International broadcast and streaming expert Big Blue Marble has announced a multi-month Proof of Concept (PoC) for Media over QUIC (MoQ), which aims to test next-generation low-latency streaming in a live sports environment.
Powered by Big Blue Marble’s scalable video processing and delivery engine, Cloud Video Kit, and supported by Ateme, the PoC will utilise live broadcast feeds to assess MoQ's performance, scalability, and operational readiness for future live event streaming.
MoQ is a new, emerging internet-native streaming protocol that delivers live video with ultra-low latency, ensuring viewers and devices stay in sync. This capability enables innovative interactive experiences such as synchronised watch parties, second-screen applications, live statistics, and real-time fan engagement.
Krzysztof Bartkowski, CEO of Streaming & Cloud Media, Big Blue Marble, said, "This initiative demonstrates how innovation, cloud technologies, and operational expertise can drive the next generation of live streaming services.”
Johann Mika, Chief Innovation Officer and owner of the PoC project at Big Blue Marble, emphasised the significance of the results achieved: "Our PoC shows that ultra-low latency streaming is now a reality, delivering the fastest live streaming signal in Austria and proving that internet-native delivery can outperform conventional over-the-top (OTT) services."
Continuous measurements during the championship period indicate that the MoQ platform offers the fastest live streaming signal currently available in Austria. It reduces end-to-end latency by approximately 20 to 40 seconds when compared to other Austrian TV streaming platforms, and it often surpasses terrestrial and satellite broadcasts by several seconds.
“Media over QUIC is one of the most promising developments for low-latency streaming and large-scale live event delivery,” added Mickaël Raulet, Chief Technology Officer, Ateme. “We are pleased to support Big Blue Marble and contribute our expertise as the industry explores new ways to deliver premium live content at scale.”
As part of the project, the Big Blue Marble engineering team has extended the open-source MoQ implementation with additional capabilities, including NTP timestamp insertion, end-to-end latency measurements, enhanced monitoring metadata, and backend analytics integration.
The live broadcasts are also secured from downloading through Big Blue Marble’s highly scalable multi-digital rights management (DRM) solution, Cloud DRM.
Ateme's MoQ support demonstrates that sub-second end-to-end latency and broadcast-grade video quality are not a tradeoff, leveraging its TITAN transcoder and open-source solutions from the OpenMOQ consortium.