A prominent media and broadcasting company in Japan approached TAI to build a scalable live video distribution system tailored for regional and national content delivery. The client specialized in airing live sports events, real-time talk shows, cultural programs, and regional coverage across multiple prefectures. Their existing system was a mix of outdated streaming infrastructure and third-party tools, which could not scale to meet increasing audience demand—especially during simultaneous live events.
They sought a custom-built, end-to-end platform that could handle live encoding, multi-platform distribution, user authentication, and audience analytics in real time. The project was aimed at improving stream quality, minimizing latency, supporting high concurrency, and ensuring platform flexibility across web and mobile devices. TAI was selected for its bilingual engineering team, strong track record in building cloud-based systems, and familiarity with Japanese content compliance standards.
A prominent media and broadcasting company in Japan approached TAI to build a scalable live video distribution system tailored for regional and national content delivery. The client specialized in airing live sports events, real-time talk shows, cultural programs, and regional coverage across multiple prefectures. Their existing system was a mix of outdated streaming infrastructure and third-party tools, which could not scale to meet increasing audience demand—especially during simultaneous live events.
They sought a custom-built, end-to-end platform that could handle live encoding, multi-platform distribution, user authentication, and audience analytics in real time. The project was aimed at improving stream quality, minimizing latency, supporting high concurrency, and ensuring platform flexibility across web and mobile devices. TAI was selected for its bilingual engineering team, strong track record in building cloud-based systems, and familiarity with Japanese content compliance standards.
The client’s primary objective was to own and operate a fully integrated live streaming platform without relying on fragmented third-party tools. They aimed to reduce latency to below 5 seconds for high-traffic events while maintaining HD and 4K video quality. The platform had to support Japanese and English user interfaces, integrate seamlessly with CDNs, and enable dynamic content rights management depending on region and time slots. Key goals also included real-time analytics for viewer tracking, bandwidth optimization, and a content management dashboard that could be used by non-technical staff. They wanted to increase engagement across web and mobile, while opening pathways to monetization through subscription and sponsorship models.
The initial challenge was replacing legacy systems without disrupting ongoing broadcasting operations. The old infrastructure had inconsistent encoding standards and lacked redundancy, which led to frequent crashes during peak traffic. The system also had minimal integration with Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), making it unreliable during large-scale regional events with thousands of concurrent viewers.
In addition, there were licensing limitations and broadcast rights to consider. The client required a dynamic system capable of enforcing access restrictions based on geographic location and device. Because many events involved partnerships with local governments, security and content control were critical, particularly around events with restricted media distribution rights.
Another layer of complexity was multilingual support and mobile optimization. The platform had to serve users on both high-speed broadband and low-bandwidth mobile networks, which required adaptive bitrate streaming and multiple fallbacks.
TAI approached the project with a modular and scalable architecture designed around three main pillars: stream quality, platform control, and viewer experience.
We developed a custom live video distribution system using a combination of NGINX RTMP servers, FFmpeg encoding workflows, and WebRTC where ultra-low latency was required. For adaptive bitrate streaming, HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) was implemented with auto-switching based on bandwidth conditions.
To distribute content efficiently, we integrated with multiple CDNs including AWS CloudFront and Akamai, allowing regional and international delivery with low buffering and failover mechanisms. The backend was powered by Laravel, with the frontend built in Nuxt.js for server-side rendering and fast loading on mobile devices. Vue.js was used for building the real-time dashboard, enabling producers to monitor stream health, update metadata, and push live content on demand.
User access was controlled via a custom authentication system, integrated with OAuth 2.0 for third-party login options. Geo-blocking and content expiration settings could be applied to each stream dynamically from the admin panel. Furthermore, detailed analytics and logging were integrated via Google Analytics, LogRocket, and AWS CloudWatch to monitor viewer behavior and system health.
The platform was also integrated with a payment gateway and advertisement insertion engine, laying the groundwork for future monetization.
Within three months of the initial launch, the new platform successfully handled five regional events with more than 30,000 concurrent viewers each, achieving an average stream latency of under four seconds. The client reported a 75% reduction in downtime and technical support incidents compared to their previous system.
Viewer satisfaction increased significantly due to improved stream stability and mobile performance. The real-time analytics dashboard helped producers make faster decisions, such as swapping content slots or adjusting stream quality on the fly. Content licensing enforcement became fully automated, saving hours of manual review and ensuring compliance with broadcast rights.
On the monetization front, the platform enabled pay-per-view functionality for selected premium events, generating a 12% increase in direct revenue within the first two months of implementation. Plans to scale the system to support VR content and AI-powered highlight generation are currently underway.
This project exemplifies how TAI can build enterprise-grade, highly customized live streaming platforms that address the unique needs of the Japanese media and broadcasting industry. By combining video engineering, cloud infrastructure, and cultural localization, we delivered a robust and scalable product that future-proofs our client’s operations while opening up new streams of engagement and revenue.
- xixi CEO
Our mission is to empower organizations to embrace innovation, overcome challenges, and drive growth.
Featured Article
