Interview with Antonio G. Corrado, CEO, MainStreaming
Tell us why MainStreaming was established? What is your mission?
The idea of MainStreaming originated from my personal experience with streaming issues during a live sports event in the United States. These issues prevented me from fully experiencing the emotions associated with remarkable events like football matches or Formula 1 races.
From that moment, I realised that the end user is at the heart of the entire ecosystem. Therefore, rights holders should guarantee Quality of Experience. As the streaming issues persisted, we launched MainStreaming. We are on a mission to redefine how on-demand and live video streaming are delivered at scale, enabling high-performance KPIs.
What is your Unique Selling Proposition?
The principle of our USP focuses exclusively on delivering video use cases.
Our Edge Video Delivery Network goes beyond merely caching content to reduce telco network loads or accelerate content delivery. It addresses and solves a specific challenge: delivering broadcast-quality live video streaming at scale.
This is unlike traditional CDNs, which were built to deliver all forms of data. Legacy CDNs’ architecture is not designed for delivering high-quality live video streaming to millions of concurrent viewers simultaneously, nor can it handle the growing demand from consumers who prefer to consume video content via IP.
MainStreaming has been mentioned by reputable analysts such as Gartner and Forrester in their Edge Computing reports. What was the recognition for?
We take pride in being named as a Cool Vendor by Gartner in its Edge Computing report for providing our innovative Intelligent Media Delivery Platform.
Forrester called MainStreaming an Edge Relevant Player in its report for tackling live video streaming challenges by delivering exceptional video experiences with sustained video bitrate, ultra-low rebuffering rates and faster video startup.
Recently, STL Partners included MainStreaming in the list of “Top Edge Computing Companies” to watch in 2024 among forward looking organizations shaping the future of technology, such as Microsoft, IBM, Supermicro, Vodafone, and Verizon.
How does Mainstreaming help overcome streaming challenges?
To address the problem, we offer a viable solution: Edge Service architecture. We help broadcasters in transitioning to online streaming from traditional satellite and cable TV. The market is experiencing a transformation, driven by the shift of certain content and services from the Cloud to the Edge.
Our Edge Network services include the integration of Edge Computing applications, such as watermarking, machine learning, and tokenization.
The advent of 5G technology is set to further accelerate this transformation. As a result, new industries are emerging, including cloud gaming, AR, and VR. Considering these developments, we offer our solution to address the challenges of streaming.
How will Broadcast-grade streaming protect Broadcasters’ futures?
Media and Entertainment is a multi-trillion-dollar global industry. Latest forecasts suggest that video will deliver about $700 billion of revenue in 2024.
While this sounds attractive, there are worrying dynamics for Broadcasters to address. To win the battle for eyeballs, it is now more business- critical than ever for Broadcasters to focus on delivering highly efficient, broadcast-grade streaming. It’s about more efficient use of the capacity and the networks between the broadcaster and the viewer. It’s about having SLAs that guarantee quality to satisfy viewers. It’s about moving fast enough for your audience and your business rather than waiting for general industry capacity to become available, and the broadcast industry needs a lot of video streaming capacity in future.
What are the key steps you recommend that broadcasters take to ensure success?
The 3-pronged approach we strongly suggest Broadcasters follow includes:
1. Lay strong foundations today: use new business models that provide economies of scale for broadcast-grade OTT video distribution.
2. Retain control of distribution channels: design a video delivery pathway with suppliers that can guarantee flawless video playback to every viewer.
3. Deep-dive into Edge network architectures: look at new ways to leverage an Edge network to deliver a super-fast and high-quality Application experience for your viewers.
What do you see as the major challenges facing OTT streamers and broadcasters in the next few years?
We have identified several major challenges facing OTT streaming services in the coming years: the scalability and reliability of streaming services, network optimisation, low latency and buffering prevention, and piracy and content leakage. These are the key metrics for providing a seamless viewing experience for audiences worldwide.
As technology evolves, so do the methods of piracy and content leakage. Thus, we’ve ensured that our platform integrates Edge Computing
applications. To address these challenges, streaming services need to follow strategic steps, including investing in innovative Edge Video Delivery Network services, and remain agile to be at the forefront of rapid developments.
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