How YouTube and Paramount Maximize QoS and QoE in Live Streaming Workflows
Although quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) are critical to successful VOD (Video on Demand) and live streaming delivery, the metrics used and the workflow challenges are different for live. YouTube’s Sean McCarthy and Paramount’s Nishant Sirohi enumerate the differences and the key strategies for succeeding with live when the stakes are high in this conversation with PADEM Media Group's Allan McLennan at Streaming Media Connect.
The differences in monitoring and managing QoS and QoE in real-time for live workflows
McLennan asks McCarthy to discuss the differences in monitoring and managing QoS and QoE in real-time for live workflows at YouTube.
“I think at the end of the day, the QoE metrics that we measure from an end user perspective are more or less the same, but in a live workflow, there are more QoS elements and more potential breaking points, and therefore, I think it's personally more important to measure that in real-time,” McCarthy says. “At YouTube, which obviously is a majority VOD platform, I am focused on signal acquisition and live OTT. So, that is always the angle that I'll take when talking about QoS. What types of metrics matter to us? How do we think about the end-to-end signal chain? It's always in the context of a live workflow.”
He emphasizes the differences in perceptual quality metrics in VOD versus live workflows. “I feel [with] VOD workflows, we [don’t] necessarily over the index, but relative to live index [we rely on] more heavily on perceptual quality metrics. A, because it's easier to compute, and B, I would argue that with the creative intent in a Hollywood movie [compared to] a sports production, you want to maintain the integrity of the pixels and how they're displayed on your screens and devices. And I think right now there's a trend in the industry to bring that same rigor of the actual bit flow and pixel quality monitoring to the live workflows.”
The need for real-time monitoring and backup plans to ensure seamless live streaming
McLennan asks Sirohi, “At Paramount, when you're working on this, you're dealing with CBS News and live sports. Now, are you looking at this a little differently, but is this kind of a consistent solution you're trying to fill?”
“How we approach monitoring a live system is a lot different than what we approach on a VOD system," Sirohi says. "There is a lot of leverage we have when we look at our VOD content that we can use to enhance our quality or experience. Pre-warming is one, and being able to test it out is another one. When we come to live streaming, any content, be it sports or a news channel…you are acting in real-time. Your manifest window is rolling out quickly. You must monitor all the points within the new pipeline [to ensure] they are performing as they should be. And if they are not performing, what are your backup plans?
Switching between QoS and QoE metrics to improve future events based on past performance
McLennan asks Sirohi what prompts a switchover to a focus on QoS to QoE.
“My focus, being from the engineering point of view, would always be at the QoS,” Sirohi says. “I will be looking at the QoS metrics in real-time. When we're doing QoE, it is more of a reflection [on] when an event is done, how we can learn from it and improve the next one to make it better. But when we are doing anything in real-time, it will be QoS, looking at the metrics or your monitoring point coming from a different integration point of the system via your encoder packager or your monetizing system, and that all of them are performing as they're supposed to be. And if there are red flags, how do you switch over to the backup path? So those are tradeoffs you have to make in real-time. It depends on the scale of the event, the quality that you want to deliver for it, [and] how many resources you have to do it.”
Join us in February 2025 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect.
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