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Playback Quality Tier

Also known as: Video Quality Tier, Streaming Quality Tier, Playback Resolution Tier, Rendered Quality Tier, Effective Video Quality, Video Definition Tier, Playback Quality Level, Rendition Tier

QualitydimensionMedia & Streaming

Classifies the effective media quality rendered to the customer at a playback observation into a governed tier such as Audio Only, Data Saver, SD, HD, Full HD, or UHD/4K. It reflects experienced playback quality rather than the customer’s selected setting, subscription entitlement, device capability, or the quality originally requested from the player.

Business Use Case

The Streaming Product organization can identify device, application-version, CDN, network, and market segments where UHD-entitled customers are predominantly receiving SD or HD playback, then prioritize player fixes, CDN routing changes, encoding-ladder adjustments, or targeted retention communications and monitor whether engagement and cancellation outcomes improve.

Business Criticality

High

Journey / Navigation Area

Engagement

Owning Function

Streaming Product

Scope

Event

Calculation Notes

1️⃣ Assign tier based on decoded rendition after playback starts. 2️⃣ Use canonical values: Audio Only, Data Saver, SD, HD, Full HD, UHD/4K, Other, Unknown, Not Applicable. 3️⃣ Emit/update tier at first rendered frame and on confirmed rendition changes. 4️⃣ Do not infer tier from user settings, manifest max, or device capability when telemetry is available. 5️⃣ Use Unknown for undetermined rendered renditions and Not Applicable for pre-render events. 6️⃣ Classify audio-only playback as Audio Only; treat ads like editorial content but retain reporting attributes. 7️⃣ A player session starts with playback attempt and ends with explicit termination or 30 minutes of inactivity.

Technical Details

Data Typestring
Lookback WindowEvent, with state carried across the player session until the rendered rendition changes

Events

PlatformEvent
Google Analytics 4video_progress
Adobevideo_progress

Data Mappings

W3 Data Layer
{
  "digitalData": {
    "event": [
      {
        "eventInfo": {
          "eventName": "video_progress",
          "eventAction": "progress"
        },
        "attributes": {
          "playbackQualityTier": "HD"
        }
      }
    ],
    "media": {
      "playback": {
        "qualityTier": "HD"
      }
    }
  }
}
GA4 Data Layer
{
  "event": "video_progress",
  "playback_quality_tier": "HD"
}
Adobe Client Data Layer
{
  "event": "video_progress",
  "media": {
    "playback": {
      "qualityTier": "HD"
    }
  }
}
XDM Mapping
{
  "_experience": {
    "analytics": {
      "customDimensions": {
        "eVars": {
          "eVar49": "HD"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

