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HOW WENDY’S FRESH APPROACH TRAINED EMPLOYEES FASTER

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

BRIGHTCOVE HELPS STREAMLINE OPERATIONS, IMPROVE RESTAURANT SAFETY, AND CREATE INCLUSIVE CULTURE

What started in 1969 as a single hamburger restaurant in Columbus, Ohio has now transformed into one of the world’s largest franchise operations. Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, began franchising the restaurant in 1973, opening more than one thousand locations within the company’s first 100 months. Now, 95 percent of its restaurants are franchise-owned.

Effective, streamlined communications is critical to the successful training, aligning, and engaging of Wendy’s diverse workforce, which includes corporate staff, company-owned restaurant employees, and franchise teams. Today, the company uses Brightcove-powered video to drive its internal communications and training programs for all constituencies. By replacing written memos and hard copy learning material with video, Wendy’s is able to rapidly deliver secure, consistent, role-appropriate content and aligned messaging to all.

Also, using Brightcove to distribute Wendy’s training videos has played an important role in reducing the length of employee training time, which has subsequently helped facilitate more effective operations, improve restaurant safety, and create an inclusive company culture.

LIVE EVENT STREAMING & PORTALS CREATE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT

BEST PRACTICES FOR CORPORATE VIDEO STRATEGIES

GET THE PLAYBOOK

Wendy’s partners with Brightcove to deliver video on demand (VOD) through the organization’s intranet portal, “WeConnect.” The portal, accessible only to Wendy’s corporate employees and franchise owners, features video communications announcing news, updates, and vital corporate information. Chelci Fauss-Johnson, Wendy’s digital media senior specialist, says the company has become more involved in creating and distributing video content through the internal portal, simply because it works better than email or written memos. Plus, executive staff has grown increasingly enthusiastic about it, even requesting more frequent communications to the franchisees, including monthly quiz videos.

Our training videos promote safe behavior and help to reduce the risk of accidents in our workplace.

TIM WICKS-FRANK

LEAD LEARNING ARCHITECT

Wendy’s also makes use of live stream video through Brightcove Live, which delivers off-site viewers real-time video footage of officer and director meetings, employee meetings, general conventions, and the company’s annual Investor Day via the WeConnect portal. The latter event, hosted at Wendy’s corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, covers the organization’s fourth quarter and cumulative year results, attracting over 700 views across the company, primarily servicing those who can’t be on-site. Meanwhile, live stream video of Wendy’s general conventions, which have high physical attendance, garner over 500 off-site views.

To continue driving employee engagement across the Wendy’s organization, Fauss-Johnson says live stream footage is repurposed into VOD assets, which are then posted on the WeConnect portal. “Ninety-five percent of things we do are for our franchisees. That’s really what our main goal is, getting information out to them,” says Fauss-Johnson.

Live stream and VOD not only help boost Wendy’s employee engagement and enhance inclusiveness, but also save the company valuable operational expenses. Fauss-Johnson explains: “If we buy the streaming hours [through Brightcove], it’s more reasonable to go with a live stream versus an operator-assisted call and a WebEx. So, we’ve been using streaming a lot more in the past two years here than we ever have. We like to use video to get people more involved. And I think what we’ve done so far really helps.”

WENDY'S BRINGS EMPLOYEE TRAINING & RESTAURANT SAFETY TO LIFE THROUGH BRIGHTCOVE VIDEO

Wendy’s also uses video for training, education, and HR-related purposes. In fact, HR and operations teams have been heavily involved in creating short-form videos, typically three minutes long, that help explain new products, equipment management, and food preparation. So far, they’ve produced over 300 VOD assets, which are published to the WeConnect portal. These same videos are also uploaded to company’s learning management system (LMS).

As video has become an integral part of employees’ professional development, Wendy’s has seen tremendous results in the way of training and education. Teams from human resources and operations are requesting so much video that production has more than tripled.

“Videos are a great addition to our blended training approach,” says Tim Wicks-Frank, lead learning architect at Wendy’s. “The videos are playing a big part of our overall training program.”

Wendy’s instructional videos, which include pop-up quizzes and other interactive features, have had such a positive effect on employee learning retention, the company has decreased seat time in training courses. Employees are spending less time training and more time being productive in restaurants. Also, the Wendy’s training team has received positive feedback from restaurants regarding the use of training video. Employees have praised the training methodology for helping enhance safe work environments—a good thing for staff and customers alike.

“Our training videos promote safe behavior and help to reduce the risk of accidents in our workplace,” notes Wicks-Frank.

WENDY'S RELIES ON BRIGHTCOVE FOR SECURE VIDEO DISTRIBUTION TO EXTEND REACH

With Brightcove’s easy-to-use technology, streamlined functionalities, and fail-safe security, Wendy’s has pushed video communications front and center. Says Wicks-Frank, “It’s made it easy for us to distribute video for training purposes.”

