PHOENIX—Edgio has announced a strategic partnership with streaming technology providers Accedo, Bitmovin, Grabyo, and Vimond to provide a roadmap for M&E companies looking for a more simplified, more cost-efficient platform for delivering OTT video, providing them with the ability to quickly assemble and manage a streaming ecosystem that delivers high-quality linear, live or on-demand video. 

Edgio is leading the alliance as a Managed Service Provider, working with its partners to seamlessly integrate technologies across the entire streaming tech stack—from content production, personalization and distribution to user experience and monetization. This not only simplifies the intricate processes associated with delivering and managing streaming workflows, it also helps provide a frictionless entry into the market, the companies said. As Managed Service Provider, Edgio will provide a single point of contact for all support needs, regardless of vendor. 

"For media companies, piecing together an ecosystem like this on their own would be costly, time-consuming, and risky," said Eric Black, CTO and GM of Media for Edgio.  “By bringing together companies at the forefront of streaming and managing the entire process under one service partner, media companies can focus on creating innovative content versus navigating the complexities of a streaming workflow.”

The pre-integrated workflow provides increased flexibility for M&E companies to experiment with distribution and price point models, such as AVOD, SVOD, and FAST, to find the most profitable individualized offering for their specific audiences, Edgio said.

At launch, the partner ecosystem includes Accedo, which provides Video Application management, which includes custom templates and bespoke development for state-of-the-art UX that attracts and retains users. Accedo is pre-integrated with Vimond and Bitmovin to provide a seamless end-to-end solution.

Bitmovin’s Bitmovin Player guarantees flawless playback and viewing experiences across an extensive range of devices at speed and scale. Bitmovin Analytics ensures stream reliability by user session data and pinpointing any playback issues in real-time so they can be resolved before they impact the viewer. Bitmovin’s Analytics delivers real-time operational monitoring to optimize video and ad workflows based on viewer experiences across all platforms. Bitmovin Analytics also offers benchmarks across different performance metrics to gain industry insights.

Edgio’s Uplynk Platform empowers media companies to deliver the highest-quality streaming experiences to global audiences, while reducing time-to-market and driving operational scale. Its best-in-class components deliver exceptional viewing quality and reliability while maximizing monetization through advanced advertising. Uplynk, coupled with Edgio’s expert services, provides an exceptionally quick time-to-market and improves ROI. The Uplynk platform will be the foundation through which the OTT ecosystem is built upon using a mix of open standard video protocols and flexible APIs. 

Grabyo is a modern, cloud-native SaaS solution for live production, video clipping, real-time editing and distribution. The platform can scale from single operator digital streams to multi-camera productions with a larger remote team, combined with integrated live clipping, editing and publishing tools. With the recent introduction of SCTE-35 marker insertion, Grabyo’s cloud production users can now create ad breaks to monetize their live video across linear broadcast, FAST and OTT platforms. The platform supports live feeds from on-site cameras, audio sources, remote guests or mobile field kits, with ingest streams up to 50Mbps, 1080p/60FPS using leading video protocols including SRT, Zixi, RIST, RTMPs, HLS and RTP. Grabyo provides unlimited capacity for live video clipping and will sit in front of Uplynk, so customers can ingest video with Grabyo then publish to Uplynk where it’s distributed to end viewers.

Vimond’s CMS enables customers to provide contextual metadata to describe and curate content presented to users in apps and websites. With support across the workflow, from media ingest, asset management, metadata enrichment, to distribution, Vimond VIA provides customers with a flexible and user-friendly CMS to handle videos, freeing valuable resources to focus on winning new viewers and content strategy. Vimond’s VIA product will use Uplynk as its backend video management system by integrating with Uplynk APIs.

Each of the companies will be demonstrating their technologies this week at IBC2023, RAI Amsterdam, Sept. 15-18. Accedo: Hall 5, Stand F40; Bitmovin Hall 5, stand D72; Edgio, Hall 5 stand F18; Grabyo, Hall 5, Stand A20; Vimond, Hall 5, Stand H59.

