When delivering video over-the-top (OTT), the internet is the principal highway for distributing this content. However, OTT streaming delivery requires something faster than what the internet offers in terms of how chunks/fragments are supposed to flow. Currently, publicly available wifi hotspots are the preferred networks for video consumption, but poor network infrastructure also leads to unbearable video buffering and latency.

Content delivery is still a major focus of what most companies do online. Whether it’s streaming video or making sure an e-commerce or media site is operating with the freshest content, delivered in the fastest way possible, the fundamentals remain. Content delivery needs to be fast, reliable, resilient across all geographies, networks and devices. While you can’t control all of these things, the trend in recent years has been to take control of content delivery by bringing content delivery networks (CDNs) in-house. In that sense, it’s not a new trend but is a trend that is picking up speed as more organizations realize the need for a customized approach to their content delivery. 

Savvy consumers know that shopping for bargains is a year-round endeavor. And e-commerce companies who have orchestrated major shopping events throughout the year, rather than relying on the be-all, end-all nature of the traditional Black Friday shopping period in the US, are finding ways to lure in revenue at typically lean times of year. What began as primarily American with the post-Thanksgiving holiday chaos of Black Friday has crept into not only a longer shopping period, extending across the entire weekend after Thanksgiving (and sometimes earlier), but has ballooned globally, with retailers worldwide latching onto the Black Friday sales theme to promote pre-holiday shopping. 

Black Friday came a week later than usual in 2019, which sent retailers into overdrive – launching into an early “Black Friday week” rather than relying on the traditional Black Friday itself as the kickoff date. Motivated in part by this unusual lateness in the calendar as well as the ongoing uncertainty around US tariff wars with China, which promise to make consumer electronics and toys -- big holiday sellers -- abnormally expensive this year, retailers wanted to get ahead of the challenges posed by offering an earlier, longer and steeper discount period.