Netflix "Open Connect" CDN is Getting Traction

Netflix Open Connect, the single purpose video content delivery network launched last year, is now delivering the majority of Netflix international traffic and is growing at a rapid pace in the domestic market, Netflix says.

That might come as a surprise for some who had predicted failure for Netflix as a provider of its own direct content delivery network services. Perhaps Open Connect has had only a marginal financial impact on other retail CDNs, but that probably was not the Netflix objective, in any case. 

The objective was, and is, better end user experience, not revenue or Netflix operating costs. 

In early 2012 Netflix began enabling Internet service providers to receive, at no cost to them, Netflix video directly at the interconnection point of the ISP’s choice. 

By connecting directly through Open Connect, ISPs would be able to improve quality of experience. 

Netflix now says Open Connect is "widely deployed around the world, serving the vast majority of Netflix video in Europe, Canada and Latin America, and a growing proportion in the U.S., where Netflix has over 25 million streaming members."

Cablevision, Virgin Media, British Telecom, Telmex, Telus, TDC and GVT are among ISPs using Open Connect. 

Preference for private CDNs, rather than buying service from a retail CDN services provider, is becoming a more popular option for large application providers, such as Comcast, Google, Apple or Facebook. Amazon of course can use its own CDN service, which is available as a retail offering for third parties.