Visual Unity and PROVYS announce strategic partnership

OTT and multiscreen solutions provider Visual Unity will be joining forces with media software solutions provider PROVYS at IBC to show how the two companies are integrating Visual Unity’s next generation vuMedia over the top (OTT) platform with PROVYS’ advanced broadcast management and planning system.

Visual Unity’s vuMedia offers the ability to manage and monetise audio, video and image libraries – quickly and easily. This cloud-based service alleviates the need for businesses to build an expensive, in-house and resource-intensive media library by allowing content owners and distributors to publish content online. The platform also supports live streaming of 4K UHD, or high definition video. Graphics and other audio and visual material can be associated with files, for brand promotion or to generate advertisement revenue.

PROVYS’ software solution provides broadcasters with the mature and robust channel management and advertisement sales tools needed to increase productivity and gain strategic insight into business processes.

Integration of vuMedia with PROVYS is seamless. No additional inputs are required. Customers who choose PROVYS with vuMedia will have front-end access to their own catalogue, charts and metadata, as well as a video player with a smart URL, which will allow movies to be played on a variety of different devices. Other vumedia features include statistical analysis, advertisement injection and social network integration are also available, bringing the full power of OTT to a much wider audience.

TV schedules can also appear within vuMedia. The TV schedule can be composed of Live, VoD or Catch-up content. Visual Unity processes the titles based on the rights that belong to each particular content. Subscribers can easily access their content on any device, not only through a catalogue interface, but also through a TV schedule (program guide), which lists what will be broadcast and when. Furthermore, end users can access their favourite content even after it finishes, using multi-hour buffering. With vuMedia, subscribers can watch their entertainment on any device, anytime and anywhere.

Tomas Petru, CEO of Visual Unity, says: “This is a significant development for PROVYS’ customers as it offers a completely automated online video platform where content can be managed centrally, thus saving time, equipment cost and manpower. It will also increase business bandwidth by providing broadcasters with an easy and effective way to utilize all their content rights.”

The new solution is completely connected to Visual Unity’s content delivery Network (CDN) module, vuNet, with connectors to other worldwide CDN’s such as Akamai, Limelight, Level3, Du and MediaNova.

Josef Vasica, CEO of PROVYS comments, “We are delighted to present the results of our common development at our booth. Visual Unity brings years of OTT expertise and breath of services that complement our own.  This as a triple win situation for all: PROVYS, Visual, and our customers.  The combined best practices allow us to build even better products, services and overall solutions for our clients.”

Gabriel Dusil, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Strategy, adds: “This is an exciting joint project we have developed with PROVYS, and we see it as a major endorsement of our vuMedia OTT platform. Our joint offering is a solution that speaks to what is at the top of the broadcaster’s agenda – a Cloud-based service that allows them to maintain rights to their content, while providing flexible methods to monetize their titles onto multiple screens.”