ZEE’s Technology & Innovation Centre implements first-of-its-kind Common Media Application Format (CMAF) for ZEE5
03 October 2024 – ZEE5, India and Bharat’s largest home-grown video streaming platform has successfully adopted the Common Media Application Format (CMAF) at a wider scale to transform content delivery and enhance viewer experience. The innovative move, implemented by Company’s Technology & Innovation Centre based in Bengaluru, facilitates smoother video playback across devices and allows ZEE5 users to experience good AV quality even in areas with low internet bandwidth.
By optimizing bandwidth consumption and reducing operational costs, ZEE5 is expanding its reach to 100 million users, ensuring more viewers can have access to high-quality streaming. CMAF is a versatile and extensible standard designed to package segmented media, enabling seamless cross-device compatibility. By adopting CMAF, ZEE5 is not only ensuring an uninterrupted viewing experience but also reducing latency, a critical factor in live streaming of sports, news and events.
Reflecting on the impact of CMAF, Shiva Chinnasamy, Chief Technology and Product Officer, ZEE said, “Our strategic focus is to provide best-in-class AV experience even in areas with low internet. CMAF allows us to serve content more efficiently, ensuring no data wastage while delivering high-quality immersive experiences to every viewer, no matter their bandwidth. ZEE5 is focusing on building in-house capabilities to provide robust services and experience to their consumers and adoption of CMAF is a crucial step to achieve the same.”
Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 India, said, “At ZEE5, we remain focused on enhancing viewer experience through cutting-edge technology. Adopting the Common Media Application Format (CMAF) is a step forward in ZEE5’s vision to democratise access to quality entertainment. This ensures that even in regions with low internet connectivity, our users can enjoy seamless viewing experiences. This strategic move reflects our commitment to bring quality content to a broader audience, which also aligns with our goal of delivering immersive entertainment across multiple devices. CMAF represents a significant step in further refining how our viewers engage with content on our platform.”
Commenting on the success of the format, Suneel Khare, Senior Vice President and Head of Video Engineering, ZEE, said, “The implementation of CMAF is strategic. It allows us to streamline and improve our content delivery, enabling real-time low-latency streaming while significantly reducing data requirements. This enhancement ensures smoother playback even in regions with low bandwidth, expanding ZEE5’s reach to a broader audience, including those with limited internet access.”
ZEE5’s successful implementation of CMAF has resulted in several key advantages, including:
- Low-Latency Streaming: Essential for live events, CMAF ensures near real-time video delivery, minimizing delays and enhancing live event viewing.
- Bandwidth Optimization: The efficient CMAF packaging reduces data consumption, enhancing video quality in low-bandwidth environments.
- Cross-Device Compatibility: CMAF supports both HLS (HTTP live streaming) and DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) formats, ensuring consistent video playback across mobile devices, Smart TVs, and more.
- Future-Ready Encryption: CMAF utilises Widevine CBCS technology, a standard for content protection that allows for seamless playback across both Apple & Android devices and ensures a seamless and secure streaming experience.
Rahul Banerjee, Principal Architect of Video Engineering, ZEE, added, “With CMAF, the real-time improvements in video quality and reduced buffering have significantly enhanced viewer engagement. This upgrade ensures viewers enjoy higher-quality streams with minimal delays, even in regions with weaker internet connectivity.”
Apart from enhancing the viewer experience, CMAF has also brought significant operational benefits for ZEE5. By optimizing content packaging, it has reduced storage requirements by over 30%, while keeping CDN (Content Delivery Network) costs static despite the growing demand for higher-resolution content. Furthermore, CMAF’s scalability enables ZEE5 to seamlessly expand its global reach in more than 12 languages, ensuring consistent performance during peak usage.
By implementing CMAF, ZEE5 improves operational efficiency and reinforces its commitment to delivering high-quality content to a wider, more diverse audience. The platform’s pioneering approach to content packaging and delivery ensures that it remains future-ready as OTT consumption continues to evolve globally.
