In Broadcast - July 2017 - 56

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 7 - Issue 6

InMedia

Consumers' Preferences
Shift To Digital Content
Video games, books, music and magazines are now purchased online more often than
physical copies, Limelight Networks Managing Director EMEA Jonathan Smith,
examines the shift to digital media...

here's no doubt that smartphones
have become an integral part
of our daily lives. New applications
for mobile devices are in continuous
development, providing numerous
ways for users to access mountains of
information. Our recent State of Digital
Downloads - 2017 report reveals that
consumers increasingly depend on
smartphones to access digital content
and tend to go online to purchase video
games, movies and books.
Limelight Networks surveyed 500
people in France, Germany and the
UK, to learn about consumers' digital
download habits. The responses
highlight a clear shift in demand for
both streaming and downloading
content, with only 13% of European
respondents still preferring to rent
or purchase DVDs. German and
UK respondents opt to consume
entertainment
through
these
traditional
mediums.
Two-thirds
of European consumers prefer to
download or stream TV shows and
movies, with the highest streaming
rate observed in France. (See Fig.1
Obtaining movies and TV shows.)
Digital Content
So, what does this mean for content
providers? Digital content is by far
the most preferred format for media
consumption by an ever-growing
mobile-first audience. Broadcasters
and streaming providers alike need
to ensure that their content is easily
accessible and optimised across all
connected devices.
The experience that users get
when
accessing
content
from
their smartphone must match the
experience they get when accessing
it from any other device - there is no
room for compromise.
To prevent frustrating customers
with the above issues, content
providers need to work with the right
Content Delivery Network (CDN).
This is key to ensuring that users
get a great experience, anywhere,

anytime, using any device. CDNs help
in a number of ways. Firstly, they offer
global scale which means that high
surges in traffic are no longer an issue
and will not result in latency
and poor performance.
A CDN will also proactively
monitor and gather intelligent
information on consumers'
content consumption habits.
This will protect the platform
against potential downtime
and ensure that the experience
of the audience is put first.
CDNs can also make use of
this data to enable greater
personalisation and to address
common issues. For example, if
users are struggling to interact
with a feature on the page -
perhaps the "play" button is not
functioning properly on a video
- the CDN can flag this promptly
and avoid any subsequent loss
of traffic.
Content providers also need
to
provide
protection
against
cyberattacks, like distributed denial
of service attacks (DDoS), that
can overwhelm the page and stop
content from playing. Hiring a CDN
means that malicious traffic can be
diverted without compromising page
performance. In the context of rising

concerns over cybersecurity, this
layer of protection has become even
more critical - security is key to boost
confidence and encourage user loyalty.

and flexible enough to quickly remove
- or purge - outdated or incorrect
content. A robust CDN solution will
allow for real-time purge capabilities,
allowing content to be updated
instantly - which is key when
dealing with content-hungry
users with high demand for
new content. It also gives you
the flexibility to handle your
platform the way you want with
a CDN during busy periods.

Global CDN
Ensuring that the right
infrastructure is in place is
essential to prevent lagging
video, poor quality and
buffering. Providing speed,
reliability and quality is no
longer a feature for providers,
but an absolute necessity
for survival. For content
distributors to stay competitive,
State of Digital Downloads - 2017
they must prioritise their ability
Finally, CDNs give providers the to instantly create a TV broadcastspeed and flexibility to handle their quality experience for all users.
platforms in the way they want, And what's more, these content
ensuring they have the ability to delivery capabilities must reach an
both upload and remove content international demographic. To achieve
rapidly. Speed of delivery is critical this, providers need the help of a
for
engaging
consumers,
and global CDN to improve performance,
for broadcasters it is becoming reduce latency, scale and deal with
increasingly important to be timely high traffic volumes.

Fig. 1: How do you
typically obtain movies
and TV shows?
(Source: State of Digital
Downloads - 2017)

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