Cloud Computing for Media

VOD libraries continue to grow across regions, devices, formats, and audience expectations. Media teams need workflows that can migrate existing content, maintain required playback formats, and process, store, package, protect, and deliver content efficiently without increasing operational complexity or cloud costs.

Akamai supports VOD workflows with distributed compute, Object Storage, Adaptive Media Delivery, traffic management, and a partner ecosystem for transcoding, packaging, and playback needs. Teams can use Akamai Cloud to process and store media content closer to where workflows and audiences operate, then connect that content to Akamai’s global delivery platform.

Akamai also supports playback needs through Akamai Media Player 2, powered by Bitmovin, giving teams a flexible player option for mobile, desktop, and TV experiences.

For media companies with large, growing, or legacy libraries, this creates a flexible foundation for improving performance, supporting multiple playback environments, reducing migration complexity, and managing storage and egress more predictably.

Akamai Partners:
VOD workflow partners include: Bitmovin, Scalstrm, Unified Streaming, Ateme, Media Excel, and Capella Systems.

Transcoding is one of the most compute-intensive parts of the media workflow. Teams need to convert content into the right formats, resolutions, and bitrates while balancing performance, cost, speed, and flexibility. For live workflows, that balance becomes even more important because capacity needs can change quickly by region, event, and audience demand.

Distributed cloud regions can help teams place processing closer to audiences and support regional workflow requirements.

Akamai gives teams multiple options for media processing. You can choose between video processing units (VPUs) or GPU instances, depending on your workload. VPUs support high-efficiency transcoding, while GPU instances support video, AI, and related media workloads. Qualified Compute Partners can also provide turnkey transcoding and packaging solutions that run on Akamai Cloud.

By pairing media-optimized compute with storage and delivery on the same distributed platform, Akamai helps teams support live and VOD processing while reducing the cost and complexity of moving media between cloud environments.

Akamai qualified media partners:
Bitmovin, Harmonic, Ateme, Media Excel, Capella Systems, Unified Streaming, and Scalstrm.

Streaming quality depends on more than delivery performance alone. Media teams need visibility across infrastructure, CDNs, players, QoE, user behavior, and ad performance data so they can troubleshoot issues quickly and improve the viewing experience over time.

TrafficPeak helps media teams collect, retain, query, and analyze high-volume data with fast access to granular information. With video analytics integrations, teams can monitor metrics like app sessions, content sessions, minutes viewed, concurrent viewers, exit before video start, time to first frame, stall ratio, average stall duration, average bitrate, content effectiveness, and ad performance.

For teams managing multiple log streams, DataStream 2 can also support multiplexing patterns that help route the right data to the right teams while reducing storage, transmission, and processing overhead.
This gives media teams a clearer view of how streaming experiences perform, where issues occur, and how content and advertising are engaging audiences.

Akamai partners:
Datazoom

As ad-supported streaming grows, media companies need reliable ways to monetize live and VOD content without degrading the viewer experience. Building server-side ad insertion in-house can add significant operational complexity, especially across devices, formats, and ad decisioning systems.

Akamai works with qualified partners to support server-side ad insertion for live and on-demand streaming workflows. These solutions can help media teams insert personalized ads, support ad tracking and analytics, and create additional monetization opportunities through formats like pre-roll, mid-roll, full-screen, and in-stream ads.

When paired with Akamai delivery and observability, server-side ad insertion becomes part of a broader media workflow that supports performance, revenue, and viewer experience all at once.

Akamai partners:
Yospace, Harmonic, Ateme

Premium media content needs protection across the full streaming workflow. Media companies must manage access, reduce piracy risk, protect viewing sessions, and support secure delivery across devices and distribution models.

Akamai supports secure media delivery with capabilities for content access control, token-based protection, secure CDN delivery, and partner integrations for content protection needs. Token Ban List capabilities can help revoke user sessions or tokens, even in multi-CDN environments, to combat restreaming and protect premium content.

With Akamai, content protection can work alongside delivery, observability, and workflow services enabling media teams to protect valuable content without creating unnecessary friction for legitimate viewers.

Akamai partners:
Adaptive Media Delivery, EZDRM, partner DRM integrations