Tuesday, June 18, 2019

OTT Customer Behavior Analysis - Reducing Churn and Managing Retention Campaigns


  OTT service providers need ways to reduce churn and increase consumption. During my interview with Alan Sternfeld, Business Development with Jump TV, he explained that OTT Service Providers (OSPs) want to understand key churn identifiers, which of their viewers is at risk of churning (risk scoring) and how to segment customers for retention campaigns. To keep and reacquire customers, OSPs can create targeted promotional, retention, and win back campaigns. To solve this challenge, Jump TV has setup a platform that enables OSPs to measure, analyze, and optimize churn management. To get more information on ways to identify viewers at risk of churn and ways to motivate them to stay and consume more, visit Jump TV OTT Customer Retention.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Open Source, Reliable, and Customizable Full Feature SRT Internet Streaming Protocol

Broadcasters want Internet streaming services that are low cost, reliable, and have advanced features that can be customized. During my interview with Peter Maag, CMO of Haivision, he shared with me that Internet streaming for OTT systems can be expensive, have quality challenges, and be hard to customize. To solve this challenge, Haivision developed and launched the streaming reliable transport (SRT) protocol. SRT is an open standard which defines requirements, formats, and processes that allow all users to use and modify their system. Because it is an open standard, improvements made by its users are shared allowing the systems to continually improve. SRT optimizes streaming performance across the Internet with secure streams, works through firewalls, and provides reliable quality live video over varying delays and bandwidth conditions. The SRT open source project is open to all contributors and is managed and supported by the SRT Alliance.

To find out more about open source streaming technology and implementation, visit Haivision SRT

Monday, June 10, 2019

New Revenues for Local TV Channels Delivered by OTT Systems

Many television viewers want to watch their local TV channels through the Internet and local TV broadcasters want to reach more viewers and earn more money. During my interview with Jim Long, CEO of LocalBTV, he explained to me that virtual over the air (VOTA) television services can stream local TV channels, do local ad replacement to earn revenues, and provide advanced navigation features such as DVR to viewers. The ad revenues can be split between local broadcasters, network affiliates, and other content providers. Jim explained that VOTA systems can use IP geofencing to limit viewing to defined areas defined by content licensing agreements. The local TV freemium ad supported television viewing model could be supplemented or upsold to SVOD and TVOD services. To learn more and see a demo of how the virtual over the air systems works, visit LocalBTV

Friday, June 7, 2019

Fast Virtual TV Channel Creation - Mix and Match Live and Stored Content

Creating good TV channel content can be expensive, slow, and may lose value if delayed. During my interview with Johan Bolin, CTO of Edgeware, he explained that TV Broadcasters and OTT service providers need to create better content, faster, and at low cost to better compete with other TV service providers. Traditional production systems involve multiple steps and processes that require multiple systems and services. To solve this challenge, Edgeware expanded its content capturing, video production, and packaging platform to enable media companies to rapidly mix live and stored content to create new virtual channels. In addition to saving time and cost, it also allows TV service providers to get to viewers first maximizing the value of live content. To get a guide on how to mix and match live and stored content to create new virtual channels, visit Edgeware Virtual TV Channel Production

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Real Time Broadcast TV and OTT Network Monitoring for Increased Quality and Reduced Costs

Broadcast TV and OTT networks contain a mix of equipment, services, and software that can be costly and hard to maintain. During my interview with Laura Delcor, VP of Marketing for Nice People at Work, she explained that Broadcast and OTT providers have complex networks with multiple monitoring points and dynamically changing systems. Laura discussed that it is important for TV service providers to be able to rapidly detect problems or early warning signs of problems (such as increasing congestion) and be able to gather, analyze, and distribute useful troubleshooting information. She explained that video network analytics can also be used to optimize network configurations and services to increase quality while reducing costs. For more information about how to monitor and optimize Broadcast and OTT systems, go to Nice People at Work.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Inappropriate Content Recognition (ICR) for Broadcasters and OTT using Video AI

