Ooyala offers Indian broadcasters a quick OTT build service

Ooyala offers Indian broadcasters a quick OTT build service

Ramesh Srinivasan

MUMBAI: Come September and Indian broadcasters will have easy access to a quick OTT build solution. Australian telco Telstra subsidiary Ooyala is all set to roll out its AppStudio at the IBC convention in Amsttersam from 8-13 September 2016.

Ooyala AppStudio, a press release from the company claims, mitigates the expensive custom development and integration costs typically associated with OTT market entry. An out-of-the-box solution, it ensures customers can deploy premium OTT experiences on time and on budget, with a simple, easy-to-use interface. As such, it does not require highly technical staff to build or manage services. Content providers can automate the build of OTT apps directly within the Ooyala AppStudio console for any device, supporting apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast as well as on iOS, Android and the web. No engineering is required, drastically reducing time-to-market as well as development and personnel-associated costs.

Developed in partnership with Massive Interactive, Ooyala AppStudio is a comprehensive solution for companies to deploy, manage, track, analyze and monetize all components of a cloud-based OTT service. It supports revenue models including subscription vide-oon-demand (SVOD), advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) or hybrid strategies. It also comes pre-integrated with a comprehensive set of best-in-breed technologies to ensure the experience is simple to use and seamless for the viewer, including:

● User registration, offer management, content scheduling as well as advanced user-interfaces (UIs) for device-tailored user experiences, powered by Massive Interactive’s technology, Massive HALO

● Video management and delivery, powered by Ooyala

● Content recommendation and personalization, powered by Ooyala Discovery

● Detailed analytics for video performance and audience engagement to help boost ad revenue or reduce subscriber churn, powered by Ooyala IQ

● Payment management, security and subscription billing, powered by Stripe

● Quality-of-experience (QoE) analytics, powered by Youbora from Nice People At Work

● Page-level behavior analytics in-app or on the web, powered by Google Analytics

● Support for any IAB VAST-compatible ad server including Ooyala Pulse

Ooyala AppStudio, the company says, has an elegant interface for making changes to content layout, promoting high-performing video, adjusting seasonal promotions and content schedules, and optimizing the user experience for higher engagement. Customers can quickly apply offers and calls to action within the app experience, easily linking in¬-app images to promotional content either within the app or on an external website. These changes and updates are applied automatically with no need to rebuild or recertify the apps.

“Media companies want to tap into the fast-growing opportunity OTT represents, but have been held back by slow pace and high cost of developing apps for the broad array of connected devices in the consumer market. Ooyala AppStudio changes that,” said Ooyala co-founder and senior vice president of roducts and olutions Belsasar Lepe. “There is tremendous growth in OTT demand particularly outside of the U.S., where broadband and 4G connectivity is improving, making offerings accessible to huge new audiences. For local content providers who want to hedge against larger OTT incumbents entering their market, Ooyala AppStudio is a perfect fit.”

Ooyala has provided OTT solutions to companies such as Star India and Viacom18 in the past in India. And last month Ooyala CEO Ramesh Srinivasan announced that it was setting up an R&D facility in Chennai. “Our new office here will be instrumental in expanding the company’s global presence, providing another local team to support our growing Asia-Pacific customer base, and helping accelerate the rapid pace of innovation within the company,” he had told local media.