From Network Variability to Playback Intelligence: Airtel’s Sudeep Kumar on Streaming in India

 Episode Overview   

In this episode of the VideoVerse Podcast, we’re joined by Sudeep Kumar, Product Lead at Airtel Digital, one of India’s largest telecom providers. Hosted by Zoe Liu (CEO, Visionular), the conversation dives deep into the evolving video experience in India, from live streaming trends and CDN selection to data usage behavior and the role of perceptual quality in retention.

Sudeep brings a unique perspective sitting at the intersection of product, technology, and user experience for millions of Indian users. He unpacks the complexity of streaming in India’s fragmented network landscape and highlights where traditional metrics fail to capture the nuances of real-world video delivery.

Key Talking Points

⚡️ The Intersection of AI and Video Compression

⚡️ Redefining Quality, Scale, and Cost in the Telco Era

⚡️ The ROI Equation: Balancing AI, Cost, and Performance

⚡️ The Future of Codecs: AV1 Today, AV2 Tomorrow

 About Visionular   

Visionular is an AI-driven video compression and streaming optimization company helping video platforms deliver higher-quality experiences at lower bitrates. With deep codec innovation and perceptual tuning, our tools are used across live sports, UGC platforms, RTC infrastructure, and PGC services.

• Learn more: https://visionular.ai/
• Follow us: Visionular on LinkedIn

Chapters

• 0:00 Teaser
• 1:34 Guest Introduction
• 2:27 AI Meets Compression
• 4:12 Human vs Machine Perception
• 6:49 Forensic Use Cases
• 8:58 Transmitting Models, Not Bits
• 11:39 Quality, Scale, and Cost
• 14:08 Handling Massive Concurrency
• 15:14 Compression and Carbon Impact
• 16:14 Proactive Playback Optimization
• 18:38 ROI of AI Delivery
• 22:09 Better Predictive Models with AI
• 26:38 New AI Use Cases
• 29:29 AV1 vs AV2
• 33:19 Future of Compression