IBC 2024: Harmonic Drives innovation with new capabilities for its VOS solutions; VOS360 Ad SaaS validated by FreeWheel
Harmonic has announced new features for the company’s VOS family at IBC 2024, enabling simpler video streaming and broadcast delivery, increased monetisation and elevated viewer engagement. The latest innovations include a new AI speech-to-text capability for caption creation on VOS360 Media SaaS, state-of-the-art server-guided ad insertion (SGAI) technology on VOS360 Ad SaaS, and JPEG-XS live source support and tiered storage for Origin applications on VOS Media Software.
“We are raising the bar of excellence with new enhancements to our VOS family of software and SaaS solutions,” said Gil Rudge, senior vice president, products and Americas sales, video business at Harmonic. “Whether deployed on-premises within a data center or in the public cloud as a SaaS, the latest evolution of the VOS family is at the forefront of innovation, driving efficiency and unlocking new revenue opportunities for video streaming and broadcast delivery.”
VOS360 Media SaaS Innovations
The new AI-based speech-to-text capability on VOS360 Media SaaS enables video service providers to automatically generate captions and subtitles from existing audio tracks. VOS360 Media also translates the captions and subtitles into any language for linear channels and live events, helping video service providers expand their global reach and elevate viewer engagement.
VOS360 Ad SaaS Advancements
Harmonic is enhancing monetization opportunities for publishers (service providers and broadcasters) through SGAI support on VOS360 Ad SaaS. SGAI balances personalized ad experiences with efficient resource usage, centralizing ad control to enhance performance, reduce latency and support CDN caching for efficient manifest delivery. VOS360 Ad also offers a new reporting dashboard, enabling customers to monitor the real-time performance of the ad insertion to maximize yield.
VOS Media Software Enhancements
Harmonic’s VOS Media Software is enhanced with JPEG-XS live source ingest support for applications such as live sports that require high-quality contribution feeds while benefiting from the cost efficiencies of IP networks. In addition, VOS Media Software features new IT-friendly storage for origin and video streaming applications, including VOD and catch-up TV, offering storage capacity of up to several tens of petabytes.
VOS Media Software is a validated cloud-native network function (CNF) on Red Hat OpenShift, allowing media companies and service providers to deploy video streaming and broadcast workflows with outstanding reliability, simplified operations and added security. The software is easy to deploy and scale utilizing pre-defined starter packages optimized for specific customer requirements.
VOS360 Ad SaaS Validated by FreeWheel
VOS 360 Ad SaaS has been officially integrated with FreeWheel’s platform for server-side ad insertion (SSAI) and in-stream advertising. This incorporation ensures reliable performance within the ecosystem of FreeWheel, the global technology platform for the advertising industry, exposing streaming platforms and broadcasters to enhanced, dynamic ad experiences across live and on-demand video streams.
“Achieving technical validation for VOS360 Ad SaaS within the FreeWheel ecosystem underscores the robustness of Harmonic’s technology and represents a significant milestone for the video streaming industry,” says Gil Rudge, senior vice president, products and Americas sales, video business at Harmonic. “This integration will enable publishers to offer more personalized and engaging ad experiences, contributing to greater viewer satisfaction and supporting revenue growth.”
Harmonic’s VOS360 Ad is an innovative cloud-native, stand-alone SSAI solution that enables personalized full-screen and in-stream ad delivery to millions of concurrent viewers. VOS360 Ad includes in-stream advertising through server-side insertion of new addressable ad formats such as double-box and dynamic L-bars. In-stream advertising with split-screen ad formats is particularly crucial in the context of live sports streaming, where maintaining viewer engagement is paramount. Featuring a user-friendly interface and developer-ready APIs, the industry-proven solution provides a complete workflow for creative processing, delivery and manifest manipulation with frame-accurate insertion. A key highlight of the solution is its ad reporting dashboard, which provides KPI metrics to easily understand the health of the system, monitor fill rates and maximize yield.