Optimizing Cloud-Based Video Processing for a Global Media Company

Reducing video processing costs by up to 80%

Solution highlights

Microservices-based architecture for seamless scalability
Spot and on-demand instances switching
Cost-effective spot instances configuration
Reduced data traffic between regions
Optimized cloud spend

Business challenge: Maximize video processing efficiency without adding extra costs

The client, a global leader in media solutions, provides video management, distribution, playout and monetization services to broadcasters, telecoms, and content owners across the world.

To ensure the system effectively handles millions of hours of video, the client was looking to modernize the existing architecture that was currently facing the following challenges:

Slow, inefficient video processing workflows running in the ECS cluster
Large amounts of data transferred across regions, adding to higher overall latency and increased costs

Redesigning system architecture to achieve business goals

Using AWS spot instances

The new architecture utilizes spot instances — unused EC2 capacity — to offer the scale and resources for accelerated video processing.

Spinning up spot instances to run a job
Automatically switching to reserved instances if no spot instances are available
Stopping spot instances once the job is completed to avoid overspending

Reducing data traffic

To prevent the AWS data transfer costs from skyrocketing, the solution makes use of region exclusivity and enables:

Sending only queries between different regions
Processing video in the same region where it is stored
Monitoring data transfer expenses

Monitoring key metrics

An important part of infrastructure optimization was continuous tracking of crucial metrics. We monitored video workflows and collected metrics around spot instances usage, queries execution, overall latency, and more. By measuring what matters, we were able to not only fine-tune system configurations but also to validate the overall architectural design and make sure the solution meets the strategic business goals.

Business value: Better performance, lower costs

Our AWS expertise was instrumental in helping the client redesign the cloud-based architecture to enable faster and more efficient video processing. By seamlessly switching between spot and reserved instances, the new architecture allows the client to save up to 80% in cloud infrastructure costs.

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