AWS for M&E Blog
Choosing the right AWS live streaming solution for your use case
Meeting customers at different stages of their streaming journey, we often see two distinct paths emerge: Traditional broadcasters looking to modernize their infrastructure, and digital-native companies wanting to add interactive streaming features. What unites them is the need to deliver high-quality, reliable streaming experiences to their audiences.
The right Amazon Web Services (AWS) solution reduces complexity, improves viewer experience, and speeds time to market. Let’s match your requirements with the right streaming technology.
Figure 1: AWS Media Services overview.
Professional broadcasters: Quality and reliability at scale
Professional broadcasters—media companies, television networks, and sports leagues—deliver content to millions of viewers. Their key challenge is maintaining broadcast-quality standards while adapting to the digital age. These organizations use sophisticated broadcast equipment and need solutions that integrate with their existing setup.
AWS Elemental Media Services: Building blocks for modern broadcasting
AWS Elemental Media Services is a suite of services that process, deliver, and monetize live and on-demand video at scale. These services integrate with industry standard protocols and third-party components to modernize broadcast infrastructure. The services work together to reduce deployment complexity while maintaining broadcast-quality standards.
Content contribution: Getting quality content to the cloud
AWS Elemental Live and AWS Elemental MediaLive Anywhere (a feature of AWS Elemental MediaLive) provide on-premise encoding for content contribution, supporting multicast IP, SDI, and SMPTE 2110 sources. They produce secure reliable transport (SRT) and Zixi outputs for secure content transport to the cloud. The cloud-based management in AWS Elemental MediaLive Anywhere provides centralized control and monitoring through the AWS cloud portal, reducing on-site management needs and optimizing resource utilization.
AWS Elemental MediaConnect provides reliable content transport through cloud infrastructure with multi-Availability Zone (multi-AZ) redundancy, eliminating single points of failure. The service supports Zixi, SRT, Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Network Device Interface (NDI), and AWS Cloud Digital Interface (AWS CDI) protocols for ingest and output, streamlining workflow integration while improving content security.
For event-based productions, AWS Elemental Link devices streamline content contribution at venues like sports stadiums or outdoor production trucks. These compact units send feeds directly to AWS Elemental MediaLive or AWS Elemental MediaConnect. The built-in remote management capabilities in AWS Elemental Link let operators control and monitor devices from anywhere, reducing on-site staffing needs and streamline field deployments.
Advanced live processing: Flexible paths to adaptive bitrate streaming
Figure 2: Cloud-native live channel delivery.
Cloud-native processing with AWS Elemental MediaLive
In the cloud-native live channel delivery approach (Figure 2), AWS Elemental Link, AWS Elemental MediaLive Anywhere or AWS Elemental Live capture high-quality feeds at the source. These feeds are then securely transported to the cloud through AWS Elemental MediaConnect.
Once in the cloud, AWS Elemental MediaLive processes these feeds and generates adaptive bitrate (ABR) outputs based on customer requirements. This broadcast-grade service processes both linear channels and event-based streams using automated deployment and multi-AZ resource distribution, reducing operational complexity while maintaining reliability.
With common media application format (CMAF) outputs, AWS Elemental MediaLive generates Media Quality Confidence Scores (MQCS). These scores help AWS Elemental MediaPackage optimize stream handling and failover decisions, improving playback reliability.
This cloud-native approach, with its pay-as-you-go model, eliminates upfront infrastructure investments while maintaining broadcast reliability.
Figure 3: Hybrid live channel workflow.
Hybrid approach: Leveraging on-premises encoding
Organizations can use a hybrid approach to protect their existing hardware investments while gaining cloud advantages. This model (Figure 3) maintains familiar workflows during migration, reducing operational risks and training requirements. AWS Elemental MediaLive Anywhere creates ABR outputs locally for publishing to AWS Elemental MediaPackage. Customers can also use their existing encoding hardware for ABR processing, providing flexibility in infrastructure choices. AWS Direct Connect provides reliable and secure content transport.
Content packaging and distribution: Dynamic origination for multi-screen delivery
AWS Elemental MediaPackage processes and packages ABR streams for multiple devices. The service accepts HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and CMAF inputs, delivering outputs in CMAF, traditional HLS, and low-latency HLS (LL-HLS) formats. Just-in-time packaging approach reduces storage costs while supporting more devices.
The service operates across multi-AZs with automatic scaling. Through integration with the Origin Shield feature of Amazon CloudFront, MediaPackage efficiently supports multi-CDN distribution. Content protection is provided through Secure Packager and Encoder Key Exchange (SPEKE), supporting FairPlay, Widevine, and Microsoft PlayReady digital rights management (DRM) systems. Features like catch-up TV, start-over functionality, and live-to-VOD conversion help increase content monetization opportunities while improving viewer satisfaction.
