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Whether you look at online video, video games, social networks, or augmented and virtual reality experiences, the demand by consumers for streaming services is only going up.
With this in mind, Google Cloud has launched a new Media CDN service, giving customers access to YouTube’s sizable content delivery infrastructure.
The public cloud provider said the new service, announced at NAB 2022, will allow its media and entertainment customers to leverage YouTube’s network to provide streaming experiences to viewers around the world.
What does the solution offer customers?
Google Cloud said that Media CDN leverages YouTube’s network, which it says covers over 200 countries and 1,300 cities worldwide.
The company claims that having video content closer to users will enable higher bitrates and will reduce rebuffers, resulting in a better experience for end-users
Google Cloud also said that streaming providers will be able to improve their video monetization via its Video Stitcher API, which enables dynamic manipulation of video content to insert ads.
Media CDN’s Transcoder API supports custom streaming formats, while its Live Stream API transcodes mezzanine live signals into direct-to-consumer streaming formats across multiple device platforms.
In addition, Google said that Media CDN is built with AI and machine learning which, for example, will allow sports fans watching a game to obtain real-time stats and analytics, so viewers can purchase items from virtual billboards.
What’s in it for developers?
Google promised that Media CDN provides a host of developer friendly features, including built in automation and observability, that will enable them to integrate delivery provisioning and management into their content release processes.
Media CDN offers APIs and automation tools like Terraform, as well as access to Google Cloud’s operations suite, which integrates with tools that developers already use, such as Grafana and ElasticSearch.
Google also said that Media CDN lets streaming providers take advantage of Google’s existing security experience, via an integration with its network security service Google Cloud Armor.
The public cloud provider said this will enable DDoS protection and include capabilities to detect and mitigate the risk of attacks as well as to comply with regulatory or licensing requirements.
“Leveraging the same infrastructure as YouTube, Google Cloud’s Media CDN combines geographic reach, API-first architecture and integration with the Cloud operations suite,” said Ghassan Abdo, Research Vice President at IDC. “This is a transformative move that is aligned with the future of the CDN industry.”
Despite rapidly introducing new features and projects, Google’s cloud division is still losing money. Google Cloud experienced $890 million loss for the fourth quarter of 2021, and $3.1 billion for the entire year of 2021.