Last updated on Aug 22, 2024

You're facing a sudden surge in viewer traffic during a live broadcast. How will you keep up with the demand?

Imagine this: your live broadcast is gaining traction, and suddenly, viewer numbers skyrocket. Keeping the stream smooth and accessible becomes your top priority. You must swiftly adapt to maintain quality and prevent a broadcast disaster. With the right strategies, you can handle this surge and deliver a seamless viewing experience.

1 Scale Resources

When your live broadcast audience balloons unexpectedly, the first step is to scale your resources. This means increasing your server capacity to handle the higher load. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) can dynamically allocate resources to ensure your stream doesn't buffer or crash due to the surge. It's like widening a highway in real-time as more cars enter; you're expanding the digital pathway to accommodate the influx of data.

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Krunoslav Petric
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Well itâ€™s an odd thing? Why would people use services that can bring you in trouble with sudden surge of viewers? Priority is to have service that can handle unlimited number of viewers without cutting them on quality or making production side to make compromising decisions on decreasing quality

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Roger Pitton

Launched 8 major consumer services so far as operator or technology vendor. ready for the next one. project / program management - supplier / vendor management - pre-sales - customer success - account management.
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then you have to execute on your prepared emergency scenarios. Typically you run with more than one CDN provider to reduce the risks of single place of failure. At the same time, you are also preparing a plan to bring in extra capacity at super short notice for such an event. Then you route the traffic through the CDN with extra capacity.

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2 Optimize Quality

Balancing quality and performance is crucial during a traffic surge. Implement adaptive bitrate streaming, which adjusts video quality in real-time based on each viewer's internet speed. This ensures a stable stream for everyone, whether they have high-speed fiber or a slower connection. Think of it as a smart water tap that varies its flow to fill cups of different sizes without spilling a drop.

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Jim Skinner

Senior Engineering Program Manager
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This generated response has never run a live stream, I think. Adaptive streaming only optimizes in a local way, just for that one viewer's condition. The problem with a massive surge in traffic is that you are still vending the same manifest, with the same potential top bitrate option. To optimize globally you need to be prepared to vend a manifest with significantly lower bitrate options. This is referred to as the doomsday scenario, and you will immediately get complains regarding quality, so it is rarely done in the moment. The correct answer is to thoroughly study and model your viewership from previous similar events and build out infra for that historical capacity + X%. You shouldn't be streaming if you don't model like this upfront

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3 Monitor Analytics

Keep a vigilant eye on your broadcast analytics. Real-time data can inform you about bandwidth usage, viewer engagement, and potential issues before they escalate. Monitoring is akin to having a dashboard in a car; it provides the necessary gauges to ensure everything is running smoothly, allowing you to make adjustments on the fly.

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4 Engage Viewers

Despite traffic spikes, never neglect viewer engagement. Use interactive features like live chats or polls to keep the audience involved. This can also serve as a feedback loop for performance issues they may encounter. It's like being both the host and the technician at a party, ensuring guests are entertained while keeping an eye on the sound system.

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5 Have a Backup

Always prepare for the worst with a backup plan. If your primary streaming service falters, have a secondary platform ready to take over. This safety net ensures that, in case of a failure, your broadcast continues without significant interruption. It's similar to having an emergency generator; when the main power goes out, the backup kicks in to keep the lights on.

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6 Adjust Expectations

Lastly, communicate with your audience about any temporary changes to the stream's quality or format to manage expectations. Transparency builds trust and can prevent frustration. It's like informing passengers about a flight delay; while inconvenient, understanding the situation can ease tensions and foster patience.

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Jim Skinner

Senior Engineering Program Manager
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Yes, definitely, in the middle of the pay-per-view Beyonce concert you should have Bob from Ops communicate with the viewers. Paying viewers love to hear from the people operating the stream, instead of hearing the music... OK now I'm just taking this out on the LLM that was forced to answer this question. Sorry LLM, it's not your fault that you were trained on a poor understanding of the real world pressures related to operating a livestream.

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7 Hereâ€™s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that donâ€™t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Directory

You're facing a sudden surge in viewer traffic during a live broadcast. How will you keep up with the demand?

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1 Scale Resources

2 Optimize Quality

3 Monitor Analytics

4 Engage Viewers

5 Have a Backup

6 Adjust Expectations

7 Hereâ€™s what else to consider

Video Technology

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