Brightcove’s integrated file transcoding, in particular, has made content distribution a breeze. The Brightcove platform automatically formats multiple renditions of a single video file for multipoint distribution. This ensures Wendy’s can provide all audiences a great viewing experience on any device—desktop, mobile, or connected TV—regardless of connection speed.

“Not all our restaurants have equal network capabilities, so those multiple renditions are wonderful. Because of that, it’s enabled us to reach a much wider audience,” says Wicks-Frank.

Brightcove’s security capabilities are also critical, given the company’s sensitive information shared via video behind the Wendy’s firewall. Support for encrypted video and flawless streaming via the WeConnect private portal are just a few of the security features that give Wendy’s IT team peace of mind.

“It’s important to us that we distribute video in a secure fashion,” says Fauss-Johnson. “Brightcove helps support that requirement.”

Looking ahead, both Wicks-Frank and Fauss-Johnson expect to introduce more interactive video to Wendy’s communications repertoire, encouraging users to engage with video content directly on screen. They both agree this feature, along with additional Brightcove functionalities, will help them further maximize the power of video for Wendy’s.

HOW BAXTER CREDIT UNION SCALED VIDEO ACROSS DEPARTMENTS

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

Baxter Credit Union (BCU) is a not-for-profit, member-owned credit union dedicated to empowering people to discover financial freedom. “Our goal in a very crowded, commoditized space is to stand out because of how we make our members feel about their money matters,” says Jill Sammons, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Well-being & Wealth Advisory.

Serving over 350,000 members, BCU reaches all demographics from low-income rural families to high-income urban executives. But to give them the customer experience they deserve, they not only needed to make mobile banking better, they also needed to make financial education better.

BUILDING A VIDEO PROGRAM IN MARKETING

BCU’s video initiative began while Sammons was discussing the future of the marketing team with the CEO and EVP. Sammons recalls, “They said, ‘If you could add resources and tools to your department to prepare us better for the next five years, what would you do?’ And it just instinctively came to me: video.”

The next step was finding the right partner, which Sammons recalls they discovered through their web hosting platform, Sitecore. “We told them what we wanted to accomplish, and the more we discussed it, everything kept coming back to Brightcove. We’re not sorry we took their suggestion because Brightcove has been fantastic in so many ways.”

I can’t think of a better partner than Brightcove to help us achieve our goals better, faster, and cheaper.

JILL SAMMONS

SVP, MARKETING, WELL-BEING & WEALTH ADVISORY

To kickstart their video efforts, the first thing they needed to do was to identify the initial areas where video would have the biggest impact. They pinpointed two primary applications that felt like a logical fit.

  • Tutorials. As they were rolling out a new online banking platform, video became a valuable resource for guiding members through the transition. Both the marketing team and the members saw how it more effectively demonstrated common tasks like setting up an account, transferring money, and configuring account alerts.
  • Explainers. Most adults don’t wake up and decide to dig around for some financial education today. The key is to help them consume the educational content without them really realizing they’re doing it. As Sammons explains, “We wanted to put some friendly faces in front of the camera and have them explain money matters to people in an inviting way.”

One “game-changing feature” that saved BCU countless hours along the way is the ability to update video content without republishing or changing the original link. “There might be links in 50 different knowledge base articles or in new hire orientations our company partners use. It would be nearly impossible to republish a new link every time we needed to update a video,” says Sammons.

Similarly, making content changes without affecting member or customer experiences is equally important in an industry with constantly updated regulatory requirements. With a single embed code for a landing page, the web team can set it up once, and any subsequent video updates can be easily managed. This is especially useful if they’ve sent out an email with video content that needs to be quickly updated.

EXPANDING THE VIDEO PROGRAM TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS

While initially Brightcove was only used by the marketing department, they’ve since found other use cases throughout the organization that have created additional efficiencies.

For example, video has become a key part of driving engagement in the more than two million emails they send per year. “We’ll put a video thumbnail at the top of the email and a call-to-action button a couple sentences below,” Sammons notes. “More often than not, the video gets more engagement than the CTA, so we know that people would rather trust the person on the other end of that video conveying that message than read it themselves.”

The social media team, too, creates efficiencies using Brightcove to consolidate all the social tools they typically use to distribute content. Now they simply upload a single video and publish it to multiple platforms without having to sign in to each one. “It’s like a one-stop shop to send it out to all of the platforms we’ve integrated,” Sammons tells us.

BCU’s business development team and frontline staff especially appreciate sending out recorded meetings, presentations, and webinars without linking to a separate platform like YouTube. “It’s easy to generate a link and send that to members without the distraction of other videos that have nothing to do with us or finance,” Sammons notes.

Even Sammons saves both herself and board members valuable time while delivering more engaging presentations. “I present the status of our marketing efforts to our board of directors once or twice a year. It would probably take me an hour to go through slides and talk to them about the different achievements, initiatives, and results. But I can show them a 10-minute video and capture so much more.”

