24i has announced a new partnership with Verizon Media, which has selected 24i's Smart OTT and Backstage solutions as part of the Verizon Media Platform for OTT and streaming services. Verizon Media discussed its selection of the 24i solutions in its blog on 18 November 2020.
Kjeld Beijer, product marketing and partnership at 24i, said: "As we all know, streaming is already a big business, and it’s growing fast. Digital TV Research estimates streaming to be a $167 billion market by 2025, more than double 2019 revenues. But as it grows in importance, it can grow in complexity, thanks to the requirement to support more devices and platforms than ever before. At 24i, we recognised that this growth in complexity would become an issue, but we thought it wasn’t inevitable. We aimed to follow a ‘build once, deploy everywhere’ philosophy to remove this complexity. Our Backstage content management system now achieves this through enabling publishers to create apps for all additional target devices without writing a single line of code. Backstage eliminates the need for device-specific engineers, reducing the time to launch on new platforms and devices, a significant OPEX benefit. This new partnership means that Backstage enables media organisation customers of the Verizon Media Platform to easily build and manage OTT apps that provide engaging experiences across all the most popular OTT devices, and do it at lightspeed. We are flattered that in its blog Verizon describes Backstage as: 'the SaaS hub of the OTT experience', but our involvement doesn’t end there. Verizon has also integrated 24i’s Smart OTT solution, which Verizon says is “taking the hassle out of delivering great user experiences.”
Smart OTT is a turnkey video application development platform that allows content owners and broadcasters to provide consumers with an intuitive and engaging user interface for enjoying live and on demand video content. The advanced cross-screen development framework and modular architecture of our Smart OTT solution gives customers of Verizon Media total confidence in delivering:
- Consistent user experience across all devices
- Flexibility to easily expand and customize functionality
- Integration with the Verizon Media Platform as well as with other members of the Verizon Media extensions program, such as Cleeng, which handles authentication, user management and entitlements, etc.
Beijer continued: "We’re very pleased that our Backstage and Smart OTT solutions have been selected by Verizon Media to provide critical functionality in its OTT and streaming platform. We are also looking forward to discussing very soon how the first Verizon Media Platform customers are using our solutions to win in the face of increased complexity and today’s hyper-competitive streaming market. Together, Verizon Media and 24i enable consumers to access exciting OTT apps and services to meet their passion for OTT entertainment. And, we do it whatever device they’re using and wherever they happen to be."
