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Traffic Modelling Assumptions

All projections are based on the following modelling parameters:
  • Peak-to-average ratio: 3× (peak concurrent streams at prime time = 3× daily average)
  • Video average bitrate at peak: 4 Mbps (HLS adaptive bitrate; mix of 720p and 1080p dominant quality tier)
  • Audio average bitrate at peak: 192 kbps (stereo AAC-LC)
  • Nigeria content fraction: 10% of total catalogue; 15% of total playback sessions
  • Nigeria PoP offload rate: 70% (30% cache miss served from af-south-1 origin)
  • Global CDN offload rate: 85% (15% cache miss rate for long-tail content)

Year 1 Traffic Projections

MetricValue
Monthly active users500,000
Daily active users150,000
Average sessions per DAU per day1.8
Average session duration35 minutes
Average concurrent streams (sustained)55,000
Peak concurrent streams150,000
Total hours streamed per day8.75M hours
Total hours streamed per month~265M hours

Year 1 Bandwidth Estimates

Stream typeConcurrent streams (peak)Avg bitrateRequired egress
Video (720p–1080p)130,0004 Mbps~520 Gbps
Video (4K/HDR, premium)5,00020 Mbps~100 Gbps
Audio only15,000192 kbps~2.9 Gbps
Total peak egress150,000~623 Gbps

Year 3 Traffic Projections

MetricValue
Monthly active users2,500,000
Daily active users750,000
Average sessions per DAU per day2.0
Average session duration38 minutes
Average concurrent streams (sustained)190,000
Peak concurrent streams500,000
Total hours streamed per day47.5M hours
Total hours streamed per month~1.4 billion hours

Year 3 Bandwidth Estimates

Stream typeConcurrent streams (peak)Avg bitrateRequired egress
Video (720p–1080p)400,0004 Mbps~1.6 Tbps
Video (4K/HDR, premium)50,00020 Mbps~1.0 Tbps
Audio only50,000192 kbps~9.6 Gbps
Total peak egress500,000~2.6 Tbps

Nigeria-Specific Traffic

MetricYear 1Year 3
Nigeria DAU45,000 (30% of total)200,000 (27% of total)
Peak concurrent streams (Nigeria)50,000150,000
Percentage served from MTN PoP70%75%
Nigeria peak egress (MTN PoP)~140 Gbps~420 Gbps
Nigeria peak egress (af-south-1 origin)~42 Gbps~105 Gbps
Nigeria traffic projections assume 70% CDN PoP offload at Year 1. Increasing the MTN PoP cache capacity by Year 3 (target 75% offload) requires capacity planning with MTN networks. Origin egress from af-south-1 is significantly more expensive per GB than CDN delivery, making PoP offload rate a cost-critical metric.

API Traffic Projections

API tierYear 1 peak RPSYear 3 peak RPS
Auth Service (token validation)12,00050,000
Content Service (feed, search)8,00035,000
Playback Service (manifest + DRM token)5,00020,000
Engagement Service (likes, views, history)25,000100,000
Upload API200800
Total platform API~50,000 RPS~206,000 RPS

Bandwidth Cost Model (Indicative)

Delivery pathRate basisYear 1 monthly estimateYear 3 monthly estimate
CloudFront CDN (global)CDN committed pricing~$180K~$720K
MTN PoP (Nigeria)MTN commercial termsVolume-based (contract)Volume-based (contract)
af-south-1 S3 egress$0.09/GB (standard)~$18K~$60K
us-east-1 API egress$0.09/GB~$8K~$30K
Total monthly data cost (indicative)~$206K~$810K
All cost estimates are indicative and based on public list pricing. Actual costs will depend on committed use discounts, CDN negotiated rates, and actual traffic profiles. CDN costs at Year 3 scale are typically subject to significant volume negotiation.

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