Articles by: "John Agger, Principal Industry Marketing Manager for Media & Entertainment – Fastly"

Five ways to make your CDN work harder

July 15, 2022 John Agger, Principal Industry Marketing Manager for Media & Entertainment – Fastly

Most digital publishers use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) as part of a delivery strategy, and for good reason. Traditional benefits range from faster and secure delivery to tight integration with modern publishing systems to subscriber authentication. However, CDNs offer a number of lesser-known benefits that can help digital publishers scale and improve their businesses in surprising ways. Let’s explore five of the ways digital publishers can get more out of their CDNs.

1. Next-level caching

CDNs typically cache fairly simple elements: images, JavaScript, CSS, etc. All of which lend themselves well to caching as they don’t change much – if at all. However, a lot of content is much more cashable than you might think: HTML pages, API routes, GraphQL queries – objects typically referred to as being event-driven. Think about episode- and show listings, user preferences, video manifests, and API responses: these all stay the same until something changes.

A good rule of thumb is that you can probably cash it if it’s querying a database or some sort of abstraction layer, like an API. Most modern CDNs allow you to purge content off the network fairly quickly. In other words, instead of assigning a time-to-live (TTL) of 30 minutes and then going back and repeatedly re-validating, which will tie up resources at your origin, you can cache it “forever” or until you let it expire.

Caching more will help drive down costs, particularly for compute-heavy workloads, such as database queries. This is because you’re caching data at the edge rather than at the origin.

This strategy will give consistent and global performance improvements. Modern CDNs can even help with truly dynamic or completely uncachable stuff. Using a CDN can move TLS connections closer to the end-user so that connections start much quicker. It can keep TCP connections to your origin open and hot, eliminating resources spent on setting them up and tearing them down.

2. Optimization of content

Much of what you’re optimizing at your origin or the application layer can probably be optimized at the network edge. For instance, optimized images will reduce your storage and compute cost. The benefits are many, however, one of the most obvious is updating and refreshing the UI without having to re-process every image. Also, you can instantly take advantage of new file formats, such as WebP or AVI, without large engineering efforts of having to retool your application.

Compressing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files allows you to save compute cycles and engineering resources by letting your CDN handle the packing and unpacking. Further, it allows you to take advantage of new compression algorithms such as Brotli as soon as they come out. All it takes is a bit of code at the edge.

3. Comprehensive security

CDNs are a great place to implement and enforce security. They are massive in size and designed to take incredible traffic spikes, both legitimate – e.g., large crowds of viewers at live sports events – and malicious DDoS attacks. CDNs are great at hiding where your true origin or application actually lives, helping reduce the attack area for hackers. You can set up IP restrictions, and private network interconnects to restrict access.

Protecting against user behavior and emerging threats requires a nuanced approach – and the WAF offering of most CDNs can help with this. In fact, CDNs are a great place to do all things security. For example, dropping everything that’s not layer seven non-HTTP or non-HTTPS traffic at the edge gives you substantial protection right out of the box.

Your CDN can inspect, detect, and block attacks before they reach your application. Features such as rate-limiting allow legitimate users to enjoy your app while attackers are getting cut off at the edge. Enforcing security policies at the edge saves time, increases performance, and reduces the load on your core applications.

4. Edge computing

Although they vary and run differently, many CDNs have edge compute capabilities today. Some are WebAssembly, some are Docker, and yet some are other forms of virtual sandboxes. They’ve got different feature sets, cost models, and languages they support. Because of its flexibility to execute a multitude of functions, edge computing becomes a great place to build and scale your microservices.

With this in mind, you should push your authentication out to the edge, close to the user, away from the application. You can customize or have featured content based on geography, device type, or other characterization. You can even personalize the experience of every single user at the edge and perform experiments such as complex A/B testing. And when you’ve got new tech such as WebAssembly running on the edge, you can run all of these in a secure performant sandbox environment. This allows engineers to build applications in the languages they prefer, whether JavaScript, Golang, Rust, or any language that enables better developer productivity, better products, and job satisfaction!

