The coming years will depend on a willingness to innovate, collaborate and invest in a future that’s already being built.
Fifteen years ago, few would have predicted the true scale of today’s streaming economy. Many questioned how YouTube would be able to monetise at scale. Some even doubted if streaming technology would mature enough to rival traditional TV. We founded Broadpeak in 2010 on the firm belief that the internet would become the primary way people consume television. And we wanted to help make the internet deliver on that promise – enabling always-on content, available everywhere and anytime.
Across the Middle East and North Africa, this transformation is especially pronounced. From the global spotlight of the FIFA World Cup to surging rights, events and production investments, the scale of live content is surging – and so too is audience demand. Today’s sports fans expect instant access, easy discoverability and exceptional quality viewing experiences on any device.
For broadcasters and streaming platforms, this means finding ways to deliver higher quality content at unprecedented scale – and with better ROI. It also means challenging long-held assumptions about the infrastructure needed to support large-scale live events.
15 years of streaming evolution
Back when we started Broadpeak, we knew the Middle East was a complex, high-growth region for streaming. It’s home to diverse viewing habits, distribution models and network infrastructures. Mobile-first, digital-savvy viewers. All with a strong appetite for both local and international content.
We’ve been working in the Arab world for many years and have built close relationships with media and telecom pioneers making new inroads in monetisation and high-scale streaming. Some of the energy, ambition and creativity we see from our partners here is unmatched. Major players like Anghami and Rotana Media Services (RMS) have doubled down on innovation with us to deliver a range of OTT services that respond to shifting viewer expectations. RMS continues to harness our broadpeak.io server-side ad insertion (SSAI) solution to power dynamic ads across stc tv and other premium services in Saudi Arabia and the region.
This type of collaboration reflects the urgent demand for modernization in ad tech and content monetisation. Regional broadcasters need to keep up with major tech platforms as they wrestle for digital advertising dollars. The best way to do that is by more advanced targeting, better measurement – and unlocking new inventory through emerging formats and shoppability. Take our shoppable ad solution, Click2, for example. It enables viewers to respond to interactive ads with a remote click, triggering a mobile push notification. This type of simple, non-disruptive, user-friendly interaction opens a host of revenue streams for broadcasters and allows inventory to be valued not just by impressions, but by downstream conversions.
Monetising at scale needs smarter delivery models
One of the biggest challenges customers come to us with is high-scale delivery. Traditional unicast methods are inherently inefficient when handling millions of live viewers. Network strain causes service issues like delays and poor quality of experience (QoE). Those issues mean unhappy viewers – and missed opportunities to convert casual audiences into paid subscribers.
We’ve been warning our customers of the limitations of traditional streaming architecture since day one. That’s why we developed Multicast ABR (m-ABR), convinced there was a better, more efficient way for content providers to deliver top-quality experiences to huge audiences. Instead of creating individual streams for each user, m-ABR allows a single stream to serve multiple viewers. That means far lower network congestion, improved quality at scale, and game-changing cost and energy savings. Major operators in Europe like Orange and TIM have already deployed m-ABR across millions of devices to overcome massive traffic peaks and deliver outstanding QoE during premier live sports events.
More recently, we introduced EdgePeak, which gives operators flexible edge CDN capabilities with stronger energy efficiency. Rather than building infrastructure to cover occasional peak loads, EdgePeak supports more dynamic, demand-driven delivery – with a range of built-in security and anti-piracy tools. For media companies and broadband service providers focused on delivering content more efficiently, securely, and while delivering against sustainability targets, these strategies are a must.
What comes next?
Streaming technology is starting to work smarter, not harder. We’re fortunate that some of our closest customers – globally and in this region – are driving that change. The building blocks for higher performance delivery, video-specialised CDN architecture, and energy-efficient streaming are in place. New ad formats are delivering better margins and supporting investment in local content. These dual pillars have always been core to our mission: helping customers stream at scale and monetise without limits. The coming years will depend on a willingness to innovate, collaborate and invest in a future that’s already being built.
