Phenix provides real-time video streaming solutions for broadcast use cases including sports, esports, microwagering, and entertainment.
The Problem: Making Live Streaming More Reliable
When it comes to sports broadcasts, one camera angle is no longer enough. Real-time video streaming now makes it possible for fans to choose the camera angle they want or to listen to an alternate set of announcers. Broadcasters depend on Phenix to deliver the technology that makes simulcasting possible to millions of customers worldwide.
However, multiple broadcast streams means multiple mountains of data. Phenix needed an easier way to collect, process and analyze the billions of rows of data its clients generate with every game so that its customer success team could quickly identify any stream quality issues. This allows the Phenix team to help its broadcast partners identify issues on their side of the broadcast while also helping Phenix engineers identify any bugs in the technology that need to be addressed.
Their previous process could only run pre-canned queries that would generate a simple visualization for analysis. In order to improve their service, Phenix wanted to enable data visualizations that would let its customer success team drill down into individual streams and run what-if analysis, which would help them discover root causes and explore potential solutions.
The Solution: Looker + Bytecode IO
Phenix knew it wanted to replace manual SQL queries and complex Google Sheets with repeatable, scalable data analytics. After evaluating their options, Phenix chose Looker as their business intelligence, embedded analytics, and data application platform. To bring the project to life faster, they selected Bytecode IO, the #1 Google Cloud Platform data partner, to lead implementation.
Bytecode IO provided the technical expertise required to deploy Looker on Google Cloud Platform’s BigQuery. Bytecode IO converted Phenix’ pre-canned queries and scripts into flexible Looker dashboards using LookML to enable a powerful analytic experience that can drill down to the deepest level of stream data available.
The Results: Making the Most Out of Billions of Rows of Data
With Bytecode IO working as their BI development team, Phenix was able to quickly replace high-value manual processes with automated reporting. Not only is the Phenix team now able to leverage this data for powerful analysis, but its partners can now access these powerful reports to improve quality and understand event delivery performance.
Thanks to Bytecode IO, Phenix has been able to leverage Looker to drive the business forward:
- Automated reporting means that Phenix can save time spent doing manual Google Sheet reporting every day, allowing it to redeploy that time towards higher-value customer success initiatives.
- Phenix leverages easy-to-use Looker views to enable instant data analysis without having to spend hours modifying custom SQL statements, replacing hundreds of lines of SQL with just a few clicks.
- Phenix can now explore data to analyze event streams and send customers scheduled reports at half time and postgame, allowing customers to take action faster. Repeatable reporting with key filters makes it simple to self-serve answers to the vast majority of their customers’ initial questions, saving time waiting for a response from their success rep.
Results At A Glance:
- Managed the complete deployment and support of new Looker platform.
- Enabled automated reporting customers can use to improve their streams.
- Delivered the ability to conduct what-if analysis to find better answers.