5. Visibility

Lastly, let’s talk about visibility. Your CDN inherently handles tons of data. Logs and statistics can help improve day-to-day operations, particularly if they’re available in real-time. (You should expect real-time, as it’s the only way you can see and react to global incidents or localized issues.) You can analyze historical data to make better architectural decisions for future build-outs and improvements. When running experiments, you can use the log data to see if your outcomes were correct or if you should take a different path.

CDN logs can also help reduce costs by identifying areas where your caching or optimization strategies are subpar. They can help you detect new and effective ways that people are trying to misuse and abuse your applications so that you can make informed decisions. And real-time logs help remediate outages, saving you money and reputation from costly downtime.

As we wrap up, we find it a prudent reminder that CDNs have dedicated teams of network engineers, automated tools, and redundant networks. Savvy digital publishers will look beyond the basic functions of these often overlooked tools, and make them work harder to provide better (and safer) user experience, prevent costly outages and downtime, and ultimately improve the bottom-line.

Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

30 years of the website: 5 lessons for the next 30 years of content delivery

March 28, 2022 John Agger, Principal Industry Marketing Manager for Media & Entertainment – Fastly

It’s been 30 years since Tim Berners-Lee launched the world’s first website. Throughout human history, new methods of communicating, recording, and sharing knowledge have spurred major technological revolutions. Just as the Gutenberg Bible transformed the way we reproduced and distributed information through movable type and printed words, the internet and Hypertext Transfer Protocol – HTTP – kicked off another revolution that changed the way in which we disseminate and consume information.

As an industry, digital media continues to innovate and find new ways to use the web. When you stop and think about it for a second, it’s truly remarkable that a platform originally built for hyperlinking text documents has proven flexible and open enough to become the backbone of content distribution and consumption for the majority of the world.

The evolution continues today as visitors demand more personalized, engaging, and secure online experiences. This is as true for digital media as any other segment. Audience expectations are constantly changing, and we must evolve at an ever-increasing speed to keep up.

A future focused perspective

Just as we couldn’t anticipate the web’s progression in 1991, it’s hard to imagine what the web will look like 30 years from now. One thing’s for certain though: reader expectations will continue to grow, probably at a faster pace than we’ve seen so far. Getting ahead by having the foresight to envision what’s coming so you can steer your business in that direction is what will propel some media companies to the head of the line.

CDNs and other technologies core to delivery must build the future of the web in a way that’s flexible enough to address the unknown while still ensuring secure, performant, and resilient user experiences. While the infrastructure and protocols are crucial building blocks, there’s much you can do to keep your options open and make sure that your web outlet is ready for changes that will undoubtedly come.

Let’s look closer at five things you can do to be future ready:

1. Prioritize scale from the beginning

Building with an eye toward the future means you’re building at scale from the start. If you contemplate a world where everyone has access to the web, that means that any single app with any kind of success has the potential for millions or billions of downloads and visitors — all at once. If you don’t architect for that in the languages you choose, the systems you use, and the vendors you partner with, the experience won’t live up to expectations.

2. Build with flexibility in mind

If the last 30 years have taught web developers and architects anything, it’s that we can’t imagine all of the web’s major future uses. You must build with that in mind and create frameworks that are flexible enough to adapt to the evolution of the web. HTTP is a great example. The protocol has been updated three major times, and we’ll probably need to do it many, many more. By the time we get to the fifth version, we might not even recognize it. Knowing that it will need to be updated in the future helps us understand how to build flexibility into it in the present.

3. Learn from mistakes — then build from them

Every time a breach happens or new tech takes a turn and is used in a malicious way, we learn something. We learn how to secure better, we learn to ask better questions about the information applications collect (e.g., what will this app do with this image of my face once it shows me what I’ll look like when I’m old?) — and we learn how to build in a way that prevents those things from occurring in the future.

