Be the MVP of your live stream: Lessons learned from monitoring the Big Game

Every February, millions of viewers tune into one of the biggest sporting events of the year. For the past three years, Mux Data has been monitoring livestreams to ensure an optimized stream for an average of 3.9 million viewers. The company faced challenges during its first live stream, including unexpected traffic patterns and a surge in users viewing quality of experience metrics within their dashboard. They learned that practice is imperative but doesn't make perfect, and having a team of specialists at the ready is crucial for handling high-stakes situations. Mux Data also emphasized the importance of testing with real traffic and tuning Kafka, Clickhouse, and data collection layers for peak performance. The company continues to learn from each event and applies those lessons to improve their products and services.