# Modeling Energy Regulations for CDN Economics

Burak Kara, Bruno Tuffin, Gwendal Simon

► To cite this version:

Burak Kara, Bruno Tuffin, Gwendal Simon. Modeling Energy Regulations for CDN Economics. MHV 2025 - ACM Mile-High Video, Feb 2025, Denver (Colorado, USA), United States. pp.69-70, 10.1145/3715675.3715805 . hal-05029473

HAL Id: hal-05029473

https://hal.science/hal-05029473v1

Submitted on 10 Apr 2025

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
# Modeling Energy Regulations for CDN Economics

Burak Kara†*, Bruno Tuffin* and Gwendal Simon†

†Synamedia, *Inria

Rennes, France

## ABSTRACT

The increasing focus on the environmental impact of video delivery is reshaping the relationship between content providers (CPs), Content Delivery Network (CDN) vendors, and end-users. As video delivery grows to occupy an increasing share of global internet traffic each year, its carbon footprint rises in parallel [5, 6]. To mitigate this impact, green energy regulations to reduce the carbon emissions of video delivery have already been introduced, with more anticipated in the near future [1–3]. The evolving environmental policies add a new layer of complexity to the market, as CPs and CDN vendors must now navigate compliance while maintaining performance and profitability [4, 7]. This shift, however, also impacts end-users, who may face higher service prices, potentially leading to reduced demand.

In this paper, we model the impact of forthcoming energy regulations on the dynamics between CPs, CDN vendors, and end-users. Using game theory, we simulate the interactions among these players in a competitive landscape. As illustrated in Figure 1, our model comprises a CP, multiple competing CDNs, geographically distributed end-users, and regulatory constraints. We incorporate factors such as CP pricing, CDN pricing, CDN infrastructure investment (i.e., green server), throughput delivery constraints, energy consumption costs, and the effects of energy regulations.

Our model evaluates two regulation types:

**Reg. #1: CP.** This regulation imposes green delivery quotas on CPs, raising costs and potentially reducing user demand in price-sensitive regions. Public CDNs, with extensive green infrastructure, are better positioned to support compliance, reinforcing their market advantage.

**Reg. #2: CDN Infrastructure.** Mandating investments in energy-efficient infrastructure increases operational costs. This regulation promotes energy efficiency. However, it intensifies price competition, driving smaller private CDNs to focus on monopoly regions while public CDNs dominate competitive areas. Public CDNs adapt more easily due to larger portfolios, while private CDNs face challenges, further consolidating public CDN dominance.

In the absence of regulation, our model reflects current trends: price wars among CDNs driven by competition for limited CP budgets and throughput allocation. Public CDNs leverage economies of scale to offer lower prices, while private CDNs focus on monopolized regions.

Environmental policies, while fostering sustainability, reshape market dynamics by introducing operational complexities. Future work should assess the long-term economic and technological impacts of these regulations on the CDN ecosystem.

## CCS CONCEPTS

* Information systems → Multimedia streaming; Multimedia streaming.

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 1:** Game actors in our model. CP allocates CDN A and CDN B for the content delivery. In return, CDNs charge CP with throughput unit price. The user demand varies as a function of service price. CP creates profit over users paying the service price across different regions. Region 1 and Region 2 are monopolies of CDN A and CDN B, respectively, while both CDNs compete in Region 1, 2. The regulations are applied to the CP capacity allocation (Reg. #1) and CDN infrastructure (Reg. #2).</figcaption></figure>

## KEYWORDS

Content Delivery Network, Green Video Streaming, Game Theory
REFERENCES

[1] European Union. 2024. Greenhouse gas emission statistics - carbon footprints. [Online] Available: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Greenhouse_gas_emission_statistics_-_carbon Footprints. Accessed on Oct. 15, 2024.

[2] European Union. 2024. Rolling Plan for ICT standardisation. [Online] Available: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/rolling-plan-ict-standardisation/ict-environmental-impact-rp2024. Accessed on Oct. 15, 2024.

[3] ITU-T. 2020. Recommendation ITU-T L.1470 - Greenhouse gas emissions trajectories for the information and communication technology sector compatible with the UNFCCC Paris Agreement. Recommendation ITU-T L.1470. International Telecommunication Union.

[4] Burak Kara, Gwendal Simon, Bruno Tuffin, Jerome Vieron, and Ali C. Begen. 2023. Studying Green Video Distribution as a Whole. In *ACM Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Green Multimedia Systems*. https://doi.org/10.1145/3593908.3593944

[5] Sandvine. 2023. The Global Internet Phenomena Report January 2023. [Online] Available: https://www.sandvine.com/hubfs/Sandvine Redesign_2019/Downloads/2023/reports/Sandvine%20GIPR%202023.pdf. Accessed on Oct. 5, 2024.

[6] Sandvine. 2024. 2024 Global Internet Phenomena Report. [Online] Available: https://www.sandvine.com/global-internet-phenomena-report-2024. Accessed on Oct. 5, 2024.

[7] Robert Seeliger, Stefan Pham, and Stefan Arbanowski. 2023. End-to-End Optimizations for Green Streaming. In *Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Green Multimedia Systems*. https://doi.org/10.1145/3593908.3593945