SQL Queries

Google Analytics 4 (BigQuery)
-- ==========================================
-- 1. GOOGLE BIGQUERY SQL
-- ==========================================
WITH parameter_pivot AS (
  SELECT
    PARSE_DATE('%Y%m%d', event_date) AS event_date,
    event_timestamp,
    user_pseudo_id,
    stream_id,
    platform,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key = 'playback_quality_tier',
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS playback_quality_tier,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key = 'playbackQualityTier',
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS playback_quality_tier_camel_case,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key = 'quality_tier',
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS quality_tier,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key = 'media.playback.qualityTier',
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS media_playback_quality_tier,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key = 'digitalData.media.playback.qualityTier',
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS digital_data_media_quality_tier,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key = 'digitalData.event.attributes.playbackQualityTier',
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS digital_data_attribute_quality_tier,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key IN ('eVar49', '_experience.analytics.customDimensions.eVars.eVar49'),
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS evar49_playback_quality_tier,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key IN ('video_height', 'resolution_height', 'playback_resolution_height'),
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS resolution_height_value,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key IN ('video_resolution', 'playback_resolution', 'rendition_resolution'),
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS resolution_value,
    MAX(IF(
      ep.key IN ('video_bitrate_kbps', 'playback_bitrate_kbps', 'bitrate_kbps'),
      COALESCE(ep.value.string_value, CAST(ep.value.int_value AS STRING), CAST(ep.value.double_value AS STRING)),
      NULL
    )) AS bitrate_kbps_value
  FROM `your-project.analytics_123456789.events_*` AS events
  LEFT JOIN UNNEST(events.event_params) AS ep ON TRUE
  WHERE event_name = 'video_progress'
    AND _TABLE_SUFFIX BETWEEN FORMAT_DATE('%Y%m%d', @start_date)
                          AND FORMAT_DATE('%Y%m%d', @end_date)
  GROUP BY
    event_date,
    event_timestamp,
    user_pseudo_id,
    stream_id,
    platform
),
resolved AS (
  SELECT
    *,
    COALESCE(
      NULLIF(TRIM(playback_quality_tier), ''),
      NULLIF(TRIM(playback_quality_tier_camel_case), ''),
      NULLIF(TRIM(quality_tier), ''),
      NULLIF(TRIM(media_playback_quality_tier), ''),
      NULLIF(TRIM(digital_data_media_quality_tier), ''),
      NULLIF(TRIM(digital_data_attribute_quality_tier), ''),
      NULLIF(TRIM(evar49_playback_quality_tier), '')
    ) AS raw_quality_tier,
    COALESCE(
      SAFE_CAST(resolution_height_value AS INT64),
      SAFE_CAST(REGEXP_EXTRACT(resolution_value, r'(?i)(?:x|^)([0-9]{3,4})p?$') AS INT64)
    ) AS resolution_height,
    SAFE_CAST(REGEXP_EXTRACT(bitrate_kbps_value, r'[0-9]+') AS INT64) AS bitrate_kbps,
    CASE
      WHEN NULLIF(TRIM(playback_quality_tier), '') IS NOT NULL THEN 'playback_quality_tier'
      WHEN NULLIF(TRIM(playback_quality_tier_camel_case), '') IS NOT NULL THEN 'playbackQualityTier'
      WHEN NULLIF(TRIM(quality_tier), '') IS NOT NULL THEN 'quality_tier'
      WHEN NULLIF(TRIM(media_playback_quality_tier), '') IS NOT NULL THEN 'media.playback.qualityTier'
      WHEN NULLIF(TRIM(digital_data_media_quality_tier), '') IS NOT NULL THEN 'digitalData.media.playback.qualityTier'
      WHEN NULLIF(TRIM(digital_data_attribute_quality_tier), '') IS NOT NULL THEN 'digitalData.event.attributes.playbackQualityTier'
      WHEN NULLIF(TRIM(evar49_playback_quality_tier), '') IS NOT NULL THEN '_experience.analytics.customDimensions.eVars.eVar49'
      WHEN resolution_height_value IS NOT NULL OR resolution_value IS NOT NULL THEN 'derived_from_resolution'
      WHEN bitrate_kbps_value IS NOT NULL THEN 'derived_from_bitrate'
      ELSE 'not_provided'
    END AS quality_tier_source
  FROM parameter_pivot
),
classified AS (
  SELECT
    *,
    CASE
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'(^|[^a-z0-9])(8k|4320p)([^a-z0-9]|$)')
        OR resolution_height >= 4320 THEN 'UHD_8K'
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'(^|[^a-z0-9])(4k|uhd|2160p)([^a-z0-9]|$)')
        OR resolution_height >= 2160 THEN 'UHD_4K'
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'(^|[^a-z0-9])(qhd|2k|1440p)([^a-z0-9]|$)')
        OR resolution_height >= 1440 THEN 'QHD'
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'(^|[^a-z0-9])(full[ _-]?hd|fhd|1080p)([^a-z0-9]|$)')
        OR resolution_height >= 1080 THEN 'FULL_HD'
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'(^|[^a-z0-9])(hd|720p)([^a-z0-9]|$)')
        OR resolution_height >= 720 THEN 'HD'
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'(^|[^a-z0-9])(sd|576p|480p|360p|240p|low)([^a-z0-9]|$)')
        OR resolution_height BETWEEN 1 AND 719 THEN 'SD'
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'audio') THEN 'AUDIO_ONLY'
      WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')), r'auto|adaptive') THEN 'AUTO'
      WHEN raw_quality_tier IS NULL AND bitrate_kbps >= 15000 THEN 'UHD_4K'
      WHEN raw_quality_tier IS NULL AND bitrate_kbps >= 5000 THEN 'FULL_HD'
      WHEN raw_quality_tier IS NULL AND bitrate_kbps >= 2500 THEN 'HD'
      WHEN raw_quality_tier IS NULL AND bitrate_kbps > 0 THEN 'SD'
      WHEN raw_quality_tier IS NULL THEN 'UNKNOWN'
      ELSE REGEXP_REPLACE(UPPER(TRIM(raw_quality_tier)), r'[^A-Z0-9]+', '_')
