| 14 January 2021
Firstlight Media and Evergent Technologies are integrating their cloud-based capabilities to help OTT and pay-TV providers deliver end-to-end solutions that optimise and monetise audiences.
The partnership will bring together the customer engagement power of Firstlight Media’s Content Management System (CMS) and integrated revenue and customer management of Evergent’s OTT and traditional video solution to enhance user and subscriber management within video ecosystems.
Firstlight Media’s CMS is a core element of a platform built on Gen 5 architecture and offers real-time metadata management, pre-integration of third-party enrichment providers, storefront pre-visualisation tools with real-time and scheduled publishing, and editable EPGs. The integration with Evergent solutions enhances the ability of content and service providers to quickly and flexibly create subscriptions and promotions.
| 12 January 2021
Independent video software provider Synamedia’s security and watermarking solutions are now integrated with Akamai the intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences and to protect customers’ streaming OTT content.
The integration of the solutions and platform are said to offer customers a quicker way of shutting down illegal streams, which will be critical for the success of streaming rights for live sports.
The partnership will see the integration of Synamedia’s Streaming Piracy Disruption (SPD) managed service with Akamai’s platform in order to give rights holders and content owners an added layer of anti-piracy enforcement and revenue protection. The solutions can now detect and disrupt pirate streams in real time over the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform and redirect viewers to legitimate services.
| 11 January 2021
Mainly driven by a strongly growing subscription video-on-demand sector, African OTT movie and TV episode revenues will reach $1.725 billion by 2026, up from $392 million in 2020, according to a study from Digital TV Research.
The Africa OTT TV and Video Forecasts report noted that SVOD would be the main revenue driver by a long way with its revenues set to reach $1.480 billion by 2026 leaping massively from the $299 million in 2020. While Netflix was said to have accounted for 57% of the region’s SVOD subscribers by end-2020, its share is forecast to fall to 44% by 2026. This would be a total of 6.26 million subscribers, more than triple that of the total in the region for 2020. Disney is not expected to start in the region until 2022, although it will have 3.13 million paying subscribers by 2026. Apple TV+ is forecast to grow from 9,000 to 136,000.
| 11 January 2021
Aiming to rebuild the entire UX personalisation of its Now TV IPTV and OTT TV service, Hong Kong multimedia and entertainment company PCCW Media has deployed ContentWise’s digital experience automation and personalisation software.
Now TV is the largest pay-TV service in Hong Kong, featuring over 150 channels and dozens of VOD categories, with a wide diversity of TV, movies, kids and live sports content in Cantonese and English. AI-powered customer experience company ContentWise provides video operators, digital publishers and online retailers with software and expertise to create personal and smart CX at every digital touchpoint.
The two companies have collaborated to build the next generation of Now TV’s services on set-top box and connected apps. PCCW Media’s goal with this new design is to create a one-to-one, personalised relationship with its subscribers, with a particular focus on enhancing the on-screen user experience, simplifying cust
Leading Questions: New Sky CEO Sophie Moloney on the year ahead
9 Jan, 2021 08:30 PM
4 minutes to read
New Sky TV boss Sophie Moloney. Photo / Supplied Sophie Moloney - a Canterbury University law grad and grand-daughter of All Black Jack Taylor - returned to New Zealand in 2018 after an offshore stint that saw her working in legal and commercial positions with pay-TV operators including Sky UK. She took a role as general counsel for Sky NZ before being promoted to chief legal, people and partnerships officer in 2019 then chief executive after the surprise departure of Martin Stewart on November 30.
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