iGaming, Sports Betting, and the Five-Nines Streaming Challenge
Five-Nines uptime in streaming went from a pipe dream to mainstream expectation in a relatively short time, but how realistic is that seamless user experience in the high-stakes, large-scale world of sports betting and iGaming where ultra-low latency is the sine qua non of success? Chris Pfaff, CEO, Chris Pfaff Tech Media, Producers Guild of America (PGA), VR AR Association (VRARA), discusses this topic with Joshua Johnson, Sr. Director, Solution Architects, EdgeNext, and Sean Gardner, Head, Video Strategy & Market Development, AECG, AMD, in this clip from their panel at Streaming Media East 2023.
Pfaff says that today, many people are looking at sub-second latency, particularly as interactive gaming and sports betting become an increasingly predominant part of the streaming landscape, with platforms such as FanDuel and Fox Bet having a significant presence in sporting events. He asks Joshua Johnson to discuss how the “Five-Nines” expectation impacts EdgeNext.
“The interactive gaming industry is growing in leaps and bounds,” Johnson says. “And it’s starting to become similar to the video gaming industry where it’s becoming an all-encompassing environment. The growth is coming into emerging markets, the Latin Americas, Asia-Pacific. It’s a little more difficult here in the States because of the legal issues, but there’s some countries that ban it completely.”
Gardner says, “Sub 60, sub 40, depending on who you’re talking to.”
“Yeah, and you can’t lay a bet here and have it already have happened,” Johnson says.
“Synchronization is a challenge,” Gardner says.
“Exactly, it’s huge,” Johnson says. “So you’ve got to have your backend connectivity, but it’s not being done at a 2D level, it being done at higher and higher levels.”
Pfaff says, “So if you were in Huntington Beach for Streaming Media West last year, I did a panel [discussing] the Web3 side of things. And one of the panelists is Darcy Lorincz, who many of us know at Barrett Jackson Auctions. That's where he hangs his hat today. And, of course, they do these monster auctions for these automobiles. And it's the same thing. They're building out this whole world. It's not your father's QVC anymore. It's nuts. It's incredible!”
Learn more about a wide range of streaming industry topics at Streaming Media Connect 2023.
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