Reviewing movies, tv shows, and video to detect inappropriate content is time consuming, costly, and can have compliance penalties of not done well. During my interview with Mika Rautiainen, CEO of Valossa, he explained to me that broadcasters, OTT service providers, and media distributors need a highly accurate content moderation solution that can detect sensual and explicit nudity, sex, violence, accidents, substance use, bad language, and other undesired or prohibited content elements. Using human reviewers is time consuming, costly, and can have errors that result in compliance fines. Mika described how video AI can provide a better, faster, and more accurate way to identify, time tag, and assist in the editing of video content. He also discussed how it is possible to tailor and adapt video AI recognition models to specific content allowances and regulatory requirements. To learn how video artificial intelligence (Video AI) can provide faster, more reliable, and lower cost ways to detect and correct inappropriate content, go to Valossa Video AI.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

OTT Shopping Carts - Adding eCommerce to Streaming TV Services

Image of TV with Shopping Cart
Broadcasters and OTT service providers can add shopping carts to their platforms allowing viewers to purchase products and services using their existing TVs and access devices. During my interview with Ankit Pandey, Head of Business Development with Muvi, he explained that OTT shopping channels with TV shopping carts can add significant service revenues and be a way to develop long term customer value. Adding shopping channels and order processing carts to TV systems requires integration between TV systems, order processing platforms, and need to be setup to work with many types of television devices and accessories. TV systems can be upgraded to include TV shopping carts that can use existing devices and controls to find, order, and pay for products directly through the TV system. For more information about how to setup a TV shopping cart, visit Muvi Kart

Monday, June 3, 2019

TV Audience Participation Platform - New Social Engagement Options and Revenues

Television and social networks are merging to produce more valuable television viewing experiences. During my interview with Gabriel Baños, CEO of Flowics, he explained that TV viewers have many new choices for content & service providers and traditional business models are failing. Content producers are bypassing traditional TV networks, there are new content producers diluting audience reach, and traditional pay TV and broadcast ad revenue methods are rapidly declining. To attract and keep viewers and subscribers, broadcasters and OTT providers are adapting their TV systems to provided personalize viewing experiences using real time polling, content sharing, engagement measurement and optimization. For more information about Social TV Engagement platform options, visit Flowics

Friday, May 31, 2019

Adding New Cross-Media Advertising Revenue to TV Broadcast and OTT Systems

TV broadcasters and OTT service providers can add new revenues by selling advertising services on multiple platforms. During my interview with Taras Bugir, President of Decentrix, he explained that having an integrated ad management platform can enable television service providers to sell video and digital ads across cross-media platforms. Taras discussed that ad inventory management automation and optimization is critical to ad targeting, insertion, and campaign optimization. Having an integrated ad management system allows for better media analytics which allows for ad inventory capacity forecasting, sellouts, and can manage pricing based on real time ad insertion demands. Multi-platform ad management systems enable TV broadcasters and OTT service to setup and manage cross-platform campaigns which allows them to sell digital advertising to existing and new advertising clients. To get more information on how to do cross-media-sales-channels, visit Decentrix

To listen to Taras Bugir's podcast interview where he explains how multi-platform advertising works, key options, and typical results, visit: Multi-Platform Advertising

Monday, April 22, 2019

Brandable, Customizable, and Scalable OTT Platform with SVOD and AVOD


Broadcasters and OTT service providers need to setup run streaming platforms that can serve many types of devices, with subscription and/or advertising business models at capacity needs that can rapidly change. Jim O’Neill, principal industry analyst at Brightcove explained to me during the NAB show that OTT platforms can have difficulty supporting multiple types of devices with varying screen sizes, have complicated ingestion and media reformatting processes, and may have difficulty delivery reliable quality viewing experiences during periods of high stream viewing demands. To solve this challenge, Brightcove has developed an end to end OTT platform that uses apps and an HTML5 browser that can deliver services to all types of viewing devices, can provide and optimize subscription video on demand (SVOD) & advertising on demand (AVOD) services, and the system has been designed to provide capacity when required.
For more information about the brandable, customizable, and scalable Brightcove OTT Platform, visit Brightcove OTT Platform Solution









Monday, April 15, 2019

IPTV Magazine - OTT Business Opportunities - April 2019

This issue of IP Television magazine covers OTT Business Opportunities, How to Develop a Successful OTT Business, Transitioning OTT to Profitable Addressable Advertising, TV Show Cloud Production, TV Industry Research Buyers Guide, IPTV News, and more.

