Las Vegas, USA, 15th of April 2022 – Accedo, Amagi and ThinkAnalytics have partnered to deliver innovative viewer-centric experiences to FAST. The joint solution enables video service providers to increase video consumption by removing the hurdles of the current cable-like FAST experience.
By bringing personalization to the linear experience and enabling interactive features, providers can better engage their audience and improve hours of view and advertising revenue, the two most important metrics related to this business model.
FAST has become the fastest growing category within streaming in the US – viewers are loving the linear lean-back experience and the free content choices. As more channels come into FAST, video services are at a risk of reintroducing the choice fatigue problem which the viewers are specifically running away from their VOD experiences. The joint solution provides an opportunity for a FAST video service to curate personalized content experiences to their viewers, while allowing as many content providers to provide their channels to their service.
In this solution, using search and personalized recommendations powered by ThinkAnalytics based on a combination of viewer behavior and first-party data, Amagi builds personalized EPGs and channels to deliver a personalized stream to Accedo. Through its powerful video platform, Accedo transforms the stream to a personalized linear viewing experience – very much on par with the VOD personalized experiences the viewers are conditioned to.
Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo, explains: “The rapid success of FAST has mainly been driven by OEMs and major streaming platforms evolving their VOD proposition to launch aggregated FAST services. This has been quite disruptive, but we have not yet seen linear viewing adapt to maximize the potential of digital video. The plethora of channels is making content discovery more challenging and a massive overlap of content makes differentiation hard to achieve. If FAST can get the balance right however, it has the potential to become a strong acquisition channel for service providers and will contribute greatly to the trend for hybrid monetization. We have seen a clear demand from the market to enable this level of flexibility while maintaining the premium experience of the OTT Space.”
Baskar Subramanian, CEO & Co-founder of Amagi, commented, “With our ringside view of the FAST ecosystem today serving all 3 stakeholders – content providers, FAST services and advertisers, we have developed an innovation agenda for the future of FAST i.e. FAST 2.0. We are thrilled that ThinkAnalytics and Accedo are joining us in our journey to advance our vision of FAST to bring streaming-like viewer experiences to cable-like content. We remain very bullish about the future of FAST and are committed to bring innovation to all 3 stakeholders in FAST through our partnerships”
Greg Riker, CRO, ThinkAnalytics, added, “With the cost of living on the rise and viewers seeking out lower cost or free entertainment content, we are seeing a rise in FAST as content owners look for new ways to monetize their assets. Our strategic partnership with Accedo and Amagi allows video providers to deliver a personalized and differentiated service that increases consumer engagement while driving more value to advertisers. It’s all about engagement and getting the correct content to the viewer, fast.”
The joint solution will be presented at NAB on the Accedo (W2031), Amagi (W1401),AWS (W1701), and ThinkAnalytics (W2659) booths from 15th – 19th April. To book a meeting with someone at NAB, get in touch with Accedo, Amagi, or ThinkAnalytics.
About Accedo
Accedo is a global video solutions provider, powering some of the world’s most impactful video-centric experiences. We reduce the complexity of an ever-evolving video ecosystem, enabling businesses of all shapes and sizes to provide world-class video services to their customers. Through a combination of award-winning products and our deep technical expertise, we empower global industry leaders – such as Deutsche Telekom, NBC Universal, ITV, Globo, Hallmark, Bloomberg and Tata Play – to inspire and entertain people across the world.
Accedo was founded in 2004 and our 600+ employees are constantly innovating so that our clients can bring the future of video-centric experiences to hundreds of millions of users on a global scale.
We support businesses at every stage of the video journey, from strategy and design through to delivery, maintenance, and post-launch optimization. Accedo is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and has an additional 14 offices spread across all corners of the world.
About Amagi
Amagi is a next-generation media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi enables content owners to launch, distribute and monetize live linear channels on FreeAd-supported Streaming TV and video services platforms.
Amagi also offers 24×7 cloud-managed services bringing simplicity, advanced automation, and transparency to the entire broadcast operations. Overall, Amagi supports 700+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and over 2100 channel deliveries on its platform in over 40 countries.
Amagi has a presence in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, and broadcast operations in New Delhi, and an innovation center in Bangalore.
About ThinkAnalytics
ThinkAnalytics is a world leader in AI-based content discovery and viewer analytics with its Think360 product suite, which enables video service providers, studios, broadcasters and media companies to deliver personalized experiences to their users. Delivering content discovery and viewer insights to over 85 service providers serving approximately 475 million subscribers in 43 languages with 8 billion recommendations per day, ThinkAnalytics is the largest independent content discovery platform. Customers include Liberty Global, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, DirecTV Latin America, HBO Max, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), Bell Media, BritBox International, Crunchyroll, Astro, Intigral, MBC, OSN, Proximus, Rogers, Sky Mexico, Tata Play and TELUS.
Proven results show a significant uplift in viewer engagement, reduced churn and lower operation costs. Its complementary ThinkAdvertising solution creates contextual intelligence about viewers for hyper-targeted audience segmentation by blending first-party behavioral data with enriched metadata to create new advertising revenues. ThinkAnalytics boasts an Emmy Award for Technology and Engineering for excellence in engineering creativity. Privately held, ThinkAnalytics is jointly headquartered in Los Angeles and London.