How do I measure and improve player load times?

Overview

You can measure player load times using different tools available in your browser's console.

To measure the player performance it's important to focus on specific details such as:

1. Environment: internet speed and available bandwidth
   
   
2. The amount of data being loaded on the page: It's important to remember that the more third-party scripts and elements you have on the page, the more information the browser requires to render. If the player is queued after a different element in the page, this will impact the user experience around the player
   
   
3. Embedding parameters: when embedding the player, you have different options and query strings that can help you get the best performance according to your particular application

What to look for?

To start analyzing the player performance, look at the console log in your browser. 

1. Right click on the webpage with the embedded Vidyard player and select Inspect.
2. Navigate to the Network tab and type "vidyard" into the search box in order to isolate the elements associated with the Vidyard player.

After doing this you will see multiple requests filtered by the Vidyard player only. These requests may look different according to the integrations and elements that your particular player has connected with Vidyard.

To understand more about player performance and the contents of the Network tab, check out this short video:

Important: Remember to always try your player share page or on an empty site to compare the player performance on its own vs when embedded on a website.

Things to note:

• Load times are expected to increase when information about video player has not yet been stored at a location where it has been embedded.
• The CDN needs to retrieve the content from storage in order to be delivered to the user. Content will then be stored in your browser's cache. Load times will then be significantly lower.

Best Practices:

• When possible, use the Lightbox player to lessen the number of resources required for a player to load.
• To allow video content (mp4) to be requested on demand, use the 'preload=none' query string.
• Ensure that any external images used as splash screens are compressed prior to the upload. Use jpg format for the best result. 
• Ask your CSM to switch on HLS - this will split the video into smaller segments and can help with network issues during playback as well.