Bitcentral Acquires Powr.tv

Bitcentral Inc., the provider of media workflows for broadcast and digital video, has purchased direct-to-consumer video publishing solution maker Powr.tv. The Powr.tv end-to-end platform allows media networks and content owners to rapidly deploy OTT and mobile applications, broaden their reach to new audiences and increase their revenue.

Since its inception in 2016, Powr.tv’s OTT publishing platform has grown to more than 10 million cumulative installs worldwide and boasts a portfolio of over 200 apps that let customers increase audience reach across major app stores, including Apple, Google, Roku and Amazon. Powr.tv customers include BlazeTV, BroadwayOnDemand, Nosey and Studio71.

Bitcentral’s Streaming Media Group will integrate its Fuel platform with Powr.tv to provide a unified workflow designed to simplify video management, streaming and distribution. The combined solution features turnkey premium OTT application deployment, dynamic playlisting for VOD, live and linear content and support for advertising (AVOD), subscription (SVOD) and transactional (TVOD) business models.

Additional features include AI-based content and metadata ingestion, comprehensive distribution and syndication capabilities and dynamic rules-based automation.

Steve Petilli, Bitcentral CEO, said: “Media and Entertainment companies need a streaming platform that is flexible enough to support any business model, be easy to deploy, manage and maintain, and at the same time enable unique functionality for building and nurturing thriving content communities. The combination of Powr.tv and Fuel will provide all of these, making this the platform that media and entertainment companies have been waiting for.”

Akshay Arvapally, Powr.tv president, said: “Powr.tv and Bitcentral share a vision of providing streaming services with the tools they need to scale their business and build audiences using a data-driven approach. By becoming part of the Bitcentral family, we will be able to accelerate the delivery of this joint vision. The combination of Powr.tv and Fuel will offer a video platform so powerful yet easy to manage that media companies can concentrate on perfecting their content acquisition strategy and building their audiences.”

Discussing the acquisition, Greg Morrow, general manager of Bitcentral’s Streaming Media Group, said: “The Powr.tv team has built an incredible product and we are excited to develop the future of digital video alongside them. Together, we can deliver unique solutions, including real-time Live Chat, Watch Party functionality, ML-generated dynamic channels, and real-time graphics and transitions. The combination of Fuel and Powr.tv will provide a powerful growth engine for all our OTT customers.”

Funds managed by Virgo Investment Group, an investor in Bitcentral since 2019, provided additional financial investment to support the acquisition. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.