ITV

Tag: SaaS technology

  • Amagi acquires OTT recommendation & automation specialist Argoid AI

    Amagi acquires OTT recommendation & automation specialist Argoid AI

    MUMBAI: This is an Indian tech company which has been winning rave views in every market in which it operates. In fact, in most places it is  mistaken for an American firm. Now, Amagi – one of the top companies globally in  cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TVs (CTVs) – is  gearing up to add some more  trophies to its already well-stacked award gallery. The company has acquired Argoid AI – a company specialising in recommendation engines and programming automation for OTT platforms.

    Amagi believes the acquisition strengthens its mission to empower media companies with intelligent content planning, distribution, and monetisation solutions.

    Argoid AI has as developed innovative AI products that enhance content recommendations and enable real-time programming decisions. Its solutions have been pivotal in increasing viewer engagement and optimising channel operations for customers in the streaming media space. By integrating Argoid AI’s advanced algorithms into Amagi’s existing platform, the  acquisition will significantly boost the functionality of Amagi’s product suite, Amagi Now and Cloudport’s offerings, enabling media companies to make faster, smarter, and personalised content scheduling decisions at scale.

    It will also allow Amagi to deepen its AI-powered content programming, metadata enrichment, and recommendation engine services, which are crucial for transforming to personalised streaming as part of the  FAST 2.0 innovation.

    Argoid's founders

    “Amagi has been investing in AI/ML over the last couple of years. We strongly believe in AI/ML’s pivotal role in transforming the media and entertainment industry, creating efficiencies, enhanced monetisation, and a superlative viewer experience,” said Amagi co-founder & CEO  Baskar Subramanian. “With this acquisition, Amagi will integrate Argoid’s AI components into its award-winning cloud solutions, significantly enhancing value for our customers. The combined tech expertise of both companies will address key challenges in the streaming industry, such as content discoverability, viewer retention, and intelligent programming.”  

    Argoid’s founders, Gokul Muralidharan, Soundararajan Velu, and Chackaravarthy E will join the Amagi team, contributing to the future roadmap and further integrating AI into Amagi’s offerings. The three founders have one commonality: they all worked at the Walmart-owned Flipkart in Bengaluru around the same time.

    “We are thrilled to join forces with Amagi, a true leader in media technology,” said Gokul Muralidharan. “This partnership allows us to scale our AI-driven solutions, delivering even greater customer value. Together, we will revolutionise how content is programmed and distributed in the digital era.”

    Amagi provides a complete suite of channel creation, distribution, and monetisation solutions. The company’s clients include some of the world’s biggest names, including Hearst Networks UK, ABS-CBN, Astro, Cox Media Group, DAZN, Globo, Lionsgate Studio, NBCUniversal, Tastemade, and VIZIO.
     

  • Amagi records over 100% revenue growth (YoY) for Q1 FY23

    Amagi records over 100% revenue growth (YoY) for Q1 FY23

    Mumbai: Amagi, a cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV, has reported a revenue increase of more than 100 per cent year on year in Q1 FY23.The company mentioned that the global surge in demand for connected TV devices, as well as the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) viewing experience, fueled it. Amagi’s growth accelerated in Q1 FY23, fueled by increased customer acquisition, ad impressions, and employee headcount investment.

    The company said, “The company’s strong all-around performance is a result of impressive traction for its innovative streaming TV solutions. As the rise of CTV and FAST streaming channels alter the TV landscape with FAST penetration among households having more than doubled year over year in 2021.”

    Amagi has kept shifting viewership patterns at the forefront of its innovations, reducing the cost of broadcast workflow and fostering the growth of the FAST phenomenon.

    Amagi has the most extensive FAST TV platform partnerships worldwide, allowing content owners and advertisers to reach new audiences through expanded distribution.

    The company has added new clients, including Cox Media Group and Banjiay Rights. Also, Amagi has expanded its growing global operations and entered new regions — most recently, South Korea and Australia.

    The company has seen increased demand for its products in the United States, resulting in a significant increase in US sales. Amagi has invested in sales, account management, and customer support teams to better serve customers in these regions, adding more than 50 employees to its workforce in the United States alone.

    Amagi recently hired industry veterans James Smith as EVP of Global Ads Sales and Programmatic, Daniel Marshall as EVP of Global SaaS sales, Marco Di Giacomo as chief marketing officer, and Prasad Menon as chief people officer.

    Amagi Live, the company’s premium live orchestration platform, has been updated, allowing content owners to orchestrate broadcast-quality live events on the go.

    Amagi Planner, its content planning and scheduling platform, now has new automation and AI-driven personalization capabilities.

