Fastly Case Studies Fastly's Edge Cloud Network Ensures Uninterrupted Streaming for Network 10's Melbourne Cup
Fastly Logo

Fastly's Edge Cloud Network Ensures Uninterrupted Streaming for Network 10's Melbourne Cup

Fastly
Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Event-Driven Application
Electronics
Transportation
Logistics & Transportation
Traffic Monitoring
Transportation Simulation
Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Network 10, a major Australian television network, faced a significant challenge in delivering a seamless live stream of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's premier horse race and the network's biggest sporting event. The race is not only broadcast on free-to-air television but also offered as a live stream from the company’s website. The challenge was to ensure uninterrupted delivery of the live stream at a time when traffic levels reach the highest point of the year. The selection of the underlying platform was critical to achieving this. Network 10 aimed to provide a first-class experience to all viewers, with top-quality audio and video delivered without interruption or buffering. The network also needed to prepare for any spontaneous spikes in traffic and troubleshoot any issues that may arise during the event.
Read More
Network 10 is a major Australian television network that broadcasts a variety of content, including the Melbourne Cup, Australia's premier horse race. The Melbourne Cup is the biggest sporting event on Network 10’s calendar and is broadcast on free-to-air television and offered as a live stream from the company’s website. Network 10 is committed to providing a first-class viewing experience to its audience, with top-quality audio and video delivered without interruption or buffering. The network also operates an on-demand streaming platform, 10 Play, which was used to stream the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Read More
To meet these challenges, Network 10 turned to Fastly’s edge cloud network. Fastly, with its 72 points of presence around the globe, including four in Australia, enabled Network 10 to deliver reliable, low-latency, high-performance live streaming-at-scale throughout the event. Fastly's edge delivery services and increased capacity were utilized by Network 10’s on-demand streaming platform, 10 Play, during the Melbourne Cup Carnival. Fastly’s Live Event Monitoring allowed 10 Play to reserve capacity for the event and prepare for any spontaneous spikes in traffic. Fastly’s engineers were able to monitor the scheduled event's performance and help troubleshoot any issues that may have arisen. Fastly servers were able to seamlessly handle the impact of hundreds of thousands of Australians watching the nationally-renowned race, ensuring the three and a half minute main event went smoothly.
Read More
Fastly's solution allowed Network 10 to adapt to changes in viewer demands and to deliver a first-rate viewer experience regardless of the device being used to consume the race. The shift from conventional television to computer or mobile device viewing was seamlessly handled. Network 10 was particularly impressed by the way in which Fastly allows real-time provisioning, real-time insights, analytics, and log delivery. It also allowed operational costs to be minimised by reducing the amount of traffic on the company’s own servers. Any changes that were required could be completed very quickly and Fastly was tightly integrated with both the Network 10 live stream and the company’s website. The successful results of Fastly’s engagement with Network Ten’s 2020 Melbourne Cup broadcast were amplified for the 2021 Melbourne Cup.
In 2020, more than 680,000 concurrent streams were delivered to racing fans around the world, marking the largest streaming record in Melbourne Cup’s history.
The traffic patterns observed on Cup Day indicated an increase of 1400 per cent in peak bandwidth over the average figure in the previous seven days for Network 10.
Compared to the peak bandwidth in the same period, 10 Play’s live stream spiked 214 per cent.
Download PDF Version
test test