What are important factors to consider when projecting bandwidth usage in order to select the right Service Package?
1. We always recommend to consider at least 3 different Service Packages which might cover your initial bandwidth usage upon launch, and then consider several Service Packages to upgrade to as your viewership grows, or new apps and properties have been launched.
We recommend not to select a Package which may be too small, or just barely sufficient as it may result in immediate upgrade needs upon launch of new players, apps and publishing properties.
2. Please note that, while we may be able to give you input on your usage projections, Lightcast is not the publisher of your content and does not have all of the data available. Our Consultants can only assist in exploring suitable Service Packages together with you for the launch, but in the end, our customers have to make the choice on the storage, transcoding and bandwidth plan, and be ready to upgrade as usage grows or exceeds expected levels.
There is simply no way for us to know exactly what your actual usage will and past usage should not be used to predict future bandwidth usage, especially if new apps are launched, players deployed on websites, or new publishing platforms are connected to your Media Cloud Account with Lightcast.com.
Any Service Package discussed with a Lightcast representative, and selected as your initial plan, can only be a starting point. There is no guarantee if, or how long, a specific plan is able to cover your actual viewership and bandwidth usage.
3. Please don’t forget to consider the HD bandwidth progression factor as SD content is being accounted for 1:1 (meaning: one minute of bandwidth deducted for one minute viewed), while HD content is being accounted for 1:3 (meaning: three minutes of bandwidth deducted for one minute viewed).
Read more about bandwidth accounting progression ( https://help.lightcast.com/what-is-the-bandwidth-accounting-progression-key )