EXPLORING THE FUTURE FOR THE VIDEO PROGRAM

BCU has come a long way in their video efforts, but they’re just as excited about the potential it holds for the organization. Specifically, they’re looking forward to integrating interactive video data with unique viewer information in their marketing automation platform (MAP). Their goal is to have these efforts better personalize and automate member journeys.

They also plan on using analytics and insights to determine which content could create internal efficiencies that improve the customer experience. The right videos, for example, could reduce volume for the call center while empowering members to quickly resolve their issues. Sammons says, “If a video has strong engagement and an agent is getting 50 calls a day on the same topic, then we know to send them the video.”

Most importantly, BCU is excited to have the support they need. “I can’t think of a better partner than Brightcove to help us achieve our goals better, faster, and cheaper,” concluded Sammons. “We have a relationship, not a ‘vendor-ship.’ That’s how we know we have the right partner.”

HOW RUGBYPASS REVENUE JUMPED 300%

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

RugbyPass is the go-to digital network for everything rugby, including video, news, stats, and all- around rugby entertainment. The company’s four online brands—RugbyPass, RugbyDump, Rugby365, and Rugby Onslaught—are all tailored to meet the needs of rugby fanatics everywhere and feature AVOD content from over 40 producers around the world. To drive engagement among viewers and increase monetization, RugbyPass partnered with Brightcove to deliver high-quality video content to the company’s entire network of rugby related websites.

By implementing the Brightcove Player, RugbyPass has been able to provide audiences with top quality, broadcast-like viewing, which has since proven a huge revenue driver for the network. RugbyPass also uses Brightcove Social in their acquisition funnel, further driving customers to their sites. Since using Brightcove, RugbyPass has increased its revenue by almost 300 percent.

“Brightcove has been great for us,” says Kris Cooper, Global Business Development Manager for RugbyPass. “It’s helped us grow our business in terms of monetization and viewability of our content.”

“The general impact of Brightcove has been huge for us to help grow our business. We’ve actually seen revenue jump about threefold since we’ve started using Brightcove.”

KRIS COOPER

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT RUGBYPASS

Want to know more? Contact us to learn about boosting revenue from your sports rights or other content.

HOW HARNESS RACING VICTORIA GREW VIEWERSHIP 52% IN 6 MONTHS

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

HIGH STAKES GROWTH

52% Viewership Growth

TrotsVision, Harness Racing Victoria’s dedicated streaming platform, grew from 54,894 views in August 2021 to 83,292 views in January 2022.

250% Demographic Growth

TrotsVision helped Harness Racing Victoria grow its 18-35-year-old audience by 250%. That demographic now outpaces all other age segments for growth.

Across Victoria, Australia, 28 different clubs bring fans the fast-paced action sport of harness racing. Overseeing all of this is Harness Racing Victoria, which realized the sport was just scratching the surface of its amazing potential to attract and engage audiences. By partnering with Brightcove, the organization is using video to create new excitement, build more organizational efficiencies, and above all transform the way this sport is enjoyed by a growing base of eager fans.

HARNESS RACING WAS FALLING BEHIND

Despite all the fun and intensity associated with harness racing, its popularity has struggled across the world–not just in Australia. Why? The aging demographic is one big reason. Generally targeted to an older audience, the sport was not reaching younger cohorts in a meaningful way. This presented a big problem: if the fan base kept shrinking, that would have a serious ripple effect: There’d be less fans, which would mean less demand for racing, less demand for racing professionals, and even less demand for horses themselves. This could cause the entire harness racing experience to suffer with no way to remain relevant in a competitive racing wagering landscape.

But the communications and technology teams at Harness Racing Victoria refused to accept this status quo, and instead set in motion a plan to seize three big opportunities:

  1. Leverage the vast potential and popularity in wagering.
  2. Create higher visibility and engagement through a digital viewing experience.
  3. Connect with the sweet spot of younger demographics–the 18-35 year olds.

How could they achieve all of that? One word: video. “There was a real appetite for video content,” said Cody Winnell, Media and Communications General Manager for Harness Racing Victoria. “It showed us that we could actually change the way that harness racing is presented in Australia.”

VIDEO DELIVERS A MORE ENGAGING FAN EXPERIENCE

There was no other product in the market that came close to delivering everything we wanted in one solution. And that became evident pretty soon when I reached out to Brightcove.

DARREN SKILLEN

DIGITAL DEVELOPER

In 2018, Harness Racing Victoria launched TrotsVision, a streaming platform dedicated to harness racing. Initially set up as an “automated service” which limited the channel’s storytelling potential, the fuse had been lit and Harness Racing Victoria was on its way. Then Brightcove entered the picture, presenting Harness Racing Victoria with a robust platform that met every need with Brightcove Cloud Playout, Live, and Video Cloud.

For fans, the relaunched TrotsVision delivered a whole new experience. Viewers could now enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at the track, getting an inside view at all the action between races. What’s more, TrotsVision opened up a new perspective on the harness drivers, showing the “face behind the helmet” as the personalities of these colorful and witty drivers was allowed to shine through. The viewing experience would engage fans with versions of their favorite songs, have fun with famous movie and TV quotes, announce contests on social media, award prizes, and more.

