Live streaming has long been enjoyed by users around the world to tune into some of the biggest music and sporting events. Over the decades, the internet has become much, much stronger, and the tech that brings us the images in real time has become much more advanced. Yet, whenever a major event announces that it’ll be shown via a live stream, many can’t help to shudder at the thought.
In recent years, there have been many, many high-profile failings. Most recently, legendary Birmingham band that pioneered several arms of metal and rock, Black Sabbath, returned to the stage with a live stream in tow. However, not only did this “live stream” not get going until two hours after the beginning of Back to the Beginning, but the stream’s live chat also relayed several technical issues. Unfortunately, it’s just another to add to the pile.
Consistent Success Alongside Major Failures
When 5G was on the horizon, we were promised a new age for live streaming. Incredibly low latency, super-speed delivery, the ability to carry very high definition pictures, and increased reliability were the major selling points. We’re well into the age of 5G now, but it seems as though even this level of internet power hasn’t been able to wash over many of live streaming’s inherent challenges.
That said, there are plenty of live streaming deployments that fully utilise the tech and only experience issues extremely rarely. All day, there are live blackjack online tables streamed to players across the internet. In each of these live streams, not only do players see the action in real time, but they interact with the game. Players choose to hit, double down, stand, and the like as the real cards are being dealt by the professional croupier.
Live Hippodrome Blackjack streams live from the legendary London venue, while Live Mega Fire Blaze Blackjack and Live One Blackjack come from dedicated live casino studios. In all instances, the picture is high-quality, there are plenty of players interacting with the program differently and in real time, and the live streams hold up. Then you see the likes of goliath Netflix struggling to handle live streams of stand-up, reality shows, or exhibition sports.
Why is Live Streaming Events so Difficult?
As noted, Netflix’s live streaming struggles have spanned several years. Love is Blind: Reunion, Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage, Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul, and The Netflix Cup have all incurred issues for thousands, and sometimes millions, of subscribers. For Netflix in particular, this is being seen as an issue with how the company delivers its on-demand shows and films and how that’s proven to not be ideal for live streaming.
Open Connect is Netflix’s primary content delivery network, which operates on Open Connect Appliances being set up at key internet exchange points in its many markets. It’s been theorised that massive congestion on these appliances and peak broadcast hours seeing significant increases in content errors combine to create live streaming struggles.
With the focus there being the Tyson-Paul event, the sheer volume of connected accounts will have posed a unique challenge even to Netflix. It was grossly overhyped, after all. Further, many streamers will have tried to access it in the best possible picture settings, increasing the burden. On top of this, some users will have weaker internet connections than others, likely leading to some of the issues experienced.
For now, live streaming events remain somewhat tumultuous. The spikes in users and interest appear to be the cause, while mitigating for waves of interest seems to still be difficult to handle. Still, there are live streaming platforms that continue to provide reliable streams, showing that eventually, major live events will be able to avoid these common issues.
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