Characterizing video access patterns in mainstream media portals

Abstract

Watching online videos is part of the daily routine of a considerable fraction of Internet users nowadays. Understanding the patterns of access to these videos is paramount for improving the capacity planning for video providers, the conversion rate for advertisers, and the relevance of the whole online video watching experience for end users. While much research has been conducted to analyze video access patterns in user-generated content (UGC), little is known of how such patterns manifest in mainstream media (MSM) portals. In this paper, we perform the first large-scale analysis of video access patterns in MSM portals. As a case study, we analyze interaction logs across a total of 38 Brazilian MSM portals, including six of the largest portals in the country, over a period of eight weeks. Our analysis reveals interesting static and temporal video access patterns in MSM portals, which we compare and contrast to the access patterns reported for UGC websites. Overall, our analysis provides several insights for an improved understanding of video access on the Internet beyond UGC websites.