When Data Sponsoring Meets Edge Caching: A Game-Theoretic Analysis

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how edge caching impacts data sponsoring strategies in cellular networks, using a game-theoretic model to show that edge caching can significantly boost a content provider's revenue.

Contribution

It introduces a two-stage Stackelberg game model to study the interaction between content providers and users with edge caching and data sponsoring in 5G networks, revealing strategic insights.

Findings

Edge caching can increase revenue by up to 105%.

The game-theoretic model provides equilibrium analysis of provider-user interactions.

Edge caching influences user subscription choices and provider strategies.

Abstract

Data sponsoring is a widely-used incentive method in today's cellular networks, where video content providers (CPs) cover part or all of the cellular data cost for mobile users so as to attract more video users and increase data traffic. In the forthcoming 5G cellular networks, edge caching is emerging as a promising technique to deliver videos with lower cost and higher quality. The key idea is to cache video contents on edge networks (e.g., femtocells and WiFi access points) in advance and deliver the cached contents to local video users directly (without involving cellular data cost for users). In this work, we aim to study how the edge caching will affect the CP's data sponsoring strategy as well as the users' behaviors and the data market. Specifically, we consider a single CP who offers both the edge caching service and the data sponsoring service to a set of heterogeneous mobile video users (with different mobility and video request patterns). We formulate the interactions of the CP and the users as a two-stage Stackelberg game, where the CP (leader) determines the budgets (efforts) for both services in Stage I, and the users (followers) decide whether and which service(s) they would like to subscribe to. We analyze the sub-game perfect equilibrium (SPE) of the proposed game systematically. Our analysis and experimental results show that by introducing the edge caching, the CP can increase his revenue by 105%.