SonyLIV delivers live and on-demand content across India with AWS

Video-on-demand (VOD) service SonyLIV delivers a plethora of content to more than 100 million consumers in India across a range of devices via its OTT app. The advertisement- and subscription-based platform is home to a massive content library featuring more than 30,000 hours of live and on-demand video in multiple languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, and Telugu. Viewers can access more than 70,000 HD videos from the Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) content library and more than 1,200 Bollywood and Hollywood movies, plus original web series, fitness programming, TV channels, news, and music.

The service also hosts a vast selection of popular sports properties, delivering more than 15,000 hours of sports content yearly that includes overseas cricket series; football tournaments like UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and La Liga; the Asian Games; and more. These offerings drive sizeable viewership: the 2018 FIFA World Cup live stream fetched India’s highest-ever audience for a live streaming match, with 70 million viewers.

To give audiences the best possible viewing experience for its array of content, SonyLIV depends on AWS solutions in the cloud. AWS Elemental MediaConvert is used to transcode all on-demand programming for distribution and archival, with AWS Elemental MediaLive performing encoding for live channels. Using Quality-Defined Variable Bitrate (QVBR) rate control, MediaConvert and MediaLive analyze every frame of video and automatically adjust bitrate as needed to maintain consistent video quality and avoid wasted bits. With Accelerated Transcoding, a feature of AWS Elemental MediaConvert, SonyLIV is able to take advantage of cloud-based parallel processing to quickly turn around transcoding jobs and get VOD content to audiences faster. SonyLIV packages video in AWS Elemental MediaPackage, with Amazon CloudFront performing content delivery to complete the chain.

Pioneers in digital streaming, Sony LIV continuously grows and innovates its offerings in service of its audiences. The platform recently announced that it will deliver original and acquired content in Tamil and Telugu, starting with a Tamil version of its marquee show Crime Patrol with more titles to follow soon.

“AWS Media Services packs a punch!” said Manish Verma, Head of Technology, SonyLIV. “QVBR alone has saved us a lot in storage and CDN data transfer costs, while ensuring a better consumer experience. It also enables us to adjust the bitrate to ensure consistent streaming quality. Accelerated transcoding has also enhanced our video processing exponentially, as has the use of reserved transcoding slots. Overall, we love the flexibility that AWS Media Services and Amazon CloudFront provide, because we can quickly scale into the cloud, which is important as our audience and content library continues to expand.”

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