4. Stop inventing everything yourself

Don’t try to solve authentication, cryptography, or security yourself. Employ reusable frameworks because they can be swapped out for better components as they become available in the future. Thinking modularly will pay off thousandfold and your solution is likely to be better from using existing technology. Otherwise, you’ll be locked into an outdated aspect of your app or experience.

5. Don’t wait for regulation to lead

Typically, regulation tends to follow security concerns by about 10 years. First the innovators protect themselves and their customers, all the way down the line to the late adopters. And then regulation comes in, which means the issues we face today won’t be fully regulated for at least another decade. We can’t wait until security is mandated to properly secure the web and our apps. It’ll be too late.

Ready for the next 30 years?

For the web to thrive another 30 years, web builders the world over must take action. They must unite to engineer a more secure and resilient web on a more trustworthy network, and more predictable and performant applications. Scalable, secure innovation is vital to the web’s ability to progress and succeed in the future — but we need to embrace new approaches to get there. It’s entirely possible, and it’s up to us

Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

Four global publishers explore the opportunities in digital publishing’s new normal

September 28, 2021 John Agger, Principal Industry Marketing Manager for Media & Entertainment – Fastly

With wide-ranging changes pushed within a very short time span, the publishing world had to rapidly transform many workflows and strategies during the pandemic. We saw trends accelerate and tried and true strategies hold strong.

Fastly’s SVP of Engineering Nick Rockwell (the former CTO at the New York Times) sat down with a group of senior technology leaders from four global digital publishers earlier this summer to reflect on this challenging period.

Panelists:

Jorge M. Ibarra, CIO/CTO, El Pais
Mariot Chauvin, Head of Engineering, The Guardian
Marco Kaiser, CTO, Zeit Online
Sacha Morard, CTO, Le Monde

Here are a few of the key takeaways from the discussion that publishers everywhere can leverage as they adapt to the new normal.

Traffic surged and content strategies shifted

Unsurprisingly the four news outlets all saw large traffic spikes at the onset of the pandemic. Traffic records were shattered. What may be a surprise, though, is that though it is tapering off, visitor numbers are higher overall to this day.

A closer look at viewer behavior confirmed that expected content cannibalization took place. Readers flocked to COVID-19 coverage and spent little or no time with other sections of the website. To address this, they decided to expand the coverage of Covid-19 with additional content such as infographics, which are still being referenced by news sources to this day. However, this audience behavior also drove the creation of a “Covid-19-free content” hub, where readers could educate themselves on other world news and topics.

El Pais saw the record traffic extend into other areas such as sports coverage, educational content, and even radio broadcasts.The Guardian observed a similar trend. The site experienced a 25-day streak with more than 20 million visitors. Traffic surpassed 366 million visitors in one month alone – up 50% from the previous record. Like the other participants, they are seeing sustained higher traffic levels with readers being particularly interested in culture, education, food, and crossword puzzles.

Subscriptions numbers are up. Ad revenue, less so

A common thread among the digital publishers on the panel was that they were quick to move Covid-19 news outside their paywalls. (Note: The Guardian does not have a paywall). Therefore, it might be surprising that a news outlet such as Le Monde saw subscriptions jump 3x.

Prior to the pandemic, Le Monde set a long-term goal of reaching one million subscribers by 2025. During the pandemic, they reached 300,000 paying subscribers and found themselves fast-tracked to reach their target.

Still, not all business metrics were positive. Several of the panelists which were already experiencing ad revenue declines saw this trend accelerated by the pandemic. El Pais converted to a subscription model in March of this year, which worked well in terms of timing. However, it’s too early for them to comment on the success of the switch.

Zeit Online also saw a 2-3x increase in online subscriptions during the past 18 months. Interestingly, the uptake extended into the paper version (Die Zeit). In particular, they experienced an increase in non-subscription papers sold at kiosks, train stations, etc.

Strategies remain and are reinforced

One might think the recent 18 months had CTOs and engineering teams rethink strategy. But that was not necessarily the case. All four panelists indicated that the pandemic confirmed some strategies that were already in place. However, it spotlighted outdated technology and workflows and sped-up previously planned changes.

