Towards 10 Million Concurrent Streams

Earlier this week, comScore reported that U.S. Internet users viewed 11 billion online videos during April 2008. That’s an impressive number that shows just how quickly the market for rich media over broadband is growing.

What’s equally as interesting are the comments by MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman at yesterday’s BM Capital Market’s eMergine Media Forum. When asked about the number of online streams for the U.S Open, Bowman told Contentinople , “The reported results were 600,000 concurrent streams. That’s a great number. But 600,000 streams in the TV world is something you wouldn’t talk about.“ He went on to say that the industry needs to get to 10 million streams on a regular basis, but noted there’s a lot of work left to do. “We’re getting there, but we still have a long way to go,” Bowman said.

We agree. Online video delivery should be robust and reliable as what we have come to expect from offline video. But to get there on a scale as large as “10 million streams on a regular basis” requires not only infrastructure build-out, but the right content and the right monetization strategy for that content. And all three of those elements are dependent upon each other to drive the cycle of expansion in the digital media industry.

Looking at comScore’s rankings of Top 10 U.S. video properties for April, we think any one listed has a great chance to regularly attract 10 million online video viewers. Limelight Networks delivers video for 7 of the 10 content producers listed, and we hold regular planning sessions with them (and our other customers) to understand their roadmap and traffic monetization strategies, so we can support them with the appropriate infrastructure and technology investments.

Because in our business, it’s not just about delivering 10 million streams for one content producer at a time. It’s about delivering 10 million streams for every one of our customers concurrently – while ensuring a robust, reliable experience for each viewer watching those streams.