TrotsVision became an always-on touchpoint for fans who wanted to experience the excitement of the sport beyond the race track. This digital extension was very attractive to younger audiences who also have higher expectations for on-demand viewing and entertainment from sport brands.

This improved experience helps drive substantial growth, according to Cody Winnell. “TrotsVision is growing the overall audience, bigger and bigger each month, and from that overall audience, some people will come and go from the track. That’s okay because the audience overall will continue to grow.”

Since partnering with Brightcove, TrotsVision has grown from 54,894 views in August 2021 to 83,292 views in January 2022. Furthermore, TrotsVision has helped Harness Racing Victoria grow its 18-35-year-old audience by 250%. That demographic is now outpacing all other age segments for growth, which is significant given Harness Racing Victoria’s overall audience grew by 76% over the same period.

Down the road, this audience growth can position TrotsVision as a revenue-driving hub that capitalizes on sports wagering and other monetization opportunities like advertising and sponsorships.

HARNESSING INTERNAL EFFICIENCIES

In addition to increasing viewership and engaging a younger demographic, Brightcove’s technology also helped Harness Racing Victoria gain tremendous organizational efficiencies. “The further I got into Brightcove, I realized that this was the one,” said Darren Skillen, Digital Developer at Harness Racing Victoria. “Brightcove gave us that solution where we could have everything in one place.”

That efficiency was clear with TrotsVision, which is powered by an internal video library that can be searched by horse or driver. This allows race officials–known as “stewards”–to evaluate individual races. This was a major change, because before this video library came along, the stewards would actually have to go into the office, pull something out of the archive, load it up, view it and then put it back. Not anymore. They now have about 18 months of replays available digitally, at the click of a button.

What’s more, Brightcove’s technology made it possible to use an API and attach race information to each of the replays. With that ability, Harness Racing Victoria could now create an online gallery of replays with a custom search functionality where anyone could search for a horse or a driver or any other particular trait. For both staff and fans, this brand-new efficiency was a major leap forward.

An integrated solution even boosted the organization’s social media channels. Previously, to get a clip of the race out on social media, the team would have to download a race video, send it to an editing program, choose the in and out points, export it, and post it maybe 90 minutes later. But with the help of Brightcove’s technology, they can simply clip the content live, post it, and have a highlight of something that actually just happened. For content-hungry audiences, nothing compares to this fresh and relevant material.

Whether it’s a race for horses or a race for viewers, the stakes are always high. Brightcove is glad to partner with Harness Racing Victoria and looks forward to all the ways that video will continue to stay in the lead.

HOW THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY MADE THE WORLD THEIR CONCERT HALL

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

A SNAPSHOT OF GLOBAL LIVESTREAM SUCCESS

As part of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s focus on sharing music through video experiences, they delivered a livestream performance powered by Brightcove during the 2019 international “Make Music Day Australia” celebrations.

46,000 people were reached by the livestream

15,669 unique views

75% overall play rate

18 countries viewed the performance, including the US, UK, and Canada

Formed in 1932, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australia’s premier orchestra, has a firm grasp on the 21st century with a deep commitment to livestream and on-demand performances.

TAKE A BOW, VIDEO

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has one mission: to share the magic of symphonic music as widely as possible. They want more people in more places to experience the wonder of orchestral music. What makes that possible? Video – the most robust and effective medium for arts and entertainment organizations. Not only does video add value for existing symphony patrons, it also brings in new audiences who might not be able to get to Sydney to attend a performance in person.

The SSO uses the power of video in several key ways:

  • As part of its regional outreach program, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra hosts live events with state libraries, schools, and conservatories.
  • Its international fans can watch video performances from the comfort of their home anywhere around the world.
  • The Sydney Symphony Orchestra also leverages their wealth of video content to market and sell tickets to live performances.

According to the Australian Council for the Arts, 3 in 4 Australians are engaging with culture online. Twenty-eight percent have discovered a new artist, performance, or work online, and 1 in 3 has paid for a digital entertainment experience.

Brightcove is built to work. It provided the speed to market which was vital to quickly delivering new video experiences to our audiences.

MEERA GOOLEY

HEAD OF DIGITAL MARKETING, SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

These stats are encouraging for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as well as every other arts, entertainment, and media organization. Audiences are waiting, they’re hungry for content, and a first-rate video experience will keep them coming back for more.

BRIGHTCOVE HELPS ORCHESTRATE SUCCESS

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sydney Symphony had been using the power of video to increase its audience base. So during the 2020 lockdown, the Sydney Symphony was ready to reach new audiences with a seamless transition to pre-recorded, on-demand digital concerts and productions all streamed through Brightcove.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra wanted a bespoke experience for their audiences – a 100% brand immersion before, during, and after the event. The orchestra insisted on a video partner who ensured business continuity, delivered a quality livestream performance, and offered the most exceptional sound quality possible.

