System and method for delivering media content to users

A system for delivering media content to users, the system comprising:

• one or more computer processors;
• and
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling the one or more computer processors to be operable to:
• receive a request for a playback Uniform Resource Locator (URL) from an electronic device associated with a user, the request for the playback URL received in relation to a content title;
• extract at least, an IP address and a content ID from the request for the playback URL, the content ID related to the content title;
• determine a location of the user based on the IP address;
• identify relevant Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) from among a plurality of CDNs based, at least in part, on the location of the user and the content ID, wherein each relevant CDN from among the relevant CDNs is associated with an autonomous system number (ASN), is in proximity of the user, and stores content associated with the content title;
• compare at least one performance statistic for the relevant CDNs to at least one threshold in at least one predefined routing policy to select qualified CDNs;
• select an optimal CDN from among the qualified CDNs based on respective weights assigned to the qualified CDNs in the at least one predefined routing policy;
• and
• provide the playback URL to the electronic device in response to the request for the playback URL, wherein the playback URL is configured to facilitate display of the content associated with the content title on the electronic device.

A computer-implemented method for delivering streaming content to users, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a system, a request for a playback Uniform Resource Locator (URL) from an electronic device associated with a user, the request for the playback URL generated by the electronic device in response to a selection of a streaming content title from among a plurality of streaming content titles displayed on the electronic device;
• extracting, by the system, at least an IP address and a content ID from the request for the playback URL, the content ID related to the streaming content title;
• determining, by the system, a location of the user based on the IP address;
• identifying, by the system, relevant Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) from among a plurality of CDNs based, at least in part, on the location of the user and the content ID, wherein each relevant CDN from among the relevant CDNs is associated with an autonomous system number (ASN), is in proximity of the user, and stores content associated with the content title;
• generating, by the system, CDN related statistics and QoS statistics for the each relevant CDN from among the identified relevant CDNs;
• comparing, by the system, CDN related statistics and QoS statistics for the relevant CDNs to at least one threshold in at least one predefined routing policy to select qualified CDNs;
• selecting, by the system, an optimal CDN from among the qualified CDNs based on the CDN related statistics, the QoS statistics and respective weights assigned to the qualified CDNs in the at least one predefined routing policy;
• generating the playback URL, by the system, based on an IP address associated with a CDN hostname of the selected optimal CDN;
• and
• providing, by the system, the playback URL to the electronic device in response to the request for the playback URL, wherein the electronic device is configured to generate a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request based on the playback URL and fetch the streaming content from the optimal CDN using the HTTP request.