Content monetization: Personalized ad insertion at scale
AWS Elemental MediaTailor maximizes advertising revenue through ad targeting and server-side ad insertion (SSAI). SSAI stiches ads into content streams while matching content quality, optimizing ad delivery. AWS Elemental MediaTailor features preconditioning and prefetching, which provides optimal performance during peak viewing times.
AWS Elemental MediaTailor supports non-linear advertising through overlay ads, helping customers monetize live streaming workflows without interrupting viewing experience. The service works with standard protocols (Video Ad Serving Template (VAST), Video Multiple Ad Playlist (VMAP), Video Player Ad Interface Definition (VPAID)) and works with both HLS and DASH streams containing SCTE-35 markers. It offers server-guided ad insertion for improved ad fill rates and better ad inventory utilization.
AWS Elemental MediaTailor provides Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) compliant reporting on both server and client sides, through Datazoom free player SDK integration. The service scales to handle increasing viewer traffic, while maintaining performance, making it ideal for both regular broadcasts and high stakes live events.
Interactive digital experiences: Real-time streaming at scale
Digital-native companies focus on real-time audience engagement, unlike broadcasters who prioritize quality and reliability. This includes live shopping interactions and gaming tournaments where response time affects viewer participation.
Figure 4: Amazon Interactive Video Service features.
Amazon Interactive Video Services: Powering interactive live streaming
Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS) is a managed live streaming solution that helps create engaging viewer experiences through two streaming options. The standard Low-latency Streaming option is designed for interactive shopping and virtual events, delivering content with 2-3 seconds of delay. For applications such as live gaming, sports betting, or interactive education where immediate response matters, IVS Real-time Streaming delivers sub-300 millisecond latency. These latency options help content providers choose the right balance between interaction needs and delivery costs. Amazon IVS Chat (built-in chat functionality) helps increase viewer engagement without additional development.
Amazon IVS supports multiple content ingestion methods to consolidate streaming setup. Low-latency Streaming works with industry-standard protocols like Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), RTMP Secure (RTMPS), and SRT, helping broadcasters use their existing workflows. The Real-time Streaming option supports RTMP and WebRTC HTTP ingestion protocol (WHIP). The Amazon IVS broadcast SDK enables direct streaming from web browsers and mobile applications without additional streaming software.
Once content is ingested, Amazon IVS automatically handles processing and delivery, transcoding incoming streams into adaptive bitrate HLS outputs. The timed metadata feature synchronizes additional data with video streams, maintaining precise timing regardless of network conditions.
Amazon IVS Stage facilitates multiple participants in virtual events with sub-300 millisecond latency. This real-time interaction creates engaging experiences for virtual conferences, live shopping, and educational sessions. Virtual events can include panel discussions, guest experts, and student participation, while gaming tournaments use it for player interactions.
Amazon IVS includes private channels with token-based authentication and regional stream restriction policies for licensing compliance. Integration with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) enables granular access control. The service scales automatically from small virtual classrooms to large gaming tournaments, while maintaining security and compliance.
The Amazon IVS Player SDK, available for iOS, Android, and web browsers, handles the complexities of low-latency playback. The SDK manages adaptive bitrate streaming to provide viewers with the best possible quality based on their network conditions. The SDK includes quality-of-service metrics for monitoring and optimizing viewer experience.
Key considerations
After exploring both AWS Elemental Media Services and Amazon IVS, the question often becomes: Which solution best fits your needs? Following are some key considerations that can help guide this decision.
Choose AWS Elemental Media Services when you need:
- Broadcast-grade quality and reliability
- 24/7 streams
- Complex audio handling
- Professional protocol support
- Advanced DRM capabilities
- Frame-accurate ad insertion
Choose Amazon IVS when you need:
- Real-time interaction
- Quick deployment
- Built-in engagement features
- Browser-based streaming
- Multi-participant sessions
These solutions aren’t mutually exclusive. Many customers use both AWS Elemental Services for their primary broadcast operations and Amazon IVS for specialized interactive content.
Conclusion
Today’s streaming landscape presents distinct challenges that require targeted solutions. AWS Elemental Media Services helps broadcasters deliver professional-quality streaming with flexible deployment options, protecting existing investments while modernizing infrastructure. For interactive experiences, Amazon IVS enables real-time streaming with multi-participant capabilities and low latency. Choose the solution that best matches your business requirements and streaming goals.
Contact an AWS Representative to know how we can help accelerate your business.