How to build a Netflixlike multiscreen OTT service.docx

How to build a Netflixlike multiscreen OTT service.docx

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HowtobuildaNetflixlikemultiscreenOTTservice

WiththefallofMegaupload,legalVODsitesarequicklygainingbackpopularityasconsumersareeagertowatchfreshvideocontentsonalltheirconnecteddevices.Ifyouareacontentowner,aTVchanneloratelco,itmaybetherighttimeto（re）launchyouMultiscreenOTTVODoffer.Thispostintendstostartfromthereferencetechchoicesinthisgame–Netflix’sones–explainthemajorchallengesofsuchtypeofserviceandtheassociatedDRMissues,andfinallydriveyouthroughoutthedifferentmarketoptionsyouhavetosetupyourownserviceonaclosebasis （thispartiscoveredin part2ofthepost）.EverythingwouldhavebeeneasierifNetflixdidsellitssolutionasawhitelabelplatform,butit’snot（yet）thecase,sothisleavesfunterritoriestoexplore!

Asabackgroundinformation,thispostisbasedontheauthor’sexperienceofdeployingaMultiscreenOTTserviceforamajorFrenchbroadcasterwhilerelyingonSyncTVassolutionprovider,aswellasotherstudiesfortelcousecases.

LearningfromNetflix

Tomakealongsuccessstoryshort,Netflix’sonereliesonseveralkeytechnologicalchoices:

NetflixAPIDeviceEndpointprinciple

- APIreign :

theirAPI,launchedin2008,isthefoundationofalltheirplatform,thealpha&theomegaofservicereusabilityandagiledevelopmentonamaximumofheterogenousclientplatforms.TheygotcleverAPIarchitecturewithdedicatedendpointsbydevices（readlatest APIarchitectureredesign storyhere）tooptimizethedataexchanges,APIdegradabilitystrategies[Watchpresentation byDanielJacobson,DirectorofEngineering,API]…ThisisdefinitelythemajorkeyofNetflixsuccessandthereasonwhytheirAPIgeneratesthemosttrafficintheUSforasingleservice.APIdevelopmentshalldefinitelybeonyourtopprioritylist…

- Widecross-platformclientsupport :

Netflixisnowavailableonhundredsofdifferentclientplatforms（PCs,smartphonesandtablets,gameconsoles,connectedTVsandBluRayplayers,connectedmediaplayers…）allowingtostartandfinishplaybackeverywheretheconsumerwishes.Ifyoudon’tprovidemultiscreensupport,yourserviceisboundtofail,soyoumustinvestheavilyonthistopicandhireacrewofbleeding-edgefrontenddevninjas.

NetflixPS3UI

- HTML5mutualization :

whilenot（yet）alloftheirclientapplication relyonHTML5 asatheUImedium,NetflixmadeasubstantialinvestmentonthistechnologyasitconveysadefinitiveadvantageasregardsdevelopmentsmutualizationandflexibilityofUIrepackaging.Theyprovedthatoncontrolledenvironments,theHTML5userexperiencehasnothingtoenvytonativeapps.GiventhefactthatconsumersareincreasinglyfacingHTML5frontends,theirtolerancetoless-shinyUIexperiencestendstoraise,andthat’sagoodpointforyou.Itgetscomplicatedcurrentlyifyoucan’tdeployyourownengineandhavetorelyonvariousHTML5/video/DRMcombosbutstillit’sagoodtargetforkeepingthedevbudgetslow.

- CustomWebkitengine :

 toachievethecross-platformreusabilityoftheircustomdevelopmentsandoptimizations,theywentforbuildingtheirownflavorofWebkit+QTengineanduseitasbasisfortheSDKtheyproposedevicemanufacturerstointegrate.Thismaybetheimpossibletargettoreachforyou,asthisrequiresaleveragingpowerthatfewbrandsapartfromNetflixdohaveonthemarkettoday.

- Streamingsecretsauce :

Netflixreliesona customDASHsubset + PlayReadyDRM （withaconfirmedpinchofWidevineDRMfortheWii）bundlethattheyembedintheirSDKanduseon（almostof）theirclientdeployments.Itallowsthemtoproducethestrictminimumofpackagedstreamsvariantsandthereforetominlimizetheirstorageneeds.WhilethiscombomightnotbeavailableasastandardonyourvarioustargetplatformsSDKs,it’sagoodobjectiveforyourprojectonthelongrun.AdditionalDRMsmightberequiredtocoverthewholeclientsrange,though.

- Cloudhosting&transcoding :

by migratingtheirplatformtothecloud duringthepastyear,Netflixhasachievedanincrediblejumptowardsscalabilityandfailover.WhilethismightbeoverkillforamediumsizeOTTproject,itgivesagoodclueofhowyoucanachievedimensioningforbothcontentpreparation/serviceandmassiveAPIservice.Thisisalsooneofthemostrocketsciencetopicsinthepanorama,soyou’llneedsharpbackend/workflowtalentstoachieveasimilardeployment…

OTTservicecomponentsanddecisioncriterias

TobuildyourNetflix-likeserviceyouwillneedtodeveloporintegrateawiderangeofservicecomponents（seefollowingdiagramforrequiredblocks）.Hereisaninsightslistonkeypointstoevaluatewhenchoosingorbuildingasolution.

