Illegal broadcasting is one of the primary challenges for Over the Top (OTT) service providers. Watermarking is a method used to trace illegal redistribution of video content. However, watermarking introduces processing overhead due to the embedding of unique patterns into the video content, which results in additional latency. End-to-end network latency, caused by network congestion or heavy load on the origin server, can slow data transmission, impacting the time it takes for the segment to reach the client. This paper addresses 5xx errors (e.g., 503, 504) at the Content Delivery Network (CDN) in real-world video streaming platforms, which can negatively impact Quality of Experience (QoE), particularly when watermarking techniques are employed. To address the performance issues caused by the integration of watermarking technology, we enhanced the system architecture by introducing and optimizing a shield cache in front of the packager at the origin server and fine-tuning the CDN configuration. These optimizations significantly reduced the processing load on the packager, minimized latency, and improved overall content delivery. As a result, we achieved a 6% improvement in the Key Performance Indicator (KPI), reflecting enhanced system stability and video quality.

The substantial growth of Internet video streaming has greatly increased resource utilization, particularly bandwidth and energy consumption, especially in systems secured through watermarking. However, the issue of decarbonization has received limited attention. As Quality of Experience (QoE) becomes a central focus, the complexity of these challenges intensifies. Adaptive bitrate algorithms often prioritize video quality while neglecting the associated energy costs, frequently selecting the highest available bitrate and thereby increasing energy consumption. Achieving a balance between QoE and energy efficiency requires careful optimization across multiple factors, including server-side processing, network stability, and bandwidth utilization. While watermarking enhances content protection and ensures secure delivery, it introduces additional computational overhead that increases energy consumption. This study aims to achieve seamless, high-quality video streaming by managing the trade-off between streaming security and QoE while minimizing energy impact. The findings underscore the importance of balancing robust security mechanisms with energy-aware optimization to achieve sustainable, secure, and high-quality video streaming. Numerical results obtained from real-world streaming scenarios validate the efficiency of the proposed method. Even with a 10% increase in the number of connected users, the proposed system reduces origin egress traffic by 25%. At the same time, CDN traffic increases by 23% due to the delivery of higher-bitrate video streams, indicating a 13% improvement in perceived video quality rather than a mere redistribution of system load.