Video start failure
Video start failure is a playback attempt where the viewer presses play but the video never begins, usually because of an error. Common causes include a broken or expired link, a DRM license error, a network failure or a format the device cannot play. Teams often track it as a percentage of all playback attempts, called the video start failure rate.
Why it matters
A start failure is the worst playback outcome: the viewer gets an error screen and no content. It wastes the cost of bringing that viewer in, and for paid services it creates support tickets and cancellations. Failures often hit one device, app version or region, so a small overall rate can hide a big local problem.
How it works
- The viewer presses play, and the player records a play event.
- The player loads the manifest, any DRM license and the first segments.
- If an error stops playback before the first frame, the player reports an error code and message.
- Analytics counts views with a play request but no successful start, and divides by all attempts.
What causes video start failures?
Video start failures usually happen when something the player needs before the first frame does not arrive or does not work. Typical causes are expired signed links or tokens, DRM license errors, missing or broken manifests, CDN outages, codecs the device cannot decode and player bugs in specific app versions. Grouping error codes by device and region usually reveals which cause dominates. Because FastPix Video Data works with or without FastPix delivery, a team can start capturing failed starts on its current setup before changing anything else.
What is the difference between video start failure and exit before video start?
A video start failure is a technical error that stops playback from beginning. Exit before video start is when the viewer leaves on their own before the first frame, with no error. Both mean the viewer saw nothing, but they need different fixes. Failures point to bugs or delivery problems, while early exits usually point to slow startup.
Where it's used
OTT services and live sports streamers track start failures by device and region, because a viewer who hits an error screen sees nothing at all and often never comes back.
Where it usually goes wrong, and how FastPix handles it
Teams often lump errors and early exits together, or see a low overall failure rate that hides one broken device model or region. Without error details per view, root causes take days to find.
Startup failures are recorded in FastPix Video Data with the error code, message and context for each view, exits before video start are tracked separately, and both break down by device, browser and region, so a broken device model stands out before it becomes support tickets and cancellations.
By the numbers
- In a study of 6.7 million unique viewers, viewers who left after a playback failure were 2.3 percent less likely to return to the same site within a week. (EurekAlert!: UMass Amherst and Akamai study of video quality and viewer behavior (2012))