    END AS playback_quality_tier_code
  FROM resolved
),
observed AS (
  SELECT
    playback_quality_tier_code,
    MIN(event_date) AS first_observed_date,
    MAX(event_date) AS last_observed_date,
    COUNT(*) AS observed_event_count,
    COUNT(DISTINCT user_pseudo_id) AS observed_user_count,
    COUNT(DISTINCT stream_id) AS observed_stream_count,
    STRING_AGG(DISTINCT raw_quality_tier, ', ' ORDER BY raw_quality_tier LIMIT 20) AS observed_raw_values,
    STRING_AGG(DISTINCT quality_tier_source, ', ' ORDER BY quality_tier_source) AS source_attributes
  FROM classified
  GROUP BY playback_quality_tier_code
)
SELECT
  playback_quality_tier_code AS playback_quality_tier_key,
  playback_quality_tier_code,
  CASE playback_quality_tier_code
    WHEN 'AUDIO_ONLY' THEN 'Audio Only'
    WHEN 'SD' THEN 'Standard Definition'
    WHEN 'HD' THEN 'High Definition'
    WHEN 'FULL_HD' THEN 'Full High Definition'
    WHEN 'QHD' THEN 'Quad High Definition'
    WHEN 'UHD_4K' THEN 'Ultra High Definition 4K'
    WHEN 'UHD_8K' THEN 'Ultra High Definition 8K'
    WHEN 'AUTO' THEN 'Automatic / Adaptive'
    WHEN 'UNKNOWN' THEN 'Unknown'
    ELSE INITCAP(REPLACE(playback_quality_tier_code, '_', ' '))
  END AS playback_quality_tier_name,
  CASE playback_quality_tier_code
    WHEN 'UNKNOWN' THEN 0
    WHEN 'AUDIO_ONLY' THEN 1
    WHEN 'SD' THEN 2
    WHEN 'HD' THEN 3
    WHEN 'FULL_HD' THEN 4
    WHEN 'QHD' THEN 5
    WHEN 'UHD_4K' THEN 6
    WHEN 'UHD_8K' THEN 7
    WHEN 'AUTO' THEN 98
    ELSE 99
  END AS quality_rank,
  playback_quality_tier_code IN ('HD', 'FULL_HD', 'QHD', 'UHD_4K', 'UHD_8K') AS is_hd_or_better,
  playback_quality_tier_code IN ('UHD_4K', 'UHD_8K') AS is_ultra_hd,
  first_observed_date,
  last_observed_date,
  observed_event_count,
  observed_user_count,
  observed_stream_count,
  observed_raw_values,
  source_attributes
FROM observed
ORDER BY quality_rank, playback_quality_tier_code;
Adobe Experience Platform (AEP Query Service)
-- ==========================================
-- 2. ADOBE AEP QUERY SERVICE SQL
-- ==========================================
WITH extracted AS (
  SELECT
    timestamp AS event_timestamp,
    NULLIF(
      TRIM(_experience.analytics.customDimensions.eVars.eVar49),
      ''
    ) AS raw_quality_tier
  FROM aep_analytics_dataset
  WHERE eventType = 'video_progress'
    AND timestamp >= CURRENT_TIMESTAMP - INTERVAL '90 days'
),
classified AS (
  SELECT
    event_timestamp,
    raw_quality_tier,
    CASE
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%4320p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%8k%' THEN 'UHD_8K'
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%2160p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%4k%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) = 'uhd' THEN 'UHD_4K'
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%1440p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) = 'qhd'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) = '2k' THEN 'QHD'
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%1080p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) IN ('full hd', 'full_hd', 'full-hd', 'fhd') THEN 'FULL_HD'
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%720p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) = 'hd' THEN 'HD'
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) IN ('sd', 'low')
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%576p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%480p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%360p%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%240p%' THEN 'SD'
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%audio%' THEN 'AUDIO_ONLY'
      WHEN LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%auto%'
        OR LOWER(COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '')) LIKE '%adaptive%' THEN 'AUTO'
      WHEN raw_quality_tier IS NULL THEN 'UNKNOWN'
      ELSE REGEXP_REPLACE(UPPER(TRIM(raw_quality_tier)), '[^A-Z0-9]+', '_')
    END AS playback_quality_tier_code
  FROM extracted
),
observed AS (
  SELECT
    playback_quality_tier_code,
    MIN(event_timestamp) AS first_observed_timestamp,
    MAX(event_timestamp) AS last_observed_timestamp,
    COUNT(*) AS observed_event_count,
    STRING_AGG(DISTINCT COALESCE(raw_quality_tier, '(not set)'), ', ') AS observed_raw_values
  FROM classified
  GROUP BY playback_quality_tier_code
)
SELECT
  playback_quality_tier_code AS playback_quality_tier_key,
  playback_quality_tier_code,
  CASE playback_quality_tier_code
    WHEN 'AUDIO_ONLY' THEN 'Audio Only'
    WHEN 'SD' THEN 'Standard Definition'
    WHEN 'HD' THEN 'High Definition'
    WHEN 'FULL_HD' THEN 'Full High Definition'
    WHEN 'QHD' THEN 'Quad High Definition'
    WHEN 'UHD_4K' THEN 'Ultra High Definition 4K'
    WHEN 'UHD_8K' THEN 'Ultra High Definition 8K'
    WHEN 'AUTO' THEN 'Automatic / Adaptive'
    WHEN 'UNKNOWN' THEN 'Unknown'
    ELSE INITCAP(REPLACE(playback_quality_tier_code, '_', ' '))
  END AS playback_quality_tier_name,
  CASE playback_quality_tier_code
    WHEN 'UNKNOWN' THEN 0
    WHEN 'AUDIO_ONLY' THEN 1
    WHEN 'SD' THEN 2
    WHEN 'HD' THEN 3
    WHEN 'FULL_HD' THEN 4
    WHEN 'QHD' THEN 5
    WHEN 'UHD_4K' THEN 6
    WHEN 'UHD_8K' THEN 7
    WHEN 'AUTO' THEN 98
    ELSE 99
  END AS quality_rank,
  CASE
    WHEN playback_quality_tier_code IN ('HD', 'FULL_HD', 'QHD', 'UHD_4K', 'UHD_8K') THEN TRUE
    ELSE FALSE
  END AS is_hd_or_better,
  CASE
    WHEN playback_quality_tier_code IN ('UHD_4K', 'UHD_8K') THEN TRUE
    ELSE FALSE
  END AS is_ultra_hd,
  first_observed_timestamp,
  last_observed_timestamp,
  observed_event_count,
  observed_raw_values,
  '_experience.analytics.customDimensions.eVars.eVar49' AS source_attribute
FROM observed
ORDER BY quality_rank, playback_quality_tier_code;