With Brightcove Gallery® and Brightcove Live®, every performance met the highest standards of the organization while giving listeners and viewers a front-row seat. From the gentle whisper of a violin to the deep rumble of the timpani, every note and nuance was powered by Brightcove.

You might not find a lot of trained clarinet players at Brightcove. But when it comes to creating industry-leading video solutions for organizations like the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, we have what it takes to reach audiences far and wide.

HOW SONY MUSIC BROUGHT LIVE MUSIC TO 1 MILLION VIEWERS

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND PLATFORM

8 Weeks

Stagecrowd launched a short 8 weeks after emergency declaration

351 Performances

Streamed in the six months following launch

1 Million Viewers

Stagecrowd brought live music to 1 million viewers at the same time

For music fans everywhere, there’s nothing better than the joy of experiencing live music. In-person concerts are often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see an artist, feel the music, and connect with other fans. So when the Japanese government required live events to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sony Music Solutions created Stagecrowd, a first-of-its-kind online livestreaming platform.

“We launched Stagecrowd just two months after the initial state of emergency declaration in Japan. The rapid launch was part of our mission to keep fans and artists connected through live performances,” says Mr. Onodera, Chief Producer at Stagecrowd. “If Sony was going to enter the livestreaming business under its own name, it was absolutely necessary to guarantee superior service.”

With viewer numbers quickly skyrocketing for large-scale livestream events in Japan during the pandemic, scalability and reliability were critical. At the time, Sony Music Solutions was already using Brightcove to livestream artist fan club events, and the business knew it could trust the same broadcast-quality streaming technology for Stagecrowd.

“We have always had a great relationship with Brightcove, and their strong reputation for high-quality, large-scale delivery meant that we didn’t even consider any other options. The stability of Brightcove’s platform helped us to deliver high-quality livestreaming, right from the first Stagecrowd performance,” says Onodera. “I’m really glad that we chose Brightcove—both event organizers and viewers have given Stagecrowd’s livestreaming high praise for video and sound quality and overall stream stability.”

We were always nervous about large-scale livestreaming with more concurrent connections than we’ve ever had before. Brightcove has been instrumental in making it a success. We look forward to continuing to work closely with them.

MR. TANAKA

EXECUTIVE OFFICER, DIGITAL BUSINESS COMPANY, SONY MUSIC SOLUTIONS

One of the other keys to Stagecrowd’s success has been its ability to create highly entertaining, well-produced events that can deliver on a performer’s creative vision. “Livestreaming involves a lot of lighting and other original effects. We work with the Brightcove team to make any potential adjustments to ensure the best possible experience for our fans,” says Mr. Kasai, Sales and Marketing Manager at Stagecrowd.

By using Brightcove and avoiding technology-related streaming challenges, artists as well as their fans have come to quickly trust Stagecrowd’s high-quality video and sound production. “We have never encountered any problems with Brightcove, and actually, Brightcove is very helpful in investigating potential problems that may occur even outside of the Stagecrowd platform,” says Kasai.

The Stagecrowd team also takes advantage of Brightcove’s detailed analytics, such as total viewer fluctuations during a livestream, retention rates, and viewing devices. “We share this data with our management to help them optimize the streaming environment for all viewers. Being able to provide this data to the artists whose content we manage has also helped us build and solidify excellent relationships,” says Kasai.

Delivering legendary live performances by famous artists has allowed many more people to discover Stagecrowd as a destination for high-quality, live music. “Just like how others scroll for a movie or drama on Netflix, viewers can scroll to find a live show they want to see on Stagecrowd,” says Onodera. “On Stagecrowd, we offer paid livestreaming events to the public as well as exclusive streams to fan club members.”

In the first six months since its launch, Stagecrowd livestreamed 351 performances to millions of people during peak viewing times, generating substantial revenue for the business and earning a top-notch reputation among livestreaming services in Japan. And while Stagecrowd may have been created in reaction to the pandemic, it will continue to be a major sales driver for Sony Music Solutions well into the future.

“I think that paid streaming services are here to stay. In the post-pandemic world, they will become an alternative to real live performances. Especially for popular artists who sell out concert tickets instantly, the potential for ticket sales will be unlimited,” says Onodera.

“In the near future, we hope to offer livestreaming of international artist performances to Japan. Right now, it’s impossible for overseas artists to tour Asia, so we are working on Stagecrowd to deliver live performances in the region. In the future, we would like to further improve our streaming quality and expand our business capacity to deliver all levels of live performances with clear, stable video,” says Kasai.

With the benefit of Brightcove’s dependable livestreaming technology and first-rate customer support, the Stagecrowd brand will continue to cement Sony Music Solutions’ reputation as an international entertainment powerhouse. We’re proud to continue to support Stagecrowd’s flawless track record and help provide the best livestream performances for music fans around the world.

