iWorld
Ooyala offers Indian broadcasters a quick OTT build service
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.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