SAINT-GRÉGOIRE, France—Aviwest has integrated its video contribution solution with the Grabyo cloud video production platform, the company announced.

The integration makes it possible for video professionals to produce live content from anywhere, regardless of unpredictable network conditions. The solution provides real-time, remote content production, the company said.

The Aviwest mobile transmitters, encoders and SST (Safe Stream Transport) link technology enable producers to create live content from anywhere. The company’s bonded cellular transmitters, including the Pro3 Series and Air Series, combine HEVC coding technology and 5G to help manage live remote productions, the company said.

The Grabyo platform provides rapid video clipping and editing, browser-based live production with frame-accurate stream synchronization, graphics overlays, a configurable mutliviewer, audio mixing and simultaneous multi-platform delivery, the company said. 

The SaaS platform is designed to help digital teams maximize resources without requiring any additional software or extensive training. It offers native integration with all major social media platforms, video players and third-party production tools, it said.

More information is available from Aviwest and Grabyo. 

NEW YORK & WATERLOO, Ontario—Dejero and Grabyo have announced a partnership that will integrate Dejero’s mobile transmitters and video transport technology with Grabyo’s cloud video platform to provide a new remote video production and distribution system. The collaboration enables production teams to deliver live content to multiple broadcast, digital and social platforms simultaneously, per the companies.

Among the Dejero products that are part of this integration are the EnGo 260 mobile transmitter and the LivePlus mobile application for iOS and Android. With Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology, which aggregates multiple networks into a single service for internet connection, these platforms can reliably transport video to Grabyo’s platform wirelessly.

Grabyo’s cloud-based platform is accessed only using a web browser. When video is transported into the Grabyo platform, users can produce, edit and distribute live streams and real-time video clips from varying locations.

“We’re excited to bring this joint solution to market and provide production teams with a more flexible and robust way of working,” comments Mike Kelley, president of Americas at Grabyo. “Our mission is to future-proof video production workflows by building tools that are more accessible and easier to use. By partnering with Dejero we are able to remove the limitations that come with fixed-location productions, and create new opportunities to deliver more quality live video to consumers.”

For more information, visit the websites for Grabyo and Dejero. 

NEW YORK—It’s not just the amount of time U.S. homes spend streaming that has seen a sizeable rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the money spent on streaming services, according to a new report from Grabyo that found monthly spending on streaming has risen by more than $1 billion.

This comes from Grabyo’s latest “At Home Video Trends—U.S. 2020” report on video consumption and purchasing habits, a follow up from a January survey to analyze the change caused by COVID.

Per Grabyo’s report, 89% of U.S. consumers currently pay for video services, with one-third of those video customers subscribing to at least one new streaming subscription since March. This resulted in the $1 billion increase in per month spending, which equates to more than 22% growth.

That may well be the norm moving forward, as 85% of video consumers told Grabyo that they intend to continue with the same number of video subscriptions even after social isolation restrictions are lifted in the U.S.

Online streaming services have a 72% market penetration in the U.S., up 13% from January 2020. Comparatively, pay-TV has a 56% market penetration.

A big reason for this streaming surge is the increase of consumers 50 and over joining the streaming world. Grabyo found that 65% of those aged 50-64 and 50% of 65 years and older are now paying for online streaming. Social isolation has led to closer alignment in video consumption habits between the older and younger age groups, says Grabyo.

Traditional pay-TV has also gotten a slight bump during these times. While 67% of customers say that they already have or intend to cut the cord in the next five years, the market share projection for pay-TV in the next five years has risen from 28% in January to 33% now, as current pay-TV subscribers see value in broadcast TV packages. However, this is an area that may change when social restrictions are lifted.

“With most of the U.S. population staying at home, consumers have had the chance to watch more TV, trial new streaming subscriptions and discover which services offer the most value,” said Gareth Capon, CEO at Grabyo. “Our findings show that online streaming has come out on top across all consumer segments and these changes in the market are here to stay.”

