Analysis and characterization of IPTV user behavior

Today, due to the fast development of Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), which is the combination of IP technology and two-way broadband networks, the telecom industry is undergoing fundamental changes. Network operators and service providers around the world are making significant investments in order to deliver digital video content to their subscribers. Video puts very high demands on the network and utilizes a large fraction of the available bandwidth. Consequently, it is important to understand the technical demands that IPTV requires of the network infrastructure as well as user behavior and network traffic patterns to further optimize network operation. The purpose of this paper is to characterize IPTV traffic and study end user behavior by analyzing and modeling IPTV traffic collected from a Swedish municipal network. The focus of the measurements was put on Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) packets. Apart from the measurement results and analysis, the paper provides background information about the technologies and issues of IPTV. IP multicast which is used for transferring Live TV content is based on the concept of a group. IGMP is used to manage the membership of multicast groups. Based on this information, traffic parameters for analysis were chosen and measured.