M+E Connections

MESA members Eluvio, Signiant and Verimatrix all used an online webcast on Sept. 7 to tout their latest innovations ahead of IBC2023, which kicks off in Amsterdam on Sept. 15.

Streaming Media’s IBC Innovations Preview highlighted some of the cutting-edge solutions, topics and trends that IBC attendees will be talking about in Amsterdam.

As FAST adoption in North America growth tails off from 2020, it appears ready to  now take off in Europe. Also expected to play a key role at IBC is generative artificial intelligence (AI) but it remains to be seen where that technology will fit into the world of streaming, from workflows to financing. It also remains to been what challenges facing the industry will be resolved.

Eluvio

Michelle Munson, CEO and co-founder of Eluvio, discussed the benefits of using the Eluvio Content Fabric for owner-controlled storage, distribution and monetisation of FAST Channels, personalised ad insertion and live video at scale.

Also on the agenda was how the Eluvio Content Fabric enables significant cost savings, new opportunities for direct engagement with consumers, and transformation of digital supply chains – all without using expensive third-party cloud storage, transcoding, online video platforms (OVPs) or content delivery network (CDN) providers.

Munson also explored use case models for free-and-ad-supported, transactionally owned and subscription content with cost efficiency.

“At IBC, we’re going to be focusing on our core platform here at Eluvio, the Content Fabric for premium streaming applications,” she told viewers. At the annual event, “we’re going to be focusing on the Fabric as it applies to premium streaming applications, which are, abundant across the core of the industry,” she noted.

Signiant

At IBC, Signiant is looking to stress that it’s more than just fast file transfers. The company plans to highlight several new Signiant Platform innovations that it says will make media content flow easier and more efficiently, beyond fast file transfer.

Jon Finegold, Signiant CMO, shared with viewers how his company helps media companies of all sizes.

Additions to the Signiant Platform he demonstrated included new support for cloud-to-cloud operations and growing files functionality, and expanded Media Engine functionality, including on-demand play, clip generation and Adobe Premiere panel integration.

“I can’t believe it’s already here,” Finegold said of IBC, noting his company will be in Hall 5, Stand C74. He predicted it “will be a busy and exciting show.”

Moving on to discuss trends his company is seeing across the industry, he said: “Signiant does have a pretty unique lens into this because we work with so many different companies of all sizes all over the world, all throughout the global media supply chain. So the data set that we have to sort of look at some of these trends is pretty significant. But what we’re seeing, and I don’t think this is new, but it’s certainly been exacerbated over the last few years is a pretty chaotic state.”

Noting there are over 200 streaming services, he told viewers: “I suspect that number has even grown, but there’s 200 in our ecosystem and that just continues to rise…. [Also], we’re still dealing with distributed teams, and I think that’s going to be the state of play for a while.”

Verimatrix

Sofia Regojo, Verimatrix chief revenue officer, discussed the latest innovations from her company, including its fusion of cybersecurity and anti-piracy technologies to provide never-before-seen security solutions that it said will empower its customers to secure premium video content and fight evolving cyber/piracy threats in the age of bring-your-own-devices (BYOD).

She pointed to two innovative deployments: one with IT firm Telus and the other with Beacon/Amlogic. Both solutions provide robust, studio-grade protection across devices while enabling new monetisation models, according to the company.

Verimatrix and Telus are teaming up to tout first-of-its kind piracy protections for the next generation of Telus’ Optik TV platform utilising Verimatrix Streamkeeper.

The new Verimatrix Counterspy integration with Beacon and Amlogic extends premium set-top box security to BYODs, while uniquely protecting credentials across connected consumer devices, according to Verimatrix.

Also on the agenda was the Verimatrix XTD Web Protect, a new product that the company said helps customers proactively identify and mitigate website vulnerabilities.

“We have been developing, for the past four or five years, a cybersecurity solution which we brought from a company that actually acquired us four years ago,” Regojo said. “What we are doing is we’re bridging the world of what we call the pure cybersecurity … to the content and streaming world,” she noted.

She went on to say: “The world is completely changing…. With the evolution of what’s going on, of the streaming solutions, we see a big growth in technology being available on the apps of our customers, either it being in mobile devices or it being on websites. This is an area that we know very well from the … traditional cybersecurity world.”