Bringing Simplicity to Video Streaming

By 2022, video will make up 82 percent of all IP traffic—a fourfold increase from 2017.

This rise can be attributed in great part to younger generations like Gen Z, who are increasingly turning to video as their preferred method for consuming content online.

Some of this has to do with the way Gen Z views the Internet itself. In what is now an annual survey aimed at understanding the ways Gen Z behaves, buys, and builds online, WP Engine found that Gen Z is the first generation to seek entertainment online rather than information. Video content, more than any other medium, is able to deliver at scale the types of entertaining, emotive experiences younger generations now demand.

This isn’t a top secret insight, either. The study also found that a vast majority of Americans—across all generations—believe video content will grow to dominate the Internet within the next five years. For brands, providing audiences with quality video content is simply one of the best ways to make an impact online.

The Problem with Video

In short, video streaming has traditionally been hard. While the amount of video being created has increased dramatically over the past decade, the ability to stream it hasn’t gotten much easier. In fact, the influx of browser options, various methods for encoding video, complicated delivery alternatives, and rising viewer expectations have only made video streaming more difficult.

Other problems include scale (more and more video is watched every day) and cost (video streaming is expensive). The costs associated with video streaming are also extremely confusing; different companies use tiered pricing based on CDN usage, number of views, and location. Lastly, a lack of integration forces content creators to be familiar with several tools that are needed during the rendering and streaming processes.

While the claim that video is the future of the Internet isn’t without merit, the technology behind it remains complicated and in many cases, out-of-date.

A New Way To Stream

Web performance and security leader Cloudflare has always been committed to solving some of the Internet’s most complicated problems. In addition to providing a number of powerful security tools for website owners, the company saw an opportunity to fill many of the gaps that have long existed in the world of video streaming. That motivation led to the creation of Cloudflare Stream, which was released in 2017, and gives users the ability to stream quality video quickly at scale, and at a manageable cost.
Stream combines transcoding, combined storage, distribution, and playback into one easy-to-use and affordable package, making video streaming more accessible to more users, everywhere. The Cloudflare global network is expansive, ensuring fast delivery and seamless playback wherever your viewers happen to be streaming.

Bringing Stream to WordPress

WordPress users are no strangers to the struggles of uploading video content. Integrating video into a WordPress site can feel disjointed and may even force you to log out of WordPress to manage your videos. Many WordPress users feel a lack of control due to common vendor restrictions and advertisements, and integration using video software in WordPress is frequently an issue.

The Cloudflare Stream Plugin for WordPress combines Cloudflare’s video expertise with WP Engine’s WordPress experience to give site owners full control over their video strategy, enabling marketers and developers to integrate video into their WordPress experiences. This block-based solution is future-proof and gives WordPress users the benefit of Cloudflare Stream directly in the WordPress admin interface.

Now content editors can easily embed videos into article content within the WordPress dashboard without dealing with messy technical requirements. Because this plugin leverages Cloudflare’s global network, performance issues are extremely rare. Finally, users will no longer feel involuntarily exposed to ads, branded labels, or competing videos when they embed video content on their sites.

Learn More about Stream or Get the Free Plugin

Learn more about the capabilities, key features, and how to get started with the Cloudflare Stream plugin on WordPress.org. If you want to know more about Cloudflare’s partnership with WP Engine, check out our Cloudflare Stream announcement or our enterprise-grade security offering, Global Edge Security.