How Hotstar Managed 65 Million Live Viewers During Cricket

Cricket is the biggest sport in India and Southeast Asia. When a major tournament happens, millions of people tune in at the same time. Recently, the streaming platform Hotstar handled a peak of 65.2 million concurrent digital viewers. This is a massive amount of traffic for any website. By looking at the technical side of a live match between India and New Zealand, we can see how their system stays online under such heavy pressure. video

Multiple Camera Angles for a Custom Experience

Hotstar offers more than just a single video feed. Users can switch between different views during the game. These options include the main camera, the stump cam, the batter cam, and a wide field view. Each of these views is a separate live stream.

The batter cam provides a combined view of the field and the batsman. These features require a complex setup behind the scenes. Even though there are many angles, the core way the video moves from the stadium to your screen stays the same across all of them.

How Live Video Streaming Works

To understand Hotstar, you first need to know how basic streaming works. It starts with a camera at the stadium recording the action. This camera sends a constant stream of data to a backend server.

The server does not send one giant file to the viewers. Instead, it breaks the video into small "chunks." These chunks are usually 3 or 4 seconds long. The server then uploads these small files to a storage area.

The Role of the CDN

A single storage server cannot talk to 60 million people at once. It would crash instantly. To fix this, platforms use a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

• Storage: This holds the video chunks but does not serve the public.

• CDN Nodes: These are many servers spread out across different locations.

• Edge Delivery: Viewers connect to the CDN node closest to them.

When a million people ask for the same video chunk, the CDN node only asks the storage server for that file one time. It then copies that file and sends it to all a million people. This protects the main server from being overwhelmed.

Using M3U8 and TS Files

If you look at the network traffic of the Hotstar player, you will see two main types of files. These are M3U8 and TS files.

The TS files are the actual pieces of video. The M3U8 file is a playlist or a "manifest." It tells your video player the correct order of the chunks. It also tells the player how long each chunk lasts.

In the Hotstar live stream, the playlist is truncated. This means it only shows the last 20 or 30 packets. This keeps the file small and ensures everyone stays as close to "live" as possible.

Skipping Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Most streaming sites like Netflix use DRM to protect their content. DRM encrypts the video so only authorized users can watch it. However, Hotstar seems to skip DRM for these massive live cricket matches.

There are a few reasons why they might do this:

1. Speed: DRM adds an extra step to the process which can slow things down.

2. Compatibility: Some older devices struggle to play DRM-protected content.

3. Stability: It removes a point of failure on both the server and the client side.

Because there is no DRM, you can actually download a single TS chunk and play it directly on a computer using a standard video player. Hotstar likely prioritizes a smooth experience for 65 million people over strict file protection.

Multi-CDN Strategy for Reliability

Hotstar does not rely on just one company to deliver its video. They use a Multi-CDN architecture. This means they use several different providers at the same time.

During a live match, the system might switch between Amazon Web Services (AWS) CloudFront and Akamai. They even use local ISP networks, like Airtel in India, to serve data even faster.

This strategy provides two big benefits:

• Redundancy: If one CDN provider has a technical problem, the traffic can move to another one.

• Capacity: No single CDN can easily handle 65 million people alone. Spreading the load makes the system stronger.

Resolution and Quality Control

Interestingly, the main camera feed sometimes caps the resolution at 720p, even if you select "Full HD." This might be a way to save bandwidth during peak times. However, other views like the stump cam or field view often reach 1080p.

The system is smart enough to change quality based on your settings. If you choose "Data Saver," the URL changes to pull a lower-quality file. If you choose "HD," it pulls a higher-quality file. This is called Adaptive Bitrate Streaming.

Build Your Own Video Infrastructure

Building a system that scales to millions of people takes years of work. If you are a smaller company, you can use tools to get similar results faster. Gumlet is a sponsor that provides end-to-end video hosting.

They offer the same features Hotstar uses, such as adaptive bitrate streaming and a global CDN. They also provide DRM protection with one click, which is something Hotstar chose to leave out for these big games. You can start for free without a credit card.

Conclusion

Streaming to 65 million people is a massive engineering feat. Hotstar achieves this by breaking video into small chunks and using a massive network of CDN servers. By avoiding DRM and using multiple providers like AWS and Akamai, they ensure the stream stays live for everyone.

The core of this architecture is simple: record, chunk, and distribute. As long as you can add more CDN capacity, you can serve an almost unlimited number of viewers. This setup is the gold standard for live sports in the digital age.