Source Data

Client and server playback telemetry from web, mobile, connected TV, set-top box, and console players, video player SDK rendition-change and first-frame events, CDN and streaming-session logs, content metadata and encoding-ladder catalogs, subscription entitlement data stitched through governed anonymous user, device, content, and player-session identifiers

Dependencies

[ "playback_started", "first_frame_rendered", "rendition_changed", "playback_ended", "rendered_video_width", "rendered_video_height", "rendered_bitrate", "media_type", "video_codec", "player_session_id", "content_id", "playback_position", "event_timestamp", "playback_quality_tier_mapping_version" ]

Report Attributes

Content Title Content Type Series Genre Live or On-Demand Ad or Editorial Content Device Type Device Model Operating System Application Version Browser Network Connection Type Internet Service Provider CDN Provider Streaming Protocol Video Codec Subscription Plan Acquisition Channel Customer Tenure Band Market Playback Start Date Playback Experience Score Rebuffering Severity Playback Error Type

Segment Eligibility

true

Governance

Data Sensitivityinternal

Derived Dimensions

Playback Quality Tier GroupPlayback Quality Upgrade or DowngradeInitial Playback Quality TierHighest Playback Quality Tier ReachedLowest Playback Quality Tier ReachedSession Dominant Playback Quality TierExpected versus Actual Quality TierPlayback Quality Tier Transition Type

Governance

Created bydevyendarm
Created on9/7/2026
Last modified bydevyendarm
StatusPUBLISHED

GitHub

View File on GitHubcatalog/dimensions/playback-quality-tier.yml

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