The Guardian, for example, already had a cloud migration underway. So, things like running and maintaining systems remotely were already possible because of the programmable content delivery network (CDN) in use. Currently, they are focusing on three specific areas:

Improving SEO optimization to help secure ranking at news aggregators;
Building a fast and responsive website that can effectively compete; and
Continuing to implement tooling that can help collect data to constantly optimize conversion. They recognize the importance of understanding new audiences to find out what motivates and converts them.

Zeit Online also found that some strategies remained consistent, although acquiring new subscribers and converting trial subscriptions took a backseat. They are planning to catch up on this, though, as there’s obviously a strong desire to capitalize on the additional visitors.

As far as news aggregators and SEO optimizations go, Zeit Online is currently analyzing the long-term effect of stories being picked up. As Kaiser put it, “We saw the sheer power of platforms like Apple News and Google News. If you get your story listed there, you have a strong increase in traffic. That’s great but it’s fly-by traffic. People will read the article but then they are gone again. It’s hard to convert them. It made us look at what’s really a qualified visitor for us – someone we can convert into a subscriber. It’s an interesting question: How do we engage these fly-by visitors”

The changing needs of the newsroom

As with strategy, the pandemic accelerated the switch from legacy and stationary systems to those able to offer remote access. While a portion of these publishers’ workforce already worked remotely, it was the minority. And, for several panelists, the exercise to get hundreds of laptops in very little time was a daunting task. As many newsrooms are built on proprietary content management systems, they offer very few options for remote access at the scale needed, and new systems had to be put in place.

Interestingly, both Zeit Online and The Guardian have seen newsrooms adopt tools from engineering and other parts of the house to increase productivity and bring together dispersed teams. These include things like stand-ups, JIRA tickets, and other agile tools that for years have helped keep track of progress.

The panel offered a rare opportunity for a discussion between four of the largest European news organizations. In addition to the topics I’ve covered here, their discussion touched on topics such as online security, potential negative effects of the changed workflows, and more. (Feel free to check out the whole thing here.)

It’s obvious that the pandemic profoundly impacted digital publishing. However, it looks like the changes it triggered were not all bad. The switch to a cloud-based workflow has proven especially useful for this segment and the media workflow has likely been changed for good. It remains to be seen if the increase in subscribers will remain but with added visitor and subscriber insight as well as an increase in appreciation for quality content, publishers are rightly optimistic.

Innovation | Perspectives

5 trends that will make you rethink your content delivery platform

March 23, 2021 John Agger, Principal Industry Marketing Manager for Media & Entertainment – Fastly

Digital publishers face serious competition for readers at a time when customer loyalty is eroding. More than ever, readers want fast, personalized digital content regardless of device, platform, or location. Visitors are quick to abandon slow and mediocre online experiences in favor of outlets that deliver fresh content at the speed of breaking news. Unfortunately, many publishers find themselves unprepared and without a firm strategy.

Recent months have shown some progress when it comes to publishers and news aggregators. At the end of 2020, Australia was one of the first countries to require news aggregators to pay publishers for their content. Still, social networks and top-tier news aggregators dominate digital media.

Traditional publishers are responding with subscription-based services that drive predictable revenue streams and viewership. And, while not all readers are willing or able to pay for gated content, those who do have even higher expectations for a seamless experience when it comes to both accessing and viewing this content. For video content, consumers will set the bar even higher.

The key to customer retention is serving the most up-to-date content instantly, personalizing that content for readers, and ensuring online experiences are fast, safe, and secure. Let’s look a little closer at the top five challenges digital publishers currently face:

Speed matters

Today, milliseconds matter more than ever. Workflows and procedures must continuously be optimized and fine-tuned. Success often depends on editors being empowered to make content available the instant an article or video is approved for publication. Inherent delays, even for a few minutes, are almost certain to result in missed opportunity.

Thus, low-latency delivery is required to attract viewers and keep them engaged. Highly dynamic digital content, is more efficiently and quickly processed at and served from the edge of the network. However, that is often far from where the content is stored in a content management system (CMS).