MultiscreenOTTServiceReferenceArchitecture

Generalpoints

∙Timetomarket :

thiswillbethekeydifferencebetweentechnologyoptions.BuildingeverythingfromscratchresultsobviouslyinthelongestTTMandhighestchallenge.Withthemostpackagedmarketsolutions,6monthsistypicallytheminimumdelaytogetdeployedonthefirstdevices–andthedelaygetshigherifthestartingpointforclientappsisonlytheserviceAPIandnotfull-fledgereferenceapps.

∙DRMcoverage :

choosingtherighttechnicalpartnersorrecruitingexpertsinthisdomainisakeysuccesspointasDRMsaremandatoryandthereisagoodchancethatseveralofthemwillbeusedtocoverallthetargetdevices.ThisimpliesmakingsurefromthebeginningthataddingnewDRMsontheplatformwillnothighlyimpactbackendarchitecture–that’stheroleofDRMumbrellaservers（NetflixlicensedIrdetoActiveCloak）whoprovideaunifiedbackendinterfacetoallDRMserversflavorsandmutualized businessrules:

seespecificDRMchapterbelow.

∙Deploymentmodel :

whetheryourAPIplatformwillbedeployedfullyinthecloud,onaSaaSmodeoron-premises/self-hosting,thiswillimpacttheplanningandchangethelevelofdifficulty.Whileclouddeploymentseemstobethemoststraightforward,it’salsoasourceofconcernoverredundancy.Not-in-thecloudSaaSbringsconcernsaboutSLA/scalabilityandself-hostingrequirestimetoreachtherequiredfailoveranddimensioninglevels.

∙Automation :

itmaysoundtrivialbutnooneshouldunderestimatetheneedtoperformautomatedtasksinOTTplatforms,rangingfromsendingtargetedemailsuponveryspecificcustomersituationstotriggeringbackupplanwhenmediaingestsfailorincreasingplatformavailabilitydynamicallywhenloadgetshigher.

∙UltraVioletcompliance :

whileitmaynotyetbeatopictoday,thereisachancethatUltraVioletfinallymanagestobecomeanewstandardindigitalmediabusinessasBluRaydidforphysicalmedia,whichmeansthatyourplatformwillhavetointegratewithotherserviceprovidersusingthisinteroperabilitymethod.Beingcompliantsincethebeginningthusmeansbeingrightontimewhenthemarket confirmsitschoices.

∙Second-Screensupport :

thissubjectbeinga highlypopularfeaturenowadaysforlive（andsoonforon-demandcontents）,yourchosensolutionmustallowlinkingofcomplexandvariousmetadatatotheprograms（theactualdatasbeinghostedsomewhereelse）aswellastheirsynchronizeddisplayonsmartphonesandtablets.Thismeansintegrationwiththeright watermarkingorfingerprintingtechnologies onthebackendandsupportforthesynchronizationinsidethefrontends.

Contentpreparation（transcoding/DRM）

∙Deploymentmodel :

fortranscodingandDRMization,youcanmeetseveraltypesofdeploymentmodels.The on-premisesmodel istheold-fashionedonewhereyoutranscodeandDRMizecontentswithyourownprocessingfarm:

goodthingaboutthisoneisthatyouknowhowitperformsandthatyoucanadjustworkflowsmoreeasily.Thebadthingresidesinthefactthatit’snotquicktoscaleandthatitcanrequiretrickyengineeringtointegrateallneededDRMsorproduceexoticstreamformat+DRMcombinations,dependingonwhichtranscodingfarmyouareusing.The SaaSmodel isinterestingbecauseitoffloadstheengineeringchargeandthescalabilityissueontheserviceprovideryouchoose,butthisprobablywon’tbeadedicatedplatformwithinstantscalability,soyourcontentswillbeprocessedalongsideorafterotherclients’ones,meaninglonghoursofwaituntilthepackagedcontentsgetsavailableinthecatalogue.Finally,the Cloudmodel allowstobenefitfromscalabilityandrecentevolutionstowardsGPUaccelerationofEC2instances,butfewprovidersarealreadyofferingtherightcombinationofspeed,securityandDRMizationflexibilityyou’llneed.ItmightbemoresuitedtousetheCloudtooffloadjobswhenon-premisescapacityhasbeenreached.

∙Assetsmutualization :

herethegameistominimizethenumberofassetsthatyouwillhavetoproduceinordertodelivertoallyourtargetdevices.That’snotaneasytaskforthemomentasPCandmobiles/tabletsareabitaheadofconnectedTVsasregardsABRstreamingsupportandDRMsupportbutsituationisevolvingquicklyand,giventhefactthatPlayReadyforHLShasnotbeennormalizedasexpectedbyMicrosoft（instead,theydidputalltheireffortsbehindDASHsupport）,theHLS+PlayReadycombinationcanjustbeconsideredasaquick-winbeforeageneralmigration toaDASH-basedcombination in2013.Asofnow,thepanoramaisabitpuzzled,andyouhavetoprovidemonoblockandfragmentedformatswithdifferentDRMsinordertosupportthecurrentdevicesgenerationsandbrands.Sotheplatformyouchoosemustsupportcurrentchaoticrequirementsandallowsmooth&quickmigrationtomorefederatingstandardslikeDASHcombinedwithPlayReadyorMarlin.

∙ABRsupport :

 HLS/SMOOTH/HDS/DASH.That’swhatyouneedtosupporttodelivertocurrentandupcomingdeviceswhi