Amazon Prime Video measured the fan viewing experience by using video-stream metrics. “We paid close attention to the reliability of the video stream, which we continually optimized in real-time to provide the best experience for our customers worldwide,” Winston states. “We tracked those metrics by device and geography, looking at the viewing experience during each game. For some devices, we found the latency was comparable and in some cases better than broadcast or cable channel playback, even with ads inserted.”

The organization used Amazon Kinesis and Amazon Elasticsearch Service to provide a seamless playback experience to its customers. Amazon Kinesis delivers the video stream data to Amazon Elasticsearch Service for application monitoring and faster data forensic analysis. With Amazon Elasticsearch Service, the organization was able to aggregate, analyze, and visualize petabytes of data, allowing it to get real-time insights into the application and find and fix streaming issues instantly.

“We collected a significant amount of data around quality of service, which is the experience viewers have on their devices,” says Winston. “That information was sent to Amazon Elasticsearch Service, and we used it to further optimize the overall playback experience in real-time.”

Amazon Prime Video used AWS Elemental MediaTailor to insert ads in real time, based on which region viewers were in. Amazon Video also used Amazon Kinesis as part of its infrastructure to collect quality-of-service metrics from devices worldwide. “We used MediaTailor to surface ad-viewing data to Amazon Video systems, which then reported the data to advertising partners,” Zhang says. “Getting the right data to the right partner is critical to facilitate accurate ad reporting.”

After a successful experience streaming NFL games, Amazon Prime Video streamed the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in November 2017 and recently launched CBS All Access, which gives Amazon Prime Video subscribers access to hundreds of live local channels across the United States. Winston says, “We have a lot of confidence in the AWS Cloud and AWS Elemental, and we look forward to using these technologies to broaden our reach in the future.”