HOW MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING DRIVES ENGAGEMENT IN REAL TIME

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

In 2011, Major League Fishing (MLF) made professional fishing available to enthusiasts and casual viewers alike through linear programs on the Outdoor Channel. Since that time, they’ve grown into the largest tournament-fishing organization in the world, hosting over 250 events and engaging more than 30,000 participants each year.

From the outset, MLF had one mission: to present the sport of competitive professional bass fishing in a way that the viewing public had never seen. They aimed to position competitive fishing on a par with major sports organizations such as the NFL, MLB, PGA, NASCAR, and so on.

So MLF launched a series of events that brought together anglers from different leagues to compete in their cup tournaments. But there was still one thing missing—they didn’t have a league of their own. That’s when they reached out to Bass Pro Shops and other sponsors to discuss officially starting one.

EXPANDING TO DIGITAL LIVE STREAMS

To expand their league into digital, MLF brought in Jared Collett as Head of Digital Ad Operations. “We wanted to take what had been condensed to two hours and livestream it in a way that stayed true to the sport and the property,” Collett says.

Brightcove has been a really great partner with helping us find ways to reach more audiences and find new fans all across the globe.

JARED COLLETT

HEAD OF DIGITAL AD OPERATIONS

As MLF began their search for the right streaming partner, their list of needs kept getting longer and longer. They needed full technical support, HD streaming, monetization capabilities, detailed analytics, and most importantly, a track record in delivering stable live streams for 8–10 hours.

The end result was a 17-point checklist of requirements, which, after an extensive review, only two platforms met. “Of the two, only one of them had it all in one platform,” Collett recalls. “The other one was going to require us to use three different platforms just to be able to achieve what we wanted. So it was a very, very clear choice.”

ENHANCING LIVE STREAMS WITH ADS AND ANALYTICS

Among the monetization requirements MLF had was a partner capable of supporting live stream ad insertion with clickable overlays. It was important that their audience be able to interact with ads in the same way they would on a digital platform. The solution, dubbed the Big Red Button, allowed them to send specific markers through the live stream, signaling the system to fetch and insert digital ads.

Collett remarked that he wasn’t used to working with a partner willing to go the extra mile to solve his problems. “A lot of companies now will be like, ‘Hey, there’s an API. You can go build it yourself.’ But I have a pretty small team, and we don’t have the resources for that.”

Analytics also played an important role in the success of MLF’s live streams. With concurrent data, MLF can communicate the exact reach of sponsored segments broadcast during live events.

“We can give our sponsors real data as to how many people actually saw that clip that was run through the live stream. These real numbers have really helped us to bolster our properties,” notes Collett.

Beyond enhancing sponsor relations, concurrent data also helps MLF determine peak viewer times and make real-time adjustments to boost viewership.

EMPOWERING LIVE STREAM SUCCESS WITH TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Thanks to Brightcove’s reliable live streams, monetization capabilities, and business-driving analytics, Major League Fishing has grown from a humble, 2-hour linear program to a leader in sports streaming.

“The benefits that we have as a company, having Brightcove by our side, have been absolutely amazing,” said Collett. “There’s so much that we’ve been able to do with Brightcove.”

One of the key benefits MLF expressed is the support they receive from an engineering team that actively participates in developing various solutions. “Though Brightcove has a ton of great APIs, they recognize that my team can’t do that. So they help us with building out the API or building out a button that helps us do it, or something along those lines.”

With Brightcove by their side, Collett is optimistic about the future of MLF, particularly as they focus on audience growth.

“Brightcove has been a really great partner so far with helping us find ways to reach more audiences and find new fans all across the globe. So we’re really excited about what we can do with them going forward and how we can bring our product to new fans.”

HOW THE HOPE CHANNEL BROADENED THEIR GLOBAL COMMUNITY

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

Hope Channel is a global Christian television network broadcasting shows that promote a balanced, healthy lifestyle. The official television network of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Hope Channel began in 2003 with just one channel; as of March 2016, the network has 44.

ONLINE VIDEO ALLOWS HOPE CHANNEL TO CONNECT WITH GLOBAL AUDIENCES

Hope Channel credits its strong global presence to its strategic addition of affiliate channels that cater to specific regions. “Our growth has been phenomenal in terms of the number of affiliates we have added and their global reach,” states Fylvia Fowler Kline, Director of Marketing. “We are in 30 countries, and still growing. With each new affiliate, we reach new audiences with whom to share the message of our faith.” Online video helps Hope Channel make its content more widely available to its global audience.

Hope Channel is unique in that affiliates around the world create the majority of the content that drives the network. Programs reflect local cultures and are broadcast in regional languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, German, Romanian, Mandarin, Russian, Tamil, Hindi, Ukrainian, Arabic, Farsi, and Telugu. There is also a channel for the deaf.

As Hope Channel adds new global affiliates, distribution of local content becomes more complex. Satellite and terrestrial broadcast mediums limit viewers’ access and create barriers to growing global audiences by requiring multiple protocol support. Hope Channel’s flagship channel in the United States is on DirecTV. Some affiliates are available only on satellite, and some only through the internet. So, in 2011 Hope Channel began using online video to make it easier for people in all corners of the world to access, view, and share content.

