The challenge: Scaling for a new digital era
The media landscape has undergone a dramatic shift. Today’s audiences expect instant, uninterrupted access to news, entertainment, and live events across various devices. Mediacorp needed to scale its digital infrastructure to meet this demand, while ensuring:
- Seamless content delivery across mobile apps, web platforms, and backend services.
- Real-time monitoring and rapid issue resolution to maintain system reliability.
- Optimised user experience with minimal disruptions and fast load times.
- Scalability for major events, ensuring smooth performance during peak traffic surges.
To achieve these objectives, Mediacorp needed a solution that would enable performance excellence while continuously innovating its digital offerings.
The solution: A strategic partnership
Since adopting the New Relic observability platform, Mediacorp has built a robust digital ecosystem with over 10 products across 50+ platforms, most of which are instrumented with New Relic. Working with New Relic enabled Mediacorp to:
- Improve system performance across its digital platforms.
- Enhance developer productivity via real-time incident detection and faster debugging.
- Ensure high application uptime and performance, reducing downtime and disruptions.
- Deliver a seamless, high-quality streaming service for a growing over the top (OTT) and mobile-first audience.
“As the national media network, maintaining a seamless and high-performing digital experience is critical to keeping our audiences engaged. Downtime, sluggish apps, or friction in the digital journey can quickly damage customer trust”, said Desmond Nah, Assistant Lead (App Development & Management) at Mediacorp.
Results and impact
Over 10 years of working with New Relic, Mediacorp has seen the following results:
- Improved app stability thanks to a 99.5% crash-free rate, up from 97% prior to using New Relic in 2014.
- An increase in app ratings by at least 1 star, now averaging 4/5 across major app stores.
- At least 2 hours saved per developer per week, increasing efficiency and innovation.
- Issues detected 24 hours in advance, preventing disruptions before they reach end users.
"With New Relic, we’ve equipped our engineers, developers, and IT professionals with tools to monitor performance in real-time. This has led to faster anomaly detection, improved collaboration, and a more holistic approach to digital optimisation," Nah added.
Scaling for peak demand during major events
With audiences consuming content across multiple screens, Mediacorp’s digital infrastructure must consistently operate at peak efficiency. Major events like the F1 Singapore Grand Prix, the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Euro 2024 have seen record-breaking engagement across Mediacorp’s platforms and a massive surge in digital traffic.
"With a diverse portfolio spanning news, audio, and OTT streaming, our audiences expect instant, uninterrupted access to live sports and major events - whether at home, on the go, or when catching real-time highlights," said Nah. "With New Relic, we can monitor our application health in real-time, troubleshoot issues instantly, and recover swiftly - ensuring our audiences never miss a moment."
Empowering developer innovation
New Relic’s observability capabilities have significantly enhanced developer efficiency within Mediacorp, enabling:
- Centralised dashboards for monitoring key metrics, logs, and traces.
- Proactive threshold alerts to detect and resolve potential issues faster.
- Remote troubleshooting via the New Relic mobile app, improving work-life balance for developers.
- More time for innovation, allowing teams to focus on app performance optimisation and user experience improvements.
"With New Relic’s solutions, we are able to better detect and address any issues in real-time, thereby allowing our development team to work more efficiently while creating uninterrupted digital experiences for our audience," said Nah.
Key insights gained from New Relic during high-traffic events include:
- Real-time monitoring to detect and resolve issues before they impact users.
- Crash logs, HTTP error rates, and response times, enhancing platform reliability.
- Scalability for peak mobile session traffic, ensuring smooth streaming experiences.
"New Relic gives us the confidence and tools to meet customer expectations - ensuring that whether they’re streaming live sports, catching up on breaking news, or engaging with on-demand content, they experience smooth, uninterrupted service”, said Nah.
The future: continued innovation & growth
Looking ahead, Mediacorp and New Relic will continue to push the boundaries of digital media innovation, focusing on AI-driven performance optimisation, deeper observability, and enhanced user experiences.
"With New Relic, we’ve equipped our engineers, developers, and IT professionals with tools to monitor performance in real-time. This has led to faster anomaly detection, improved collaboration, and a more holistic approach to digital optimisation."
