Unlocking observability analytics for QoE with Bitmovin and New Relic

To meet growing viewer demands, streaming platforms must deliver high-definition, uninterrupted, engaging video experiences while understanding the entire user journey. At the same time, as streaming technology evolves, media companies face the dual challenge of not only ensuring seamless content delivery but also continuously enhancing viewer interactions across all touchpoints. 

To address the need for more comprehensive data throughout this journey, Bitmovin and New Relic have partnered to deliver a unified observability framework that integrates advanced video analytics with a sophisticated observability platform, providing a complete and detailed view of the viewer experience. This integration enables streaming platforms to improve both content delivery and operational efficiency, ensuring viewer satisfaction is consistently upheld.

By combining Bitmovin’s and New Relic’s solutions, streaming platforms can gain deep visibility into quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE). This integration transforms raw data into actionable insights, empowering media companies to make informed decisions that optimize their streaming architecture. The partnership enables real-time tracking of key metrics like video startup times, buffering rates, and viewer engagement, while also offering insights into backend performance and infrastructure. This allows companies to quickly identify and resolve performance issues, ultimately boosting viewer satisfaction. 

To begin sending your Bitmovin data into New Relic, follow these steps:

1. Sign up for a New Relic account: If you haven't already, create a New Relic account to access the platform. Your free account includes 100 GB/month of free data ingest, one free full-access user, and unlimited free basic users.
2. Install the New Relic and Bitmovin integration: Follow the steps in the gif above, which will lead you to the installation in the integrations and agents UI, and create an example dashboard for you. You can find detailed installation instructions in the GitHub repository. Setup will require:
   • New Relic license key
   • Bitmovin API key
   • Bitmovin license key
   • Bitmovin tenant org
3. Configure your metrics and dimensions: While we provide an example configuration file, many metrics and dimensions can be queried using this integration. Follow the instructions in the query configuration documentation to obtain those metrics and dimensions most meaningful to you.
4. Explore your data in New Relic: Once you’ve installed the integration, you should be able to see your Bitmovin metrics in New Relic. The default dashboard named “Bitmovin Analytics” that’s linked at the end of the installation flow contains some helpful queries (like the one below) to help you verify what you’re sending and to build your own queries. Don’t forget to check out your metrics in the data explorer too.

1. Create an alert: Once your Bitmovin data is in New Relic, create alerts to be notified about critical changes to your metrics. Now you can have alerting on your crashes, HTTP request latency, and video QoE metrics all in one place.

Combining the Bitmovin analytics video data with New Relic mobile and browser telemetry creates a powerful synergy for understanding and enhancing user experience. Bitmovin's detailed metrics on video playback quality, buffering events, start-up times, and error rates provide crucial insights into how users perceive video content. When integrated with New Relic's telemetry, which captures user interactions, page load times, crashes, and network request performance, this data enables a holistic view of the user experience. 

A unified data approach simplifies identifying whether issues stem from video delivery, network latency, or application performance, enabling proactive optimization of both video and app performance. Additionally, comprehensive monitoring ensures better user satisfaction and retention, supported by real-time insights from custom dashboards and detailed alerts.

Deliver the high-quality experiences your customers expect

The partnership between Bitmovin and New Relic equips streaming platforms with the tools to meet the growing demands of today’s viewers. By integrating advanced video analytics with observability tools, platforms gain real-time visibility into both QoS and QoE, ensuring seamless content delivery and enhanced viewer engagement. This unified approach empowers media companies to resolve performance issues, optimize backend infrastructure, and make data-driven decisions that improve satisfaction and retention across all touchpoints. 

As streaming technology evolves, leveraging these insights will be essential for platforms to stay competitive and consistently deliver the high-quality experiences their audiences expect. With Bitmovin and New Relic, companies are well-prepared to succeed in an increasingly competitive landscape.