As consumer viewing habits continue to move online, broadcasters and publishers like TVNZ are offering new on demand content services to feed hungry consumers of all ages. New Zealand’s leading free-to-air broadcaster recently launched their new Kiwi kids platform, HEIHEI to provide a digital home for New Zealand children to stream quality local content in a safe, ad-free space.
But launching and managing an on demand service can come with challenges. With growing content libraries, the challenge to shrink storage and delivery costs without sacrificing the viewing experience is one that content owners and publishers continue to face.
TVNZ has long leveraged Brightcove’s technology to provide a high quality viewing experience for its OnDemand content platform. And when launching its new kids platform the broadcaster looked to Brightcove again, this time implementing Brightcove’s new video compression technology, Context Aware Encoding (CAE). CAE was implemented to help alleviate the pressures of managing the content library available at launch as well as lay the groundwork for future cost savings and plans for HEIHEI, a platform that is not ad or subscription supported and therefore making this especially relevant.
Context Aware Encoding uses machine learning and deep video analysis to optimise encoding settings on a per-video basis. This results in an enhanced end user video experience, regardless of device type, network quality or geographic location, while simultaneously lowering overall bandwidth and storage costs for the content owner. Put simple, for TVNZ leveraging Context Aware Encoding means it can deliver a high-quality end-user video experiences while saving substantially on storage and delivery costs.
Customers around the world, including Young Hollywood, have already been enabled to save on operational costs associated with running a video-based business. During the company’s first few weeks of use, Young Hollywood, saw a 20 percent savings in storage and a 17 percent savings in bandwidth, while its OTT channel, Young Hollywood TV, realized a 23 percent savings in storage and a 35 percent saving in bandwidth. And as the first free-to-air broadcaster utilising the video compression technology in the ANZ region, TVNZ are looking to achieve similar benefits.
With its ambition to continue to grow HEIHEI in the years to come, Context Aware Encoding ensures TVNZ can expand its content library while keeping storage and delivery costs as low as possible — a big win. It’s also looking at rolling out Context Aware Encoding to its other on demand services in the months to come, pending results from HEIHEI.