Download PDF - http://bit.ly/iptv-1904

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Personalized Multi-Screen TV Viewing Experience Increases Engagement and Revenues While Reducing Churn



TV broadcast operators need to improve their TV viewer experiences to compete with new innovative competitors. Kurt Michel, VP of Seachange Marketing explained to me at the IBC show that an increasing number of broadcast customers are shaving TV services or churning to other TV and content services providers. To solve this challenge, Seachange created cView which allows broadcasters to personalize broadcast services to viewers, increasing consumption and revenue, while decreasing churn.

Kurt explained that broadcasters need a bridge to connect legacy, IP, OTT and multiscreen platforms in ways that allow for the creation of new video services that can provide personalized user experiences. This software needs to work with Android TV, hybrid set top boxes, and other platforms. A key requirement for the cView system is to provide simple ways to setup and support new services and devices.

It is important for the system to allow the continued use of existing set top box (STB) subscribers while expanding services to new systems and devices. The migration of viewer experiences from legacy services to new capabilities needs to be gradual with minimal (if any) disruption. This allows the viewers to discover and user new service while they are building value for the TV broadcaster’s brand. The TV operator needs to be take advantage of the more efficient unmanaged OTT services to increase profit margins. cView has also developed an Android Operator Tier (AOT) that provides a fully branded viewing experience that starts with the launch screen. 

To find out more information about cView personalized TV viewing services, visit: https://www.seachange.com/what-we-do/solutions/user-experience-management/

Monday, October 15, 2018

Video Enrichment by IBM Watson Media Increases Video Value and Enhances Viewer Engagement

Video producers and editors need better ways to discover and enrich video using less staff and more ways to add engagement value. Hillary Henderson, Senior Director of Product Strategy and Management at IBM Watson Media and Cloud Video, explained to me during the IBC show that existing video editing and production systems can require many steps and people to find, tag, and use valuable video media content. To solve this challenge, IBM has developed a Video Enrichment, a technology that can analyze audio, text, and visual media to identify and tag value elements. Because Video Enrichment is based on cognitive recognition and deep learning capabilities, it is possible to add and associate deep metadata with video content. This make the rich media more searchable, selectable, and usable.

For more information about Video Enrichment and how it can be used to enrich your media, visit IBM Watson Media




Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Fast Cloud Video Editor with Full Feature Set and Platform Compatibility

Blackbird Video Editor Screen ShotBroadcasters, production companies, and media professionals need a fast full featured video editor for all file formats which can be used anywhere without installing software and works on standard low cost equipment. Ian McDonough, CEO of Blackbird.video, explained to me during the NAB show that existing cloud video editors can be slow to respond to commands, have limited features, and require training to use their unique editing commands. To solve this challenge, Blackbird video has developed a fast (almost instant) cloud based video editor that can process all media formats up to 8k on standard workstations that work with existing workflow platforms.


The Blackbird video editing service operates on standard web browsers and can work on regular computers (no special hardware or coders required!) Editing commands are processed almost instantly due to the special Blackbird video processing service and by using smart raw file storage locations on the web.

Because the Blackbird video system is cloud based and has compatible file formats and APIs, it can work with existing video production workflow systems without the need for new risky workflow or equipment changes. To make the Blackbird video editing system easier to use, uses can select editing command sets which are familiar to Avid, Adobe, Final Cut, and other editing systems.

Blackbird video has created two versions - Ascent (basic video editing) and Forte (full features for more advanced users). For more information about Blackbird Video editing services, visit Blackbird Video.


Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Predictive TV Subscriber Churn Reduction

TV service providers need cost effective ways to manage customer retention and recovery. During my interview with Chris Welsh from MPP Global at the IBC show, he explained that voluntary subscription churn can typically be reduced by over 60% or more. To do this, TV service providers need to identify churn candidates in enough time before they leave so they can be provided with help and/or offers that motivate them to stay. The indicators customers may churn can range from being unable to process a credit card for payment (expired information) to changing customer usage patterns. It is possible to identify 1-2 months in advance when permits taking actions to motivate customer to stay such as offering free program viewing incentives (gets customer to start viewing again) or special discount offers. To solve the TV subscriber churn challenge, MPP created an esuite retention recovery system that identifies, analyzes, communicates with subscribers, and manages TV subscription churn. To find out more information, go to eSuite MPP Customer Retention and Recovery.