Methods, systems, and devices are described to proactively adapt media streaming by a number of media player clients over a network. Each media player requests segments of an adaptive media stream for playback. In implementations, some or all of the media players in the system are able to measure packet loss or other indicia of issues with the data transmission. This indicia can be used to adapt subsequent requests for additional segments of the media stream. Moreover, some implementations could provide the measured packet loss or other indicia to the server as feedback. The server, in turn, can use the feedback from the players (along with any other additional information) to formulate business rules subsequently delivered to some or all of the players in the system. The media players can therefore adapt their segment request based upon locally measured data and/or based upon business rules that reflect system-wide conditions.