This year’s International Broadcasting Conference held in Amsterdam saw the emergence of an OTT media alliance. As streaming outclasses other kinds of content, Edgio is seeking to create an ecosystem of smaller, collaborative companies to rival big names finding dominance in the market. Led by the managed service provider, Edgio united Bitmovin, Accedo, Grabyo and Vimond under a strategic partnership.
That’s a wrap on #IBC2023! It’s been amazing to bring the industry together at the RAI, Amsterdam. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great show. Bring on #IBC2024! 🙌🏼pic.twitter.com/yHe5ybvnfR
— IBC (@IBCShow) September 18, 2023
Streaming Video Demands
Delivering OTT media can be a challenge, especially for smaller companies that don’t have the infrastructure and investment backing of Amazon or Netflix. Hosting demands aside, creating an assembly line of high-quality streamed media is difficult when the company is too small to cover the whole process themselves. That’s where smaller competitors in the market fail.
There is no shortage of competitors, however, as businesses in and out of broadcasting are foraying into streamed content of some description – typically video-on-demand. Online websites have bought more into live streaming in real-time. For example, using clever infrastructure, iGaming websites host games like Monopoly Live with a real dealer and an interactive audience of thousands. This title blends the classic board game of Monopoly with the now-popular gameshow-style casino game and, as with VOD services, players can stream it and join in from desktop and mobile devices alike.
The success of these streaming services shows the high level, complexity and innovation that can be achieved, which Edgio’s new alliance aims to capitalise on: they seek to simplify streaming workflows so that they can be a collaborative effort. Eric Black, General Manager of Media at Edgio, said: “For media companies, piecing together an ecosystem like this on their own would be costly, time-consuming, and risky.” By forming an alliance under their largest and most reputed member, Edgio, smaller companies can get OTT content out much easier.
The Partnership Members
The Edgio alliance contains five members who have distinct roles in its streaming content workflow.
First is Edgio themselves, who had been an established name in backend Internet hosting for decades as Limelight Networks before a recent name change. Many media events had been delivered by Lamplight’s CDN solutions, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics and other sports events up to Super Bowl LI in 2017. After acquiring Yahoo’s Edgecast in 2022, they converted to Edgio and launched the Edgio Platform. As a managed service provider, they will act as the front face for content delivery, cloud security and cloud storage services, while offering the same CDN and streaming infrastructure.
Then there’s Accedo, which sits right at the start of any content workflow. Accedo focuses on video application development and management, offering templates and other UX features through a SaaS business model. It’s integrated with Bitmovin, which manages media playback and records analytics in real-time whenever their content is watched.
Vimond is responsible for a customer content management system (CMS) that curates their content. The CMS takes in metadata from visitors and creates a frontend system that is friendly to users, while Vimond’s strategic partners handle backend concerns. Their CMS relies on Uplynk, the video management system owned by Edgio.
Lastly, Grabyo works as a SaaS model that exists on the cloud. It allows for videos to be shot, edited in real-time and then distributed fast. It’s compatible with single and multi-camera setups and includes self-monetisation options like inserting SCTE-35 ad breaks to help clients earn money from live video. Once complete, creators then publish to Uplynk where Edgio and Vimond handle the rest.
Fresh from #IBC2023🇳🇱
Gareth Capon, Grabyo CEO, gives his thoughts on the progression of cloud video production and the changing ecosystem of monetising live video across broadcast, FAST and OTT.
Check it out 👇pic.twitter.com/UU0IlixX5B
— @grabyo (@Grabyo) September 21, 2023
With each member, they have replicated the content production funnel that would be found at larger businesses. If Edgio’s plan to crack open the OTT media market works, there will be a surge of smaller businesses creating, hosting and supporting streamed content.
