MediaKind is a global change leader in media technology and services. Its mission is to deliver transformation by building a continuously better media universe alongside its customers and partners.
Drawing on a pioneering industry heritage and fuelled by innovation, MediaKind embraces and champions new standards, methodologies, and next-generation, immersive live and on-demand media experiences worldwide.
Its end-to-end media solutions portfolio includes Emmy award-winning video compression for contribution and direct-to-consumer video service distribution, advertising and content personalisation, high-efficiency cloud DVR, and TV and video delivery platforms.
MediaKind is at the forefront of media delivery, experience and monetisation technology and has a track record in successfully delivering crucial live, global sporting events including a number of world’s firsts for the Media and Entertainment industry…
Enabling SFR’s streaming coverage of the UEFA Champions League
MediaKind’s Video Storage & Processing Platform (VSPP) provides a software-defined service that responds to the need for delivering compelling premium services. The highly robust and scalable platform enables service providers, broadcasters, and content owners to evolve their infrastructure and deliver consistent and simple user experiences across multiple devices and resolutions, using the best media processing for every application.
MediaKind VSPP can scale and provide stable, high-quality live coverage to audiences in the millions. In August 2020, Altice France’s SFR, France’s second-largest telecoms operator with over 25 million customers, deployed MediaKind’s VSPP solution to deliver premium live OTT streaming of the closing stages of the 2019/2020 UEFA Champions League competition. The final on August 23 played out to over one million concurrent viewers, SFR’s highest ever live streaming audience.
The deployment included MediaKind monitoring services, enabling SFR and MediaKind’s experts to access the VSPP platform remotely, perform proactive observation of performance and identify and mitigate potential areas of risk to the output. SFR continues to deploy VSPP to enable its streaming coverage of this season’s competition.
Delivering the world’s first multi-channel 6K tiled 360-degree live stream
MediaKind’s Cygnus 360º Events solution enables the delivery of live 360-degree video to multiple devices. This contribution solution provides a cloud-based workflow for live 360-degree video processing and multiplatform publishing, enabling content owners, distributors, and rights owners of live sports and esports events to deliver more compelling and differentiated services.
The solution was deployed in December 2018 to deliver the world’s first multi-channel 6K tiled 360-degree live stream. MediaKind managed, coordinated and processed the live streams of a basketball match in Germany between Telekom Basket Bonn and EWE Baskets Oldenburg, which were delivered to consumers of Deutsche Telekom’s commercial Magenta VR service via a consumer app. MediaKind developed the 360-degree live encoding workflow, incorporating Tiledmedia’s ClearVR viewport-adaptive streaming technology, all deployed in Google Cloud Platform. The world-first live stream later won the 2019 NAB Technology Innovation award.
Enabling 4K HDR video streaming over 5G
In 2018, MediaKind also collaborated with Ericsson, FOX Sports, Fox Innovation Lab, Ericsson, Intel, and AT&T successfully demonstrating how 5G technology could be used to stream live 4K HDR video feeds for broadcast during the 118th U.S. Open Championship. This innovative trial represented the first live broadcast to use 5G technology from a premier U.S. golf event, enabling FOX Sports to take advantage of a true 5G live test environment for 4K images and streaming of video over multiple platforms.
As part of the demonstration, MediaKind provided two separate live feeds utilising its end-to-end UHD contribution solution to enable the 4K transmission. Two FOX Sports cameras were positioned on the par-3 seventh hole at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, transmitting live video to the FOX Sports production truck and to viewers across the United States.
MediaKind analyses the direct-to-consumer (DTC) sports rights-holders market
In December 2020, MediaKind unveiled its 2021 Sports D2C Forecast, the most significant analysis ever undertaken of the DTC OTT platforms owned and operated directly by sports rights-holders and properties. The report explored a wide range of trends in the OTT D2C sports space, including the use of live content, fan engagement and monetisation.
The research showed while most of the 40 rights-holders analysed defined their DTC platform as complementary to broadcast coverage, most now see it as an essential part of their future distribution strategy for live sport and building direct touchpoints with fans. Almost three-quarters of the rights -holders analysed offered some form of DTC service to their fans through subscription packages, utilising one or more of six entry points.
MediaKind’s findings also revealed a 50-50 split between rights-holders. Half used their D2C service purely as a supplementary content hub, focusing on delivering high-quality video. The other half concentrated on making full use of OTT’s interactive possibilities, embedding fan engagement features into their services. In terms of distribution, 58% of the rights holders analysed had a standalone DTC web domain, with the remaining 42% providing DTC services via a sub-domain of their main website. Just over a third of the total rights-holders offer their DTC service through a standalone mobile app.
To read the Sports D2C Forecast report in full please visit: https://www.mediakind.com/insights/2021-sports-d2c-forecast/