Comcast, one of the largest media conglomerates with a $135B market cap, and 2013 revenues of $64B is the only regional based content delivery network in the US. Comcast brings a unique business model to the CDN ecosystem. According to press, Comcast aims to be a CDN leader in the regions where they are the last mile provider to cable customers. The first thought that comes to mind, will this business model work? Was there ever a case where a regional based CDN model worked successfully?
Viability of Comcast CDN Business Model
The viability of Comcast’s CDN business model has nothing to do with how great their CDN platform is technically, it’s more of question relating to sales and marketing. I’m assuming Comcast has a dedicated CDN sales force responsible for bringing home the bacon and hitting quota. If I’m a Comcast CDN sales rep competing against Akamai, EdgeCast, Limelight, and all other US based CDNs, what are my chances of winning CDN deals?
Personally speaking, Comcast has to re-think its CDN strategy. I don’t think the regional based CDN business model is going to work. CDN customers are going to find the regional based CDN model too cumbersome. My recommendation is that Comcast build out 10 POPs off-net within the US at Equinix data centers, and just call themselves a national based CDN. It’s still not a global CDN, but its much better than a regional based on-net CDN. Regardless, Good luck Comcast, wish you the best. Comcast CDN Business Model