    Amagi CEO and co-founder Baskar Subramanian said, “Amagi’s strong performance this quarter reflects our ability to stay ahead of the technological curve, enabling our customers to capture viewer attention and grow their audience in this ever-evolving market.”

    He further said, “With CTV and FAST clearly becoming the future for the streaming industry, Amagi will continue to build cutting-edge solutions to harness this rising consumer demand and power growth opportunities for content owners, advertisers, and streamers throughout the TV ecosystem.”

    Amagi offers a comprehensive suite of solutions for content creation, distribution, and monetization, and is a pioneer in enabling content distribution to free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platforms worldwide.

    Amagi currently has over 50 premium brand platform partners, including The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, VIZIO, LG Channels, Tubi, TCL, Sling TV, Rakuten TV, and others.

    In addition, the company has a cutting-edge cloud broadcast operations centre that can support 1,000+ live linear channels. Amagi clients include content and media companies like ABS-CBN, A+E Networks UK, beIN Sports, CuriosityStream, Discovery Networks, Fox Networks, Fremantle, Gusto TV, NBCUniversal, Tastemade, Tegna, USA Today, Vice Media, and Warner Media, among others.

  • Synamedia acquires live video streaming specialist Quortex to accelerate its SaaS offerings

    Synamedia acquires live video streaming specialist Quortex to accelerate its SaaS offerings

    Mumbai: An independent video software provider Synamedia on Tuesday announced the acquisition of the privately-held provider of a leading cloud video delivery platform Quortex, optimised for just-in-time processing of live video streaming.

    With this acquisition, Synamedia will enhance its cloud video network capabilities, complementing its vivid workflow as-a-service (WaaS) with a set of innovative solutions for OTT content processing, disaster recovery, long tail content processing for large service providers and live events.

    Using a patented,  pay-as-you-stream model, Quortex’s just-in-time technology provides exactly the resources required at any given time. If no one is watching a channel, it simply frees up those resources. This methodology provides time to market and considerable cost advantages over existing cloud approaches while ensuring that every deployed resource has a purpose. For example, for long tail content, Quortex’s technology reduces cloud costs up to 67 per cent.

    Quortex’s multi-tenant software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology builds video streams on-the-fly, based on the end users’ requirements and matched to viewers’ locations, devices and time zones. It adapts to unpredictable networks, infrastructure and audiences, and automatically scales cloud resources up and down, leveraging spot instances that take advantage of spare cloud capacity at a fraction of the typical cost, while maintaining the quality of experience. The service is designed for any live streaming provider including telcos, cable operators, direct-to-consumer (D2C) players, and broadcasters.

    As a founding member of Greening of Streaming, and as energy costs spiral and organisations commit to cutting CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, Quortex is well positioned to play an important role in sustainability strategies.

    Synamedia EVP and general manager of video network Julien Signes said, “By pioneering just-in-time video streaming processing and delivery, Quortex has broken new ground with live services that dynamically spring to life when processing a user request. This radical change in the economics of cloud processing will accelerate the migration of live video services to the cloud. We see enormous potential as we expand Quortex’s reach globally – for the fast-growing D2C (direct-to-consumer) live streaming market as well as our traditional service provider customer base who want to reduce infrastructure costs and meet their CO2 reduction commitments.”

    An independent analyst and advisor Ben Keen commented, “True innovation often derives from a dismantling of legacy approaches to a problem and Quortex has brought some timely fresh thinking to video streaming technology. Reversing the traditional ‘push’ architecture, the Quortex team has come up with a potentially more efficient scalable ‘pull’ process that uses bandwidth only when it is required. The addition of this true SaaS proposition to the portfolio should allow Synamedia to offer live streaming services to a far broader range of increasingly cost-sensitive and environmentally-aware customers.”

    Quortex CEO and founder Marc Baillavoine said, “With our breakthrough just-in-time approach, we have turned the live streaming model on its head, ditching the need to wastefully provision streaming resources just-in-case. We believe that with Synamedia’s global reach and complementary product lines, we can accelerate our mission to transform the agility and cost of streaming and slash its carbon footprint.”

    Quortex was founded in Rennes (France) in 2018 by a team of video industry experts with more than 100 patents. Customers include beIN Group Media, M6 and Red Bee Media. The company’s employees in France and the UK will be joining Synamedia.  

    Quortex has been supported since its inception by Elaia, Go Capital, Unexo and business angels. Its technology will be part of Synamedia’s video network portfolio, and the company will continue to operate under its own brand while taking advantage of Synamedia’s customer base, financial strength and global presence.