Additional findings from Grabyo’s report include an uptick in consumption of ad-funded video services (AVODs), while free-to-air linear TV audiences have decreased by 24%. Also, the number of consumers using social media to regularly watch video has increased to 75%.

Grabyo’s full “At Home Video Trends” report is available online. 

LOS ANGELES—The return of Major League Soccer is happening away from its fans, as the MLS is Back Tournament takes place in Orlando, Fla. To help connect with its fans during these strange times, the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is using Grabyo’s cloud video platform to produce and deliver live and real-time video content across digital channels.

Grabyo offers a browser-based video production platform, the Grabyo Producer, that enables LAFC’s digital team to deliver live broadcasts and real-time clips remotely. Operation can be managed by a skeleton crew to capture the content, while others work remotely on a laptop/PC with an internet connection.

With Grabyo, LAFC produces pre- and post-game live shows on social media. The shows are interactive, allowing fans to share opinions and comments for the show to discuss. In addition, the club is doing more player interviews and producing more behind the scenes content to its digital channels. Pre-game shows are also hosted on YouTube TV, and a live member tailgate is shown on the LAFC app. LAFC is expected to continue this type of programming beyond the MLS is Back Tournament and pandemic restrictions.

Beyond live video, LAFC also uses Grabyo to produce and deliver esports content through its LAFC Gaming arm. This includes live broadcasts to Twitch via Grabyo’s direct integration with the platform.

“At a time when we need to be more connected than ever, Grabyo has helped the club seamlessly transition from our home at Banc of California Stadium to the digital space that is now our reality,” said Christian Lau, chief technology officer, LAFC.

For more information, visit www.grabyo.com.  

HACKENSACK, N.J.—LiveU and Grabyo have announced a new partnership for the development of a joint system based on their integrated cloud-based technologies and designed to assist live productions.

The collaboration combines Grabyo’s cloud-native SaaS platform—which provides digital video production and publishing tools like editing, clipping and highlights—with LiveU’s broadcast-quality live video technology, including its HEVC field units, Solo wireless video encoder and LU Smart app.

The new integrated solution can be used with LiveU’s LU800 multicamera field unit and is designed to enable remote production and cloud-editing from any location.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for cloud-based solutions to be an integral part of any live production setup, and this partnership will equip producers with the tools they need to future-proof their video strategy and extend the scope of live broadcasting,” said Grabyo CEO Gareth Capon.

For more information, visit www.liveu.tv.  

NEW YORK—PBS NewsHour’s digital operations are now running with the help of Grabyo Studio and Producer platforms, according to a new press release.

The NewsHour digital team is now using Grabyo Studio to clip, edit and share videos across its online platform in real-time. Grabyo Producer, meanwhile will deliver live streams across digital channels.

PBS NewsHour has also begun using the Grabyo cloud video platform, which enables NewsHour producers to produce digital and social video from anywhere with a laptop and internet connection.

“Partnering with Grabyo has allowed us to deliver our trusted news programming to more people across the world,” said James Y. Williams, PBS NewsHour’s executive director of digital. “We aim to reach as broad an audience as possible and want our channels to be a go-to source for reliable news coverage. That means increasing access to content and speeding up publishing workflows without jeopardizing our reporting standards. Grabyo’s platform helps us do just that.”

For more information, visit www.grabyo.com.  

LONDON—Reuters and cloud-based video production specialist Grabyo have partnered to give broadcasters, news organizations and publishers that use the news agency’s Reuters Connect the ability to edit and publish live video in real-time, Grabyo said.

“With more and more of our customers around the world forced to work from home [due to COVID-19], Reuters is constantly seeking ways to help them adapt and face a new set of challenges,” said Nick Cohen, global head of product, Core News Services, Reuters. “Partnering with remote platforms such as Grabyo helps us to ensure our customers’ live news teams can continue their critical work without interruption.”

The deal makes it easier for distributed news teams, including those working from home, to publish and edit live video to various destinations. 

Under the agreement, Reuters Connect customers can access the Grabyo platform at a discount, giving them a cloud-based means to maintain coverage of live news remotely even when working from home during the COVID-19 epidemic, Grabyo said.

