How we measure buffering in Bitmovin Analytics

As buffering is one of the most important video metrics to track, we try to be as precise as possible in measuring buffering. Hence, in Bitmovin Analytics buffering is measured by two components.

Two types of buffering measurements

As buffering is one of the most important video metrics to track, we try to be as precise as possible in measuring buffering.
Hence, in Bitmovin Analytics buffering is measured by two components.

1. We start buffering measurements once the player sends out a “buffered” event.
2. After an initial buffering time of 3 seconds, we deploy a heartbeat, checking every additional 5,10,30, and 59 seconds whether the user session is still active.

Example of the buffering heartbeat from row 10-13:

After two minutes of sequential buffering a session is considered timed-out and a ANALYTICS_BUFFERING_TIMEOUT_REACHED error is thrown.