Multi-CDNs: the slam dunk for your streaming strategy

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the 2025 NBA Playoffs, it’s that “it’s not over, until its over.” For fans, that means being ready for that one play that can change it all. For video service providers, it means having a cohesive plan to ensure high video quality, scale up and down, and prepare for disaster recovery scenarios.  

Rotate off the bench  

The best live sports streaming platforms ensure their content delivery networks (CDNs) rotate on and off the bench – just as the basketball players themselves.  

For live events, millions of viewers “tune in” at the exact same time, naturally causing a quick spike in viewership. A multi-CDN approach can address this congestion proactively, or reactively, as needed. Just like coaches swap out players when they seem close to a breaking point, with multiple CDNs you can do the same thing by dynamically shifting to less “tired” CDNs to deliver a seamless viewing experience. 

With Synamedia’s Quortex Switch, a next-generation SaaS-based multi-CDN management tool designed to optimize streaming costs, quality and reliability, this transition can be seamless.  With it, we’ve simplified the design of multi-CDN systems to allow “in-play” routing end-users to the best available content sources – helping rotate CDNs seamlessly and taking the manual guesswork out.   

Hit the perfect shot  

Just like hitting that “buzzer beater,” delivering pristine video quality has its own set of challenges. Yet, it’s what your viewers demand and expect – and they’ll go elsewhere for it if you can’t deliver. As streaming platforms become the must view destination for an enhanced viewing experience -notably, NBCUniversal’s recent announcement to stream NBA games next season, all eyes will be on how the video quality meets the growing demand.  

To rise to the occasion, providers are looking to optimize quality of experience by leveraging analytics tools like MUX to help anticipate traffic load and scale on-demand to address viewers’ video quality expectations as demand changes. 

With a real-time analytics and monitoring system, any gap between the actual and expected performance can be analyzed and presented via preconfigured dashboards with report metrics for troubleshooting network anomalies. Not only can viewers rely on getting the content when they want it, but they can also trust that they won’t face long latency or pixelated imagery.  

The slam dunk  

By integrating real-time QoE insights from companies such as MUX,  Quortex Switch allows you to do something about that performance gap to deliver a resilient and scalable streaming experience. This, like a  team’s coach, allows you to change the game’s momentum, managing based on traffic peaks and video quality metrics in order to achieve the win. Quortex Switch’s capabilities allow content providers to adjust their lineup of CDNs to secure the results they want.  

The additional “assist” that makes Quortex Switch is its ability to help make smarter financial and sustainability-driven decisions. With it, video service providers can reduce operational costs by picking the most affordable delivery route based on traffic loads and the most cost effective CDN for each geographic location. By optimizing traffic allocations, providers only pay for the CDN resources that are actively used, avoiding unneeded infrastructure expenses and just like turning a light off when it’s not in use – reducing energy consumption.  

“Multi CDN is a necessity in large scale streaming events, until now inefficient, proprietary and client assisted techniques have been deployed. With content steering standardised for both HLS and DASH, a new realm of CDN switching is now available and Synamedia’s Quortex Switch is leading the way,” says Thierry Fautier, Managing Director, Your Media Transformation.   

With the ability to customize your CDN selection by geography, ISP Network, content type, or device capabilities and cater it to the right audience – Quortex Switch maximizes efficiency while minimizing costs – it’s a no brainer for your game plan.  

For more information check out how Quortex Switch can improve your streaming game by boosting quality and reliability here: https://www.quortex.io/quortex-switch/