Google Launches Media CDN To Compete On Content Delivery

This week at the 2022 NAB Show Streaming Summit, Google launched in general availability Media CDN, a platform for delivering content using the same infrastructure that powers YouTube. With a presence in over 1,300 cities across 200 countries, Google says that Media CDN is designed to — in the company’s words — “automate all facets” of “serving content [close to users].”

The pandemic led to an explosion in demand for streaming content as business closures and shelter-in-place orders forced folks to stay home. According to The Global Internet Phenomena Report, streaming video accounted for 53.7% of internet bandwidth traffic — up by 4.8% from a year ago. Companies selling access to content delivery networks (CDNs) — groups of servers designed to speed up the delivery of web content — benefited enormously. By one estimate, CDN revenue grew 7% in 2020, to $4.45 billion.