Seen from the point of the subscriber, responsive systems that allow repeated and immediate access to gated and premium content are expected. Authentication and paywalls should be as unobtrusive as possible, as there is a significant risk of abandonment if the process takes too long for each request.

Personalization drives loyalty

With a plethora of news content, the competition for viewers and their loyalty has moved from pure availability and uptime to responsiveness and with that, personalization. Today, many digital publishers tailor news stories using variables such as viewing platform, location, and subscription status to deliver highly personalized content. However, not all CDN offerings have the needed visibility and configurability to support these efforts. This compromises customer loyalty initiatives and risks a loss of audience in both the near and long term.

Growing privacy and security concerns at every level

Strict privacy laws are placing new limits on traditional digital publishing approaches. And deploying cookies and other IP tracking methods is proving increasingly difficult. Within the European Union, GDPR enforcement requires publishers to explicitly define their tracking systems and limits any kind of data gathering unless the viewer accepts opts-in. And let’s not forget that similar privacy laws are emerging in the U.S. In order to enable compliance, digital publishers increasingly seek to control where content is viewed. To do this, many opt to partner with a content delivery vendor that can block access based on location and IP address as well as identify virtual private network (VPN) traffic.

Bots also continue to be a security concern for digital publishers. They can scrape and republish content illegally. This greatly diminishes the content’s value for the original publisher. It also poses a significant threat to both content quality and ad revenue. Advertisers are expected to lose an estimated $19 Billion to fraudulent activities this year—equivalent to $51 million daily (Juniper Research).

Political affiliations, opinion pieces, and other controversial content make digital publishers a frequent target for distributed disruption of service (DDoS) attacks. The mere exposure a hacker can get from disrupting major news sites is often incentive enough. Digital publishers wanting to build their online protection plans should be cautious of legacy CDNs that often lack visibility to detect online attacks and distinguish them from a flood of legitimate traffic when news breaks (not to mention the ability to react and mitigate).

Video content comes at a cost

Increasingly, customer demand is driving a pivot from static content to video. Snackable video is easy to consume. And, in the context of news, video usually conveys a higher level of perceived trust. Support for video can also bring additional revenue, as advertisers typically pay significantly more for video ads, especially those that can support dynamic ad insertion to target viewers.

The shift by traditional digital publishers to embed video into their news stories and feature articles is blurring the competitive landscape between video-only and video-first outlets. However, video content and delivery bring their own set of unique challenges. The amount of data needing to be transported increases exponentially. Therefore, it can put a heavy burden on infrastructure typically designed to accommodate much smaller payloads. Also, successful video delivery requires systems that can scale with audience and demand. This includes predictable demand for local news segments and purpose-built videos to unpredictable demand during significant news events such as breaking news or when video content goes viral.

Technical debt slows the pace of innovation

As digital publishers evolve their businesses to reach more customers with higher bandwidth content, they often encounter technical constraints created by legacy CDNs. Inflexible architectures fail to address fundamental content delivery requirements, including real-time visibility and control, as well as the ability to scale on demand.

Often, publishing workflows are complex and contain custom-developed technology stacks. Thus, modifying deployments for better scale and performance while maintaining uninterrupted workflows is fraught with risk and can feel daunting, if not insurmountable. Traditional CDNs routinely lack full API support, granular control, and real-time configuration changes. This flexibility is necessary in order to integrate with custom tech stacks, as well as other emerging technologies, and thus impede digital transformation efforts.

Don’t let outdated technology stand in your way

In a highly competitive market, often with thin margins, digital publishers striving to stay relevant must have modern systems in place that deliver content to readers and aggregators the moment it is ready. As you set out to architect and build your next delivery platform, be sure to evaluate the practical challenges a legacy CDN will impose when it comes to meeting the expectations of your audience.

Publishers know that competition for audience time and attention is fierce. Given increasing challenges, and rising consumer expectations, it is critical to make smart investments in order to deliver fast, excellent audience experiences.