The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments describe devices, systems and methods for a streaming service to provide fast video stream startup at a user device. As will be described in more detail below, the exemplary embodiments relate to how a streaming service provides a video stream to a user device and ensures that the time duration between when the user selects a video stream and when playback begins is kept to a minimum.

The exemplary embodiments are described with regard to a streaming service providing a video stream to a user device. Throughout this description, the video stream may be characterized as a video-on-demand (VOD) stream. The term “VOD stream” may refer to a video stream that includes content that is selected by the user and provided to the user device in response to the selection. For example, user input at the user device may indicate to the streaming service that the user has requested to watch a particular program. In response, the streaming service may provide a video stream of the selected program to the user device. As mentioned above, the exemplary embodiments relate to operations performed by the streaming service to ensure that video stream startup is kept to a minimum. Within the context of this example, the video stream startup refers to the duration of time between when the user selects the particular program and when playback of the particular program begins.