NAB Show: 24i Advancements Expand Reach Of FAST & Linear Channels

24i, a video streaming user experience provider, today announced major enhancements to its 24i Mod Studio video streaming platform and its 24iQ personalization platform.

24i Broadcaster Studio is a new modular solution that has been added to the 24i Mod Studio portfolio to serve the needs of companies with linear or FAST channels. “It allows broadcasters and virtual broadcasters to open up new revenue streams, bringing their live and VOD catalogs direct-to-consumers (D2C) in their own apps to supplement distribution via external content aggregators,” the company says.

“The new solution includes everything channel owners require to go D2C,” from apps for a wide range of popular streaming devices with advertising support, to cloud-based video processing and content security, or the ability to integrate with their existing video backend. The user experience features full EPG, restart, and catch-up support, plus built-in personalization features including user profiles, watchlists and user-specific content recommendations such as More Like This, Because You Watched, Trending and Most Popular.

24i Broadcaster Studio is offered alongside the existing 24i OTT Studio solution, which focuses on the needs of SVOD and TVOD service providers.

At the same time, 24i has announced that 24iQ, the company’s data-driven personalization platform, is now available in three distinct tiers to meet the needs of companies at different stages in their streaming development.

24iQ Essentials is a new, productized package that makes “the most crucial personalization capabilities available as standard” with 24i’s solutions for OTT, broadcaster and pay TV customers. It is ideal for newer streaming services or those who are trying personalization for the first time.

24iQ Advanced is aimed at companies that want to engage more deeply with individual users. It includes all the features of 24iQ Essentials plus the ability to perform A/B testing of personalization and offer rails like People also watched.

24iQ Enterprise is the new name for 24i’s existing personalization offering that layers managed services on top of the 24iQ platform and can be integrated with any streaming infrastructure. It’s “ideal for established streaming services who want to make extensive use of machine learning to measure and drive user behaviors.” Customers who select 24iQ Enterprise can fully outsource their personalization to 24i’s experts, or may choose to get more involved, configuring their own data models in 24iQ’s self-service portal. This option enables streaming service providers to enjoy the power of 24iQ’s AI-powered personalization capabilities with their choice of streaming platform.

The productized 24iQ Essentials or 24iQ Advanced packages can be enhanced with modules from 24iQ Enterprise where required.

Dr. Neale Foster, 24i CEO, said: “Broadcasters are increasingly looking at streaming and FAST channels as a cost-effective way to monetize their latest content and their back catalogs. At the same time, virtual broadcasters who have got started in streaming with FAST channels are now seeking to move beyond third-party aggregation services and build their own relationships with consumers. 24i Broadcaster Studio is a modular, scalable and future-proof way for both groups to super-serve their audiences online on all popular video streaming devices.

“It’s also clear that personalization is now a must-have capability for streaming services. The new 24iQ tiers we have unveiled today make personalization more accessible to content providers of all shapes and sizes, so whatever your business model and wherever you are in your streaming journey, there’s now a 24iQ solution that will help your users to find and watch more of the content they love.”

24i will be featuring 24i Broadcaster Studio, 24i OTT Studio and the latest features of 24iQ at NAB Show (April 16-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center). Schedule a meeting with 24i here.