AN ONLINE VIDEO PLATFORM SIMPLIFIES DISTRIBUTION AND ACCESS TO CONTENT

Video is the cornerstone of our new website. Our goal is to seamlessly integrate video into the web experience, making our content more discoverable and more watchable.

FYLVIA FOWLER KLINE

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, HOPE CHANNEL

Hope Channel began by offering all episodes of its flagship shows as video on demand (VOD) on its corporate website. Later this year, Hope Channel will launch a major upgrade to its web infrastructure and expand availability of VOD content to all regional programming. “Video is the cornerstone of our new website,” explains Kline. “Our goal is to seamlessly integrate video into the web experience, making our content more discoverable and more watchable.”

Hope Channel is using the Brightcove Video Cloud as its standard online platform to power its live broadcasts and VOD. “Our new web platform will have built-in integration with Brightcove,” states Justin Woods, Manager of Web Services for Hope Channel. “Our online video is vital because many of our viewers cannot access our signal via satellite or terrestrial broadcast. We provide a 24/7 simulcast of all our affiliate channels via the web. Now, anything on air also will have a VOD asset that people can go to directly,” adds Kline.

By integrating the experiences of live linear and video on demand, Hope Channel is making its content easier to find and easier to watch, driving people to consume more video and learn ways to change their life for the better. “In the past twelve months, we’ve had 3.6 million video views, and 96.7 million viewed minutes,” continues Woods. “The VOD library will help grow our audience by making it easier for viewers to share videos.”

EXPANDING ACCESS TO CONTENT IN A MULTI-SCREEN WORLD

With one third of its views of over-the-top content (OTT) on mobile devices, it is essential for Hope Channel to integrate video on multiple devices — in addition to desktop and laptop computers — so people around the world can access the content on any device they have.

Currently, Hope Channel’s content is available on Roku; but later this year, it will also be available on Apple TV, a new app for IOS, Samsung Smart TVs, and Android devices. “Adding devices helps Hope Channel reach more viewers, enabling people to watch our programs the way they want to watch,” states Woods. “Brightcove supports a range of platforms and devices, so our viewers can watch high-quality content anywhere, on practically any device, regardless of where the content was created.”

UNITING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY WITH REGIONAL CONTENT

Hope Channel manages the distribution of content through its corporate website; however, the content is created locally. “It’s important that the content itself is regional because the majority of people view the content within the context of their language and culture,” adds Kline.

In addition to ensuring a consistent user experience, the Brightcove platform enables Hope Channel to have a consistent look and feel for locally created content. Hope Channel is in the process of creating branded templates and a style guide for all the affiliates in the network. The corporate office also offers production workshops that safeguard production quality and create a branded feel among all 44 channels.

Hope Channel is working with Brightcove to make it easy for affiliates to implement the new platform. “Having all affiliates on the same platform will provide an incredibly streamlined process,” says Kline. “By just plugging into the platform, uploading videos, our affiliates will be able to seamlessly distribute content through our website. This will continue to be vital to our audience growth.”

A SINGLE PLATFORM WITH EXTENSIVE CAPABILITIES

Before selecting Brightcove, Hope Channel conducted an exhaustive review of all major online video platforms (OVPs). “Brightcove was the only way to go,” states Woods. “The Brightcove API was by far the most robust and usable. Its vast scale means that our videos are served reliably and quickly to the largest global audience. And the extensive Brightcove ecosystem helps us quickly and easily incorporate specialized capabilities from Brightcove partners, such as closed captioning for our non-hearing members.”

Woods adds, “Another huge benefit of Brightcove is the automatic transcoding of every video we upload to a standard multi-bitrate rendition set, which means we can guarantee consistent playback across all devices, for all videos. This is a huge time-saving for us, not having to manually manage a dozen renditions for every video, or perform the transcoding on our own hardware.”

Online video is helping Hope Channel increase its global presence by expanding access to content focused on faith, health, relationships and community. Video makes content easier to find, easier to view, and easier to share. It is content that can change a life.

HOW ACORN TV INCREASED SUBSCRIBERS 400% IN TWO YEARS

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

HIGH QUALITY NICHE CONTENT AND DIGITAL STREAMING MAKE A WINNING COMBINATION

Launched in 2011, Acorn TV offers high quality, carefully curated British mysteries and dramas to discerning viewers. As one of the first subscription streaming services targeting distinct, premium audiences, Acorn TV streams exclusive content series such as Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Foyle’s War, Doc Martin, and Midsomer Murders.

BACKGROUND

Known for specializing in the best of British television, Acorn Media Group has been distributing British mystery and drama television content to U.S. audiences for over 20 years through a wide range of media platforms, including broadcast, DVD/Blu-ray, and digital streaming. Through its SVOD service, Acorn TV, viewers can access almost 3,000 hours of programming, representing over 150 franchises. The streaming channel is one of three niche subscription video channels owned by RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE), a global entertainment content distribution company.