Reuters Connect users can access live broadcasts and review previous broadcasts of any event broadcast on the Reuters Connect platform via Grabyo. Users can localize content with their own graphics and branding for owned-and-operated platforms, making it easy to personalize news for digital channel delivery. 

Grabyo’s browser-based live editing tools also make it possible for users to create additional video packages from a live Reuters Connect broadcast, the company said.

The tools enable editing multiple assets, audio files and graphics, as well as automatically adding real-time captions via Grabyo’s speech recognition capabilities.

More information is available on the Grabyo and Reuters Connect websites.

LONDON—Traditional pay-TV services did not have the best 2019, and according to a new report from Grabyo, the next five years may not be that much better.

Grabyo’s “Value of Video Report 2020: The Consumer Strikes Back” report details that 74% of global video customers plans to stop paying for pay-TV services within the next five years. The report gathered data from 13,000 consumers in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, Japan and Australia.

Streaming in 2020 has already surpassed pay-TV adoption in terms of global penetration, per Grabyo (55% to 50%, respectively). And the biggest reason for the 26% of consumers who plan to, or already have, cut the cord is the price of services, with them finding streaming more affordable. Popular services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and others have some options that can range from $5-$15 per month.

As a result, many consumers are subscribing to multiple online streaming services, specifically 35% in the U.S. Up to 47% of U.S. consumers say they are willing to pay as much as $35 monthly for online video services.

While younger consumers have long been the main hub of the streaming base, Grabyo’s study found that older demographics are starting to take advantage of the multitude of streaming options as well. Since 2019, Grabyo reports, online video subscriptions have grown 63% among the 65+ age group.

“Broadcasters, rights holders and publishers need to cater to an audience that is moving away from traditional TV,” said Gareth Capon, Grabyo’s CEO. “Flexibility, access and price are important to consumers, which means delivering a multiplatform video strategy that reflects these needs. The transition to cloud services will support this shift, but these changes need to accelerate.”

Grabyo’s full report is available online. 

NEW YORK—With the ability to watch most sports live, sports fans are remaining loyal to pay-TV providers, according to Grabyo’s 2019 Sports Video Trends Report, but trends are forming that make the relationship seem a little tenuous should the market change.

Pay-TV broadcasters hold the rights to most valuable sports properties around the world, but that doesn’t mean that viewers are watching theme exclusively on their TVs. Glaybo found that 65% of sports fans watch games most often through their smartphones, while 53% do so on their laptop or desktop, a clear example of consumers’ shift to online streaming. TV sets are most regularly used by 40% of those surveyed.

While pay-TV holding the rights for many of these sports has slowed the rate of cord-cutting for sports fans (more than half still subscribe to a pay-TV service), different platforms are becoming more engaging for sports fans. Graybo says that nearly 25% of sports fans use social media platforms more often than pay-TV to watch video, including just under one in five that visit with the specific intent to watch video.

“Consumer expectations have changed. Sports fans are looking at other media services available across a range of devices and platforms and see more flexibility than is available in sports,” said Gareth Capon, Graybo CEO. “Digital distribution has grown across online platforms and social media, and consumers have flocked to these platforms. However, in today’s media rights market, linear broadcasters dominate and sports fans have no choice if they want to watch live sport. Our data suggests that the demand is there and if an online competitor—perhaps Amazon or YouTube—invest in a meaningful live offering, then consumers will welcome this with open arms and the shift to digital media in sports will accelerate.”

To download the full report, click here.

LAS VEGAS—A new addition to its slate of products that will be featured at Grabyo’s NAB Show booth includes its newly released advanced video editing tool, the Grabyo Editor,

Grabyo Editor is a browser-based unit for creating short video highlights and social videos. It features an intuitive interface that enables output and is inclusive of transitions, audio edits and titling without the need for specific hardware or software licenses. Other features include a suite of video tools for real-time clipping, live event production and video editing. It has support for square, vertical and horizontal video formats, audio replacement and sponsor integration.

Grabyo Editor will be featured at the company’s booth, SU2202.