You hit “play” on a video. Seconds pass, but nothing happens — just that spinning wheel. It’s a small delay, but it feels huge.
Now imagine a different experience: the video starts playing almost instantly. The first few seconds are slightly lower resolution, but by the time you register it, the stream has already sharpened to full HD. On slower networks — the kind that can sustain HD once the stream stabilizes but are too sluggish to start it quickly — this change is transformative. A tiny shift in how data is delivered can completely reshape how fast the experience feels. A moment that once felt like waiting suddenly becomes a moment of progress.