Fastly Case Studies JW Player's Enhanced Video Delivery and Scalability with Fastly's CDN and Media Shield

	JW Player's Enhanced Video Delivery and Scalability with Fastly's CDN and Media Shield Fastly

JW Player's Enhanced Video Delivery and Scalability with Fastly's CDN and Media Shield

Fastly

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Sensors - Camera / Video Systems
Applicable Industries	Cement Transportation
Applicable Functions	Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases	Last Mile Delivery Time Sensitive Networking
Services	System Integration
Challenge	JW Player, a leading platform for video delivery and intelligence, was facing a significant challenge in managing its rapidly increasing traffic. The company, which serves some of the biggest names in media, has seen its traffic grow exponentially as video strategy becomes central to business strategy. The company was dealing with a 900% increase in requests per second, scaling from 4,000 requests per second in 2019 to 40,000 requests per second in 2021. This growth was driven by both market expansion and pandemic-driven demand. The challenge was to maintain high availability and fast time-to-first-frame (TTFF), which are critical metrics for end-user engagement. Additionally, JW Player was grappling with rising origin costs and the need to simplify their tech stack. Read More
About Customer	JW Player is a renowned platform for video delivery and intelligence, serving some of the biggest names in media, including Eurosport, Fox, Univision, and Viacom. The company reaches over 1 billion unique users worldwide, offering video solutions such as live streaming, video on demand (VOD), and OTT apps. These solutions enable their customers to provide engaging user experiences on every device, regardless of location. As video strategy becomes increasingly central to business strategy, JW Player has seen a surge in traffic and has had to adapt to manage this growth seamlessly. Read More
Solution	To address these challenges, JW Player incorporated Fastly into their multi-CDN strategy. Fastly's CDN and Media Shield were instrumental in managing the increased traffic and maintaining speed and scalability. The Media Shield improved performance and optimized their multi-CDN deployment by serving the needs of all other CDNs, reducing trips to the origin, and thereby speeding up TTFF and lowering origin egress costs. JW Player also utilized Fastly's On-the-Fly Packager (OTFP) to accelerate TTFF by repackaging video on a just-in-time basis for the right streaming format, resolution, and frame rate. Fastly's Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) and Terraform integration enabled JW Player to implement changes rapidly and automate deployments, making the process quicker and less prone to errors. Additionally, Fastly's integration with Datadog provided real-time log streaming, allowing JW Player to spot and solve problems before they significantly impacted customers. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Sensors - Camera / Video Systems

Applicable Industries

Cement

Transportation

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Last Mile Delivery

Time Sensitive Networking

Services

System Integration

Challenge

JW Player, a leading platform for video delivery and intelligence, was facing a significant challenge in managing its rapidly increasing traffic. The company, which serves some of the biggest names in media, has seen its traffic grow exponentially as video strategy becomes central to business strategy. The company was dealing with a 900% increase in requests per second, scaling from 4,000 requests per second in 2019 to 40,000 requests per second in 2021. This growth was driven by both market expansion and pandemic-driven demand. The challenge was to maintain high availability and fast time-to-first-frame (TTFF), which are critical metrics for end-user engagement. Additionally, JW Player was grappling with rising origin costs and the need to simplify their tech stack.

About Customer

JW Player is a renowned platform for video delivery and intelligence, serving some of the biggest names in media, including Eurosport, Fox, Univision, and Viacom. The company reaches over 1 billion unique users worldwide, offering video solutions such as live streaming, video on demand (VOD), and OTT apps. These solutions enable their customers to provide engaging user experiences on every device, regardless of location. As video strategy becomes increasingly central to business strategy, JW Player has seen a surge in traffic and has had to adapt to manage this growth seamlessly.

Solution

To address these challenges, JW Player incorporated Fastly into their multi-CDN strategy. Fastly's CDN and Media Shield were instrumental in managing the increased traffic and maintaining speed and scalability. The Media Shield improved performance and optimized their multi-CDN deployment by serving the needs of all other CDNs, reducing trips to the origin, and thereby speeding up TTFF and lowering origin egress costs. JW Player also utilized Fastly's On-the-Fly Packager (OTFP) to accelerate TTFF by repackaging video on a just-in-time basis for the right streaming format, resolution, and frame rate. Fastly's Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) and Terraform integration enabled JW Player to implement changes rapidly and automate deployments, making the process quicker and less prone to errors. Additionally, Fastly's integration with Datadog provided real-time log streaming, allowing JW Player to spot and solve problems before they significantly impacted customers.

Impact #1	The collaboration with Fastly has brought about significant operational improvements for JW Player. The company has been able to manage its rapid growth without any disruption in service, maintaining high availability and fast TTFF, which are critical for end-user engagement. The adoption of Fastly's Media Shield has not only improved performance but also simplified JW Player's tech stack, reducing their reliance on other CDNs. The use of Fastly's OTFP has enhanced viewer experience by enabling immediate playback. Fastly's VCL and Terraform integration have streamlined JW Player's operations, making changes and deployments quicker and less error-prone. The integration with Datadog has provided real-time observability, enabling the team to spot and solve problems before they impact customers. Furthermore, Fastly's responsive support has been instrumental in resolving issues quickly, contributing to customer satisfaction.

Impact #1

The collaboration with Fastly has brought about significant operational improvements for JW Player. The company has been able to manage its rapid growth without any disruption in service, maintaining high availability and fast TTFF, which are critical for end-user engagement. The adoption of Fastly's Media Shield has not only improved performance but also simplified JW Player's tech stack, reducing their reliance on other CDNs. The use of Fastly's OTFP has enhanced viewer experience by enabling immediate playback. Fastly's VCL and Terraform integration have streamlined JW Player's operations, making changes and deployments quicker and less error-prone. The integration with Datadog has provided real-time observability, enabling the team to spot and solve problems before they impact customers. Furthermore, Fastly's responsive support has been instrumental in resolving issues quickly, contributing to customer satisfaction.

Benefit #1	JW Player managed a 900% increase in requests per second, from 4,000 in 2019 to 40,000 in 2021, without any disruption in service.
Benefit #2	Fastly's Media Shield led to significant cost savings by reducing origin egress costs.
Benefit #3	Fastly's OTFP enabled immediate playback for viewers, enhancing user experience.

Benefit #1

JW Player managed a 900% increase in requests per second, from 4,000 in 2019 to 40,000 in 2021, without any disruption in service.

Benefit #2

Fastly's Media Shield led to significant cost savings by reducing origin egress costs.

Benefit #3

Fastly's OTFP enabled immediate playback for viewers, enhancing user experience.

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Overview

JW Player's Enhanced Video Delivery and Scalability with Fastly's CDN and Media Shield

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit