JW Player Acquires Vualto

JW Player, a video software and data insights platform, is acquiring Vualto, a provider of live and on-demand video streaming and Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions. The acquisition, JW Player said, its “already robust offering to global broadcasters and further accelerates its vision to empower customers with independence and control in today’s Digital Video Economy by offering easy-to-use, scalable video technology.”

This acquisition arrives as the consumption of digital video continues its push to the mainstream. Video now accounts for over 80% of all traffic on the internet, and according to JW Player data, people are consuming over two hours of digital video each day, a 40% increase since the beginning of 2020. As a result, a digital video strategy has become a “must have,” not only for broadcasters and media companies, but also for organizations of all types, including for JW Player customers in fitness (Centr app), e-commerce (Tag Heuer), sports (Miami Heat) and e-learning (GoNoodle), among others.

These new entrants have a diverse range of needs and require a scalable and flexible video platform that allows them to connect and engage with their audiences on the screens of their choice. Given these dynamics, the addressable market will grow from $14B today to $50B by 2027, a 20% CAGR.

“Over the past two years, digital video has become ubiquitous. We now live in the Digital Video Economy, and as a platform company that empowers our customers with independence and control, JW Player is uniquely positioned to succeed in this environment,” said Dave Otten, CEO and co-founder of JW Player. “Joining forces with Vualto further solidifies our position. Their world-class technology stack expands our platform to include broadcast-level live streaming and content protection services, which are critical for today’s customers. We could not be more excited about this partnership and look forward to innovating together with the highly-talented Vualto team.”

JW Player’s platform combines highly-scalable video delivery with data insights from 2.7 billion unique monthly devices to help its customers achieve their business goals with video. Vualto complements JW Player’s offering with market-leading, high-end live streaming and DRM services for broadcasters. The combined result is a single platform for high-quality live and on-demand video delivery across mobile, web and OTT platforms; secure content delivery; and unique insights, intelligence and monetization features to help customers grow their revenue.

Camilla Young, CEO and co-founder, Vualto, said: “This is a huge growth opportunity for us as a business, as well as for our team. Our successful partnership with JW Player over the past year has given our teams the opportunity to successfully go-to-market under real-world circumstances. Through this, a natural culture match between our teams has already developed, which gives us incredible confidence that together we will be hugely successful. As we embark on this new chapter, our commitment to our existing broadcast customers and our DRM service remains, and we will continue to provide the same high level of support and service that our customers have come to expect from Vualto.”

Vualto will expand JW Player’s customer base with prominent customers in the European market and elsewhere, including ITV, the UK’s most popular commercial TV channel, French national public broadcaster France TV, and the European Parliament. These broadcasters join more than 12,000 media companies already using the JW Player platform, including media companies such as Fox, BBC, CNBC, EuroSport and Vice.