Acorn TV exceeded its target for new digital subscription customers, and is on pace to double revenue from its over-the-top TV (OTT) business by the end of the year. “People subscribe to Acorn TV because we offer specific content they are passionate about; and we can deliver it quickly on a myriad of devices,” states Titus Bicknell, Chief Digital Officer and EVP, Operations, RLJ Entertainment, Acorn TV’s parent company. “With OTT, you no longer have to be a big broadcaster to distribute content.”

In March 2016, Acorn TV revealed it had reached over 250,000 paid subscribers, a 100% increase in year-over-year subscribers. The niche streaming service, which Acorn TV had launched as an accompaniment to its traditional TV broadcasting, is now replacing broadcasting.

STREAMING CONTENT TRANSFORMS EXISTING AUDIENCES AND BRINGS IN NEW DEMOGRAPHICS

The speed, functionality, scalability of the video platform are critical to delivering the quality experience customers demand in an OTT service.

TITUS BICKNELL

CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER AND EVP, OPERATIONS, RLJ ENTERTAINMENT

“Over the years, viewers have come to Acorn TV because they are looking for specific content that only we offer,” states Bicknell. “There is a real emphasis on finding the content in its earliest possible U.S. window, and because we are that window, they come to us and they stay.”

The emphasis on accessing content more quickly is driving some of Acorn TV’s established audience, which fits an older demographic, to transition from traditional broadcast distribution to a digital streaming subscription. However, the major growth in Acorn TV’s audience is coming from a completely new segment, 18-25 year olds. “Our availability across a number of devices and platforms is enormously appealing to this younger demographic,” notes Bicknell. “This is a segment that literally views things differently; they have never had cable. In many cases, they may not even own a TV. Yet they are almost always watching multiple screens at the same time; it could be mobile device, a tablet, or a game console. The perception of the TV as a focal point in their lives is changing dramatically.”

The ability to stream to a variety of devices is enabling Acorn TV to attract this new demographic in significant numbers. As Bicknell observes, “This is the real frontier for digital streaming — not just changing the viewing habits of existing long-term customers, but establishing new viewing habits with new audiences.” To do this, Acorn TV delivers its digital content on Apple TV, iDevices, Roku devices, Samsung Smart TVs, and fixed and mobile web. “We’re in the business of reducing the friction between the desire for our content and the reality of delivering it in as many different ways as possible,” adds Bicknell. Making content available on multiple devices makes it possible for a wide range of audiences to embrace Acorn TV’s unique programming.

BUILDING A FLEXIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE

“One of the challenges of being in a niche market is that it’s very hard to determine the size of your addressable audience,” notes Bicknell. But, Acorn TV recognized the business potential of streaming digital content directly to viewers and developed an infrastructure that could grow to support hundreds of millions of video playbacks. “Digital has gone from niche to the most pervasive technology on the planet,” states Bicknell. “That has meant having to refresh the tech stack constantly.”

The initial challenge was managing the expense of new digital delivery technology until the business could support it. Acorn TV developed a technology strategy that allowed for flexibility, agility, and rapid implementation. “There has been a huge evolution in digital technology,” explains Bicknell. “That’s both the challenge and opportunity in the digital world. It’s very mutable.”

Acorn TV selected Brightcove as its online video platform (OVP) because its technology is scalable and reliable. “In my experience, the player is key,” states Bicknell. “The speed, functionality, scalability and flexibility of the player — and the video platform behind it — are critical to delivering the quality experience customers demand in an OTT service.” The Brightcove platform enables Acorn TV to easily and quickly add new devices to support the evolving preferences of its customers, which makes it possible for audiences to embrace Acorn TV’s offerings on an expanding number of devices, including Smart TVs, mobile devices, tablets, Fire TV, and Fire TV stick. The company is currently working on a Fire TV native app.

“At the end of the day, if you cannot deliver content to audiences on a complex and varied set of platforms, reliably and on a consistent basis, you don’t have a business. Brightcove has always been the most reliable provider of that core video service,” reports Bicknell.

OTT OPENS THE DOOR FOR MORE NICHE CHANNELS

Acorn TV and RLJ Entertainment see room for expansion in the niche content market. “With OTT, more people can create and distribute content. We’re seeing more channels pop up and attract audiences with very specific types of content,” continues Bicknell.

RLJ Entertainment currently utilizes the Brightcove platform to power two additional niche channels, UMC — Urban Movie Channel, showcasing quality urban content — and Acacia TV, a healthy-living/ lifestyle brand. The company also has rich content libraries that present the potential for additional stand-alone channels. As an added benefit, Bicknell notes the cost of OTT delivery is less expensive than producing DVDs or Blu-rays. As Acorn TV scales with OTT, margins improve and Acorn TV can invest in more content.

“There is great scalability in the platform and technology we built, and we believe there are more audiences for our niche content,” concludes Bicknell.