Switch turns on live linear OTT channels launch solution
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 22 August 2019

Online video technology provider Switch Media has launched VOD2Live, a solution that it says can enable broadcasters and content owners to launch custom dynamic live linear over-the-top channels in minutes.

Using a content owner’s existing library of VOD assets, VOD2Live creates a broadcast-equivalent channel with no need for playout software, live video encoding or to re-ingest the media. This says the company greatly simplifies video delivery workflows, lowers cost and reduces time to market, while providing personalisation of channels, including programming and ads based on viewer location, demographics or viewing behaviour.

Looking at potential use cases, Switch Media proposed that VOD2Live may be used to create quick and easy pop-up channels for content providers that want to temporarily feature a collection from their library on a linear channel. It also envisages the product being used to take advantage pf the investment of an existing live linear channel by broadening distribution to other markets. Both could be done without investing in additional playout software and live video encoding.

Switch Media also regards VOD2Live as ideally suited for pop-up channels where content owners can inexpensively test new offerings; regional, time-shifted and culturally targeted programming, with relevant audio and subtitle tracks; and personalised channels based on genre, viewer preferences or a feed from an existing recommendation engine.

“Our VOD2Live solution [enables] personalisation of the entire channel, including ads,” said Switch Media CTO Luke Durham. “It achieves this by taking assets from an existing VOD library and generates a linear channel from the data. There’s no additional complexity; it simply uses a set of metadata to generate the channel. VOD2Live allows customers to inexpensively test a linear channel in market with a very low cost of start-up...It’s...a simple yet dynamic product that provides broadcasters with a highly cost-efficient and technologically elegant way of generating live linear OTT channels in minutes.”