SIMPLESTREAM
Sports Video Platform — An End-to-End OTT Video Platform In a world of TV Everywhere and increased fan engagement, supporters now expect greater interaction with the sports they love. For many clubs, federations and leagues, however, their existing consumer-facing OTT offerings are no longer enough to keep their fans engaged with their content — and hungry for more. If they’ve built and are managing their own solution, which can be quite difficult to do and high in both CAPEX and OPEX, they face an uphill struggle to provide the exciting, polished experiences that their fans expect.
Simplestream recognized these issues and moved swiftly to address them with the creation and launch of its new Sports Video Platform: an end-to-end, cloud-based, white label solution that seamlessly enables sports broadcasters, rightsholders and distributors to rapidly launch and maintain next-generation OTT services on multiple screens and territories where the rights permit. Key USPs include: • Reduces the complexity and costs of delivering live streaming, liveto-VOD, VOD, catch-up, advertising, subscriber and data management and clips across every platform and device. It achieves this by enabling the management, editing and distribution of content across broadcast and OTT through a single workflow, ensuring that providers of every size can launch offerings and compete on the same playing field as larger and more established providers. • Virtualized modular infrastructure flexibility provides end-to-end
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Product Innovation Awards Program Guide 2018
functionality for all major workflows and business models, while also providing the power to develop and house unique functionality. Wherever needed, industry-leading third-party components can also be rapidly integrated for niche functionality — such as advanced analytics or social media interactivity. Based on the technology from the company’s Media Manager, Sports Video Platform includes the following key features: • Low latency streaming • Live event management • Automated generation of video highlights and data integrations for real-time match, league and player stats • Immersive HTML5 -based cross-platform applications that can sit across any device, so that fans of any sport can be entertained and delighted for hours on end. This solution helps content owners to compete with new forms of sports broadcasters, FAANG companies and reach new target segments — specifically tech savvy 16-35-year-olds. It also encourages sports properties to create new types of highly engaging content, which is attractive to both existing and new fans and goes beyond classic, live match day experience. The platform delivers a dynamic, highly flexible business model which, compared to traditional ecosystems, gives content owners more opportunities for monetization. The Sports Video Platform comes with AVOD/SVOD and PPV models out of the box, so that any league, channel or federation can now generate increased revenue. This also enables them to concurrently learn about their customers through valuable, real-time return path data, something that traditional methods of TV delivery do not deliver. Building on the heritage of providing solutions for Box Nation, National Women’s Soccer League and Racing UK, Simplestream’s offering is in a league of its own — providing content owners, whatever their size, with a simple route to produce next-generation video experiences. Built from the ground up, Simplestream’s Sports Video Platform can scale efficiently both as consumer viewing habits evolve with changing expectations. Virtualization is aggressively shaping the future of broadcast, creating opportunities for smaller sports providers to break into the market and scaleup, while enabling larger ones to innovate with agility: Sports Video Platform delivers this. www.simplestream.com