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When it comes to streaming quality, expectations have never been higher. Today, audiences expect flawless playback, near-immediate start times and perfect resolution across every device, even as platforms contend with rising delivery costs and increasingly complex streaming infrastructure. Audience demand for content continues to rise, including in regions where certain genres have not traditionally been popular, or that are lacking in edge infrastructure. It is against this backdrop that we find one of the main challenges for content providers: scaling in a way that is reliable, efficient, and that keeps costs in the black. As bandwidth prices fluctuate and traffic patterns become harder to predict, finding ways to reduce OTT costs through smarter CDN cost optimization has become essential to sustaining both quality and profitability.

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In this article, we explore why streaming costs continue to rise, where traditional delivery models fall short, and how a more intelligent approach to streaming infrastructure can help platforms reduce streaming costs without sacrificing quality.

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Why are streaming costs rising for OTT platforms?

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For most OTT providers, delivery costs are increasing for reasons that have to do with more than just growing their audience. One of the most crucial factors is how much gets spent on bandwidth. As average bitrates rise because HD, 4K, and HDR are becoming the norm, the cost per streamed hour follows, especially for live events and long-form content. CDN pricing models are still based on data transfer volume and regional egress, meaning higher-quality streams translate directly into higher monthly bills, especially during traffic spikes.

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At the same time, the complexity of infrastructure is driving up operational costs. Many platforms these days use multi-CDN strategies to improve resilience and reach, but this comes with added expenses related to traffic duplication, monitoring, and vendor management. Encoding and packaging costs are also on the up, since providers are maintaining larger bitrate ladders to support a growing range of devices and network conditions. When you add in demand patterns that are hard to predict, especially in emerging markets where the infrastructure isn't always there, content providers often end up overprovisioning capacity. This means they're paying for performance headroom they might only need for a short time.

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Why is traditional CDN cost optimization falling short?

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With delivery costs going up, many OTT providers are trying to cut costs by negotiating better rates or using more than one CDN. These approaches can save money or make things more reliable in the short term, but they tend to deal with the underlying inefficiencies in how traffic is routed and delivered. CDNs typically use static routing logic, and have limited visibility into real-time congestion outside their own networks. As a result, traffic is often sent through less-than-ideal paths, even when there are better or less-congested routes available elsewhere on the open internet.

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For engineering teams, managing costs often comes at the risk of degrading the viewing experience. Tactics like aggressive bitrate caps, simplified bitrate ladders, or longer segment durations can help reduce bandwidth usage, but they often impact startup times, visual quality, or playback stability. Without granular, end-to-end visibility into how streams perform across regions, ISPs, and devices, making the right optimization decisions is hugely challenging. As a result, many platforms end up paying for extra CDN capacity during peak demand, without having the flexibility to adjust delivery as network conditions change.

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How to reduce OTT costs by applying intelligent, adaptive delivery

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It is becoming clear that efficiency depends less on where content is delivered from and more on how it moves through the network. Enter intelligent delivery models. Rather than relying solely on static delivery paths and overprovisioned capacity, intelligent delivery models focus on adapting in real time to actual demand and network conditions. This allows platforms to reduce OTT costs by cutting out unnecessary bandwidth usage, while still delivering the consistent, high-quality performance that viewers demand.

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This approach ultimately comes down to having greater visibility across not only the streaming infrastructure, but also the open internet. This is where System73’s Data Logistics Platform can make a real difference. By continuously observing real-world network conditions end to end, it provides platforms with the intelligence they need to understand how traffic is actually moving, where congestion is forming, and how delivery performance varies across regions, ISPs, and devices. It turns that visibility into actionable insight, giving teams a clear view of performance that goes far beyond traditional CDN metrics.

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Our dynamic routing solution, Edge Intelligence, then uses those insights to actively optimize delivery in real time. Instead of sending all traffic through fixed CDN paths, it dynamically offloads traffic onto centrally orchestrated broadcast trees to avoid congestion and deliver content as fast and as safely as possible. In practice, this allows platforms to offload between 50–70% of streaming traffic during major events, significantly reducing reliance on CDN bandwidth during peak viewing periods. At the same time, more than 90% of viewers on average receive the highest bitrate supported by their device, supported by fewer buffering events and improved session stability.

For more information on cost optimization, live streaming solutions, our Data Logistics Platform, or to book a call with a member of our team, visit system73.com.