. A study from the University of Massachussetts, Amherst and Akamai found that after 10 seconds of startup delay, more than half of your audience has left. Furhtermore, only 8% of users will return to your website within 24 hours after experiencing a video failure. Specifically, if it takes longer than 2 seconds to load the video, viewers will start to leave.

Bandwidth issues can be catastrophic to your business. Viewers expect speed and quality, and if bandwidth spikes or latency keep you from delivering seamless experiences, subscribers won’t hesitate to cancel. As 5G enters the scene and bandwidth-engulfing 8K/4K/UHD video content rises, all signs point to an even more congested internet as time moves on.

Here’s how to choose the right security approach to optimize bandwidth, address latency, and ensure seamless content distribution that delights viewers:

1. Invest in Future-Proof Security Solutions

Long load times and low latency are often the result of congested head-end facilities, fragmented workflows, and inefficient API utilization. When a viewer tunes in to watch their favorite show, they must be authenticated to ensure that they have access, keys and entitlements must be delivered, and content must be encrypted. This process involves many vendors, especially when considering the range of platforms and screens available to viewers. The more fragmented this process becomes and the more players that are involved, the longer load times will be.

Verimatrix content distribution solutions are designed to maximize efficiencies and unify the process to help video service operators provide friction-free viewer experiences. VCAS for IPTV can help with the optimal delivery of authorizations within an existing closed operator infrastructure. VCAS Multi-DRM can operate outside of those bounds to deliver authentication and keys to OTT and mobile devices efficiently and effectively.

2. Deploy Models that Scale Up and Down Seamlessly During Popular Events

Low latency is a problem for any broadcaster, but especially those who stream live sports and other popular events. What starts as a small delay at the beginning of a game can amount to much more by the end, leaving viewers feeling bitterly dissatisfied with your service. What’s more, any delay in the content workflow during a popular event is liable to disrupt not just one viewer, but thousands—which can be detrimental to your business and revenue.

To solve this issue, Verimatrix offers a cloud deployment of our IPTV and Multi-DRM solutions. This enables video service providers to leverage native cloud technologies to automatically scale up and down without a glitch, even if millions of viewers tune in at once. With a cloud deployment, key entitlement, encryption, and authentication are streamlined and can be done on a large scale. Additionally, Verimatrix next generation evolution of Multi-DRM provides sub 1 second delivery by utilizing global distribution to viewers from the cloud instance closest to them. Unhindered by hardware, providers also avoid overprovisioning and overpaying with Multi-DRM in the cloud.

3. Gather the Right Data (and Use it to Improve)

Easy access to detailed data is the first step to correct and respond to latency issues, preventing viewer dissatisfaction and costly subscriber churn. Verimatrix Analytics offers Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring features for video service providers to track latency and receive alerts any time a viewer experience falls short. Customizable real-time dashboards help you find actionable data to enhance user experience—identify playback issues, optimize service performance, and streamline network operations.