iWorld
OTT: Blink Now taps Ooyala for video ads, live streaming & real-time analytics
MUMBAI: Ooyala, a global provider of video monetization technology and services, is powering the complete video business of Blink Now, a leading premium OTT provider in the Philippines. With Ooyala, Blink Now is maximizing its business potential across three separate OTT properties with a single provider, powering ad operations, video delivery, data-driven insights and live streaming to more than 180,000 users nationwide.
A US-based subsidiary of global telecommunications and IT services company Telstra, Ooyala’s comprehensive suite of offerings includes one of the world’s largest premium video platforms, a leading ad serving and programmatic platform and media logistics solution that improves video production workflows.
A part of SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc., SMLEI, the entertainment arm and subsidiary of the Philippines largest property developer, SM Prime Holdings, Blink Now is the OTT division focused on providing the best entertainment content and customer experience. The company required a sophisticated video technology provider with a powerful analytics solution to help them understand their audience’s habits across its subscription-based (SVOD), transaction-based (TVOD) and ad-supported video services (AVOD).
“Supporting multiple TV-monetization models demands rich data to guide decisions. Ooyala’s analytics ties our business decisions to our audience’s desires, giving us the confidence to know what we build is what they want most,” said SMLEI Assistant Vice President of Digital Media and Head, Francis Gerard R. Tupaz.
He added, “when considering our options in the market, Ooyala stood out as they are the only video solutions provider with a comprehensive set of modern-day technologies. Backed by a local team for support and services, Ooyala immediately solved multiple challenges from reliable live streaming, audience measurement, premium content delivery and holistic ad-campaign management.”
With Ooyala IQ, Blink Now has access to up-to-the minute analytics to see what content is trending at any given time, allowing them to feature well-performing content to attract even higher viewership. Real-time multi-dimensional reports gives Blink Now granular insights to track engagement over any period of time across all properties or even individual videos. The data helps ensure they are reinvesting in highly-profitable content for the business based on its audience’s’ viewing behaviors.
Using Ooyala Pulse, the customer can see how ad-loads affect drop-off and completion rates against varying content lengths. This allows them to tailor the right amount of ads to every piece of content to maximize monetisation without sacrificing user experience.
“Blink Now is great example of a modern entertainment customer in need of Integrated Video Platform solutions. With our technologies, they can grow in tandem with its audience’s appetite for video and with the industry,” said Ooyala General Manager of Asia-Pacific, Steve Davis. “And with our analytics, they now have the insights to see how audiences watch Hollywood titles versus globally-recognized TV episodes differently, what content is driving them the most money and how their audiences prefers to pay for and access content across devices.”
Ooyala will be highlighting its set Integrated Video Platform (IVP) solutions at NAB 2017 and APOS 2017. With a common data set to drive insights and inform strategies, IVP is the next generation of OVP, evolving well beyond online video platform capabilities to deliver sophisticated solutions to understand the costs and return-on-investment of video content.
iWorld
Banijay Asia’s The 50 tops OTT charts with 8.1 million JioHotstar views
Reality competition becomes most watched show on JioHotstar in debut week.
MUMBAI: Fifty contestants walked into a palace, but millions of viewers showed up for the drama. Reality competition The 50, produced by Banijay Asia, has emerged as the most watched show on JioHotstar, clocking 8.1 million views in its debut week. The figure, reported by Ormax Media, places the show at the top of the OTT viewership charts and marks a strong opening for the digital reality format.
Adapted from a popular French format, The 50 brings together 50 personalities from television, digital platforms, music and reality shows inside a grand palace setting. Over the course of a 50 day competition, participants form alliances, compete in unpredictable tasks and navigate eliminations as the field steadily narrows.
Guiding the game is a mysterious figure known as The Lion, an unseen game master whose voice introduces twists, challenges and strategic turns throughout the show, adding an extra layer of suspense to the contest.
What distinguishes The 50 from typical reality competitions is its audience driven prize structure. Instead of the winner taking home the final reward, the prize is awarded to one of the winner’s registered followers through the show’s dedicated app. The mechanism effectively turns viewers into participants, allowing fans to have a direct stake in the outcome.
The contestant lineup features a mix of television actors, reality stars and digital creators, including Karan Patel, Urvashi Dholakia, Divya Agarwal, Mr Faisu and Dushyant Kukreja, each bringing their own fan following to the show.
With its blend of celebrity personalities, strategic gameplay and interactive viewer participation, The 50 has quickly carved out a strong foothold in India’s digital entertainment landscape. Its 8.1 million views in the opening week underline the growing appetite for large scale reality formats designed specifically for OTT audiences.
