November 2017 Summaries

The New York Times has successfully transitioned from traditional media to an online platform, with strong growth in profits and digital subscriber base. They have heavily invested in online video technology for years and are pioneering the use of new technologies like 360-degree video. Recently, they adopted Mux QoE analytics platform to improve their video playback experience. Flavio Ribeiro, lead software engineer at The New York Times, shared his experience with Mux and how it has helped them make data-driven decisions for improving their video platform. They have recently released closed captions support for their videos and plan to work on smart thumbnails, fragmented MP4's, VP9/HEVC, metadata extraction, recommendation systems, among others in the future.

Online video streaming has become increasingly complex over the years, prompting the creation of Mux Video, a powerful API that simplifies working with online video. With just two steps - POST a video and GET a video URL - developers can easily stream video on any device in seconds. Built by video experts for developers, Mux Video allows teams to get up and running quickly while offering additional features like capture, clipping, stitching, watermarking, captions, metadata extraction, etc. The system is optimized for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, with decisions driven by data for better quality, reliability, and speed. Mux Video is currently in early access stage, with interested users able to request access through the official website.

Video streaming has become more complex over the last seven years, with increased expectations from viewers and a growing number of platforms to support. While some aspects have improved, such as encoding software and cloud computing platforms, overall video streaming remains difficult for publishers. To stream video at scale, options include hiring video experts or investing time in becoming one yourself. Alternatively, keep an eye out for emerging solutions like Mux's upcoming announcement.

Mux, a quality of experience analytics platform, accurately measures video watching across platforms and devices, collects measurements at scale, and presents relevant information for users to take action. However, presenting the right information is challenging. Mux addresses this by allowing customers to export their data via an API, enabling them to access unique insights. The exports include 24 hours of raw view data in gzipped CSV format, with metrics and dimensions available in the Video View API docs. This openness strategy will continue to evolve over the next few years, making Mux's analytics platform more transparent and accessible.