Research: New content delivery strategies needed
March 9, 2023
Research into the trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the future of digital content creation, consumption, monetisation and delivery caching from streaming specialist Varnish Software and analyst firm STL Partners suggests that new strategies for edge computing, CDN models and disaggregation are essential to support increasingly demanding digital experiences.
“From the rise of live, high quality video streams on multiple devices to increased 5G rollouts, new technology is radically and rapidly changing the landscape,” notes Ulrika Cederskog Sundling, Chief Growth Officer at Varnish Software. “These massive advancements are creating new expectations for content while unlocking opportunities for businesses to monetise their infrastructure and assets. Using edge to support content delivery networks will be one of the biggest advantages, enabling any organisation to cache content closer to end users, in a flexible and scalable manner.”
Of note, the research found that the edge computing market will generate $178 billion (€168bn) by 2026, with edge content delivery contributing to 18 per cent of total addressable revenue. This change will be pivotal to delivering and scaling higher quality OTT video and live streaming, data-heavy software updates, more immersive digital experiences, and the growing need for seamlessly accessible content on a myriad of mobile and IoT devices.
The report also outlines emerging strategies that will be critical to capitalising on the changing state of content, including:
- Migrating traditional CDNs and caching models to the edge to better utilise bandwidth, lower latency and provide more flexible and scalable services.
- Disaggregating content delivery architecture and decoupling hardware from software to gain greater visibility, control and choice when implementing new technologies.
- Introducing more performant infrastructure with a greater throughput per watt ratio to control costs and minimise the carbon footprint, while still ensuring a flawless digital experience
“The way we create and consume digital content is undergoing a significant shift, with an ever-increasing amount of content alongside changes in viewer expectations and new experiences being offered,” advises Ani Keshishyan, Consultant, STL Partners. “Rapidly, we see edge computing, hardware and software disaggregation, and more performant infrastructure as key pillars supporting next-generation content delivery. Varnish Software is at the forefront of these key trends.”