[Dylan16807]

> Does anyone here know how video platforms like Twitch managed to get started considering how expensive cloud data transfer pricing is?

Don't use amazon, mostly.

If you're really small, there are lots of servers for rent that have gigabit+ connections at reasonable prices.

Once you're in the tens to hundreds of gigabits per second, you can get cheap connections in datacenters. If you were starting twitch today, you could get some $1500 10gig internet connections. Then one server can support 1500 viewers, with an average of 1000, and cost only about a fifth of a cent per viewer-hour for bandwidth. Not too hard to reach with an ad break, and a subscriber pays you much more than they cost.

Bandwidth gets more expensive as you go back in the years, but AWS has never been a good deal, and twitch had lower bitrates too.

[sillysaurusx]

If anyone wants 40MB/s unlimited bandwidth servers, use Hetzner. $35/mo. Best purchase I’ve made in recent times.

To underscore: the bandwidth is completely free.

[numlock86]

If you just need 12.5 MB/s (100 MBit/s) unlimited traffic and are from Germany there are options going as low as €4/mo. Of course you won't get much video streaming from that ... but that's the case with 40 MB/s, too.