AWS announces Amazon Interactive Video Service
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Editor
| 16 July 2020
Claiming to now be able to allow customers the ability to add live and interactive video in their mobile and web applications in minutes, Amazon Web Services has announced the general availability of Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS).

AWS logo 13Oct2019Explaining why it has developed the new technology, Amazon said that online audiences were increasingly turning to mobile and web applications for live video across sports, entertainment, education and work. It noted that viewers required higher-resolution content and smooth video playback without buffering or delays no matter where they are or what device or application they are using.

AWS added that viewers have also come to expect more interactivity in live streaming, so they can engage with those experiences as events unfold. Yet it also noted that setting up the infrastructure to keep pace with consumer demand for live video is complex, time consuming, and expensive and that currently it takes customers months to build interactive applications with video workflows for content ingestion, processing, and distribution, and with the need to configure transcoders for adaptive-bitrate-formatted streaming to support multiple types of devices, select the appropriate streaming protocols, set up the content delivery networks (CDNs), and integrate video players.

The new fully managed service uses the same technology that powers the Twitch live streaming service, which racked up nearly 10 billion hours of video watched in 2019, giving customers live content with latency that can be less than three seconds, AWS says this compares very well with the 20-30 second latencies common with other online streaming video services.

Amazon IVS customers can configure and stream live video through their own website or mobile application, with scalable delivery that supports millions of concurrent viewers globally. Through Amazon IVS SDK and APIs, customers can build interactive features into their live streams like virtual chat spaces, votes and polls, moderated question and answer sessions, and synchronised promotional elements.

"Customers have been asking to use Twitch's video streaming technology on their own platforms for a range of use cases like education, retail, sports, fitness, and more,” commented Martin Hess, GM, Amazon IVS. “Now with Amazon IVS, customers can leverage the same innovative technology that has taken Twitch over a decade to build and refine. Any developer can build an interactive live streaming experience into their own application without having to manage the underlying video infrastructure.”

There are no additional charges or upfront commitments required to use Amazon IVS, and customers pay only for video input to Amazon IVS and video output delivered to viewers.