Putting streaming services in the video driving seat

Backstage is our renowned content and application management system, but did you know it’s also the place to go to ingest video files, configure DRM, connect to a CDN and track the progress of your automated cloud transcodes? That’s because you can now control our cloud-based Smart Video solution directly from within Backstage.

Simplicity breeds efficiency

24i’s front-end products have always been built with flexibility in mind, allowing established broadcasters, pay TV operators and OTT services to enjoy the capabilities of our highly-configurable Smart Apps alongside their existing backend video infrastructure or those of our partners like Verizon Media and Comcast Technology Solutions. 

That’s still the case (and always will be), but the addition of Smart Video to the 24i product suite in recent years has helped our customers to smooth out some of the bumps and potholes that can delay the journey to streaming success as a result of one-off integrations between different vendor platforms. 

Putting you in control, code-free

Backstage gives streaming services code-free, instant control of their configuration of the front-end user experience. They can easily change their branding, logo, menu structure, application layout and content selection on multiple applications or just one, without needing to wait (or pay) for external support. Now Backstage provides Smart Video customers a similar level of control over their cloud-hosted video assets, helping them to fast-track their content preparation and update workflows. 

Here’s a look at some of the screens that allow you to configure your video sources and add DRM: 

On the output side, here’s how you can configure a choice of CDNs to distribute your assets:

And here’s where you can monitor, in real-time, the progress of your transcodes to the myriad of different video formats and bitrates required to support multiscreen OTT services on all the most popular consumer devices.

An end-to-end solution that grows with your business

We’ve found that many organizations, especially those just starting out on their OTT journey - or those who are shifting their streaming strategy up a gear - prefer to have a single point of contact for their whole infrastructure. Any questions or issues with their service will all be addressed to one vendor, whether there’s a feature to be added to a Smart TV application or a video file that’s failing to load on mobile phones. With an end-to-end solution, there’s no fear of buck-passing between the different vendors in your solution. In our recent whitepaper, Tales from the OTT Frontline, we heard from several streaming services that this end-to-end approach gave them peace of mind and enabled them to focus on their content strategy rather than managing technology vendors. 

Of course, we’re not the only end-to-end vendor out there, but many rival services are essentially designed for the needs of individual content creators. If you’re serious about your streaming ambitions, you’ll want a solution that’s been constructed from the start with the needs of top tier broadcasters and pay TV operators in mind. 24i’s larger customers won’t settle for anything less than full scalability and top quality support, so we have a dedicated account management team who act as the voice of each customer and advocate for their needs. 

Download our Smart Video Cloud solution brochure, and if you’d like to hear more about our end-to-end solutions, get in touch to book a demo.

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By Ramon Duivenvoorden, CCO at 24i