The environmental impact of streaming has long needed addressing – and now there is a solution

Commercial context

The demand for live video streaming is booming, but it’s not without cost – it contributes significantly to the industry's environmental footprint. As Brightly points out, one hour of streaming produces about 55 grams of CO2 equivalent—the same amount as charging seven smartphones. With streaming so widespread – and growing – CSPs can play a key role in transforming this practice into a more sustainable pastime.

The reality is that high energy consumption is inherent to streaming, especially during live broadcasts of popular events such as sports. Occasions like this create short-duration but substantial traffic peaks which necessitate a large network capacity. This results in sub-optimal utilization of networks and content delivery networks (CDNs). CDNs, which are essentially geographically distributed groups of servers designed to cache content close to end-users, are often deployed for peak demand levels, and so often run idle during off-peak periods, resulting in unnecessary power consumption.

With streaming on the rise, this lack of optimization has reached a critical scale and presents a serious challenge: how can the need to meet growing user demand be balanced with sustainable operational practices? Addressing the environmental impact of video streaming is not just a technological imperative but also a commercial one, as CSPs must seek cost-effective solutions that do not compromise user experience.

The solution

The Sustainable live streaming Catalyst seeks to address this challenge by improving the delivery process and architecture of live video content. The fundamental improvement needed involves mutualizing and exposing the network and CDN capacity to content providers as a means to ensuring more efficient use of existing resources. A key innovation employed by the project team is a multicast transmission, which helps smooth out peak demand and enhances overall network utilization. This approach allows for a significant reduction in the hardware required and the energy consumed during live streaming. The solution's design principles are anchored around achieving a short return on investment, maintaining or improving the quality of experience for users, and presenting a clear commercial model to facilitate widespread adoption.

Application and value

The impact of this solution spans operational, environmental, and commercial domains. Upon deployment, the project team anticipates significant reductions: of peaks of live streaming traffic by 55% to 85%, hardware requirements by 85% to 95%, and energy consumption by 80% to 90%. From a financial perspective, the savings on hardware and energy use yield an almost immediate return on investment, making the solution commercially viable and attractive for widespread adoption. Crucially, this approach maintains the quality of experience for end-users, ensuring high levels of user satisfaction and loyalty. The solution integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructures, requiring no changes for content providers, thereby facilitating rapid and effective adoption.

Diego Gibellino, Senior Manager of Multimedia at TIM, notes that “for CSPs facing growing streaming traffic and associated costs, this solution offers a sustainable path forward, balancing scalability with cost efficiency and environmental responsibility. Its broader value lies in collectively reducing the environmental footprint of streaming, benefiting CSPs, consumers, and global sustainability goals.”