Abstract: The paper compares the P2P network model with the Client/ Server network model from economy. Through the comparison on an approximate cost model, we find that even with large revenue sharing factor (i.e., peers get a larger portion of the per-customer than the provider), the P2P network model still achieves a higher profit with a reasonable number of customers. And the result of the comparison demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of the P2P network model, since it requires a small initial investment in the infrastructure. So these show that the economic potential of a large-scale media streaming service built on top of a P2P infrastructure. The provider can manage the level of cooperation offered by peers.

Key words: P2P network model, C/S network model, media streaming, cost-profit analysis