Zype has added a new global region for our Playout service and improvements to our streaming analytics that can provide insights for smarter programming decisions.

Faster Streaming for Global Viewers with European Union Playout Service Availability

Zype has released a Playout service enhancement this month that allows customers to create Playout channels that originate from different geographic regions, starting with the European Union. This means that audiences in the EU will enjoy fast stream start times, and publishers will have a regional data lake for data compliance and segmentation purposes. 

When customers encode video with Zype and have EU-enabled services, they can now synchronize content into the Zype EU Cloud Zone for fast stream start times and low latency for all viewers in the region. There are no additional charges to store content with Zype in the Zype EU Cloud Zone - as we don’t ever charge for storage. This new optimization is being made first for linear Playout content but will soon be made available for VOD and other formats. 

With the new EU region, teams can now scale regionally focused channels independently of each other. For example, channels running in Europe can leverage different advertising campaigns than those based in North America while maintaining the same underlying content. Zype’s EU Region Playout service also complies with regulatory data and consumer protection laws set forth from the European Union. 

Program Smarter Using Interval Views on Stream Hours Analytics 

Zype now supports granular time interview views on stream hours reports so publishers can make better informed programming decisions. Stream hour data can be viewed in increments as small as 15-minutes to pinpoint when viewers are streaming most. Stream hour views are available by daily, hourly, 30 minute, or 15 minute increments:

The new reporting capability allows insights on the breakdown of viewer consumption by time slice, to help identify peak periods and make content and user experience decisions. For example, below you can see midnight was the highest trafficked stream hours time: 

You can learn more about time interval views on stream hours reports here and review our API documentation here.

As this year comes to a close, we're celebrating all of our teams product wins from 2020, and we're excited to continue to announce new features and improvements in 2021.

Zype Releases Playout Enhancement for Faster Stream Start Times for EU Viewers and Improved Streaming Analytics for Smarter Programming

A few lines of code to a ready-to-watch video player and stream

Developers can use the Zype Video API to upload video files to the Zype platform, transcode them, and receive back a fully integrated video player and ready-to-watch HLS stream to integrate into websites and applications in just a few lines of code.

In this example, we will show how to upload a file via multipart HTTP POST request, along with additional video metadata.  Zype will automatically transcode the video as soon as the upload completes. We will then show how to get back a fully integrated video player that is ready to embed, as well as a ready-to-watch video stream.

NOTE:  This example is written in ruby and leverages the ‘httpparty` and `json` ruby gems.  Any language is supported that can speak http.

First, you will need a Zype account. If you don’t have one please request one here. You'll need to retrieve your Upload API Key and Player API Keys from the platform from the API Key Settings section.

3. Retrieve your VideoID (from the Upload API call response) 

Now that you’ve uploaded the file, you can start using the unique Video ID

You can do a lot with the video file outside the scope of this article. Learn more in our Dev Center.

 4. Retrieve a Video Player to embed  or a Streaming URL 

For the player_response, you’ll get back a video player that is ready to embed into your website. It will look something like this:

"https://player.zype.com/embed/5de9664fe6ab785e13bc882a.html?api_key=9d376352-1f60-42e3-9f4e-6ffd12fb72eb"

You can also embed using JavaScript, or have the video automatically show up in your OTT or mobile app endpoints.

For playing directly using your own player infrastructure, use the streaming URL. This will be a fully functional HLS Manifest URL  that is ready to attach to any video player on any device. It will look like this:

https://player.zype.com/manifest/5de964dbb2540e5e22945970?api_key=9d376352-1f60-42e3-9f4e-6ffd12fb72eb

This will render a well-formed HLS Manifest that looks something like this:

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=1239040,RESOLUTION=1128x480,CODECS="avc1.4d001f,mp4a.40.2"

https://manifest.zype.com/eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwOi8vdnNtLnp5cGUuY29tLzU2ODJiMGJiNjk3MDJkMmEwYjAwMDAwMC81ZGU5NjRkYmIyNTQwZTVlMjI5NDU5NzAvNWRlOTY0ZGNiMjU0MGU1ZTIyOTQ1OTcxLzVkYzllNjAwZGExNjMxZTMzMGIwOTI1Mi8yYzdkMjQyNS1hYTM5LTRkMjAtYjM5NS03M2YwODljMTQxMjIubTN1OCIsInBhcmFtcyI6eyI2cExLTVEzeSI6IlNxaTNOZzkwIn0sImV4cCI6MTU3NTU5MTU3NX0.XHxjbH_UT5NBQ538sOInKUTptZoVXvLhYVFsRgDeZ48

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=2793472,RESOLUTION=1692x720,CODECS="avc1.4d001f,mp4a.40.2"

https://manifest.zype.com/eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwOi8vdnNtLnp5cGUuY29tLzU2ODJiMGJiNjk3MDJkMmEwYjAwMDAwMC81ZGU5NjRkYmIyNTQwZTVlMjI5NDU5NzAvNWRlOTY0ZGNiMjU0MGU1ZTIyOTQ1OTcxLzVkYzllNjVhZGExNjMxZTMwODZmNTJkNC9hZTA1NjViNi1jODE4LTRhMjctYTNiZS04NjczMWRjZGE3ODcubTN1OCIsInBhcmFtcyI6eyI2cExLTVEzeSI6IlNxaTNOZzkwIn0sImV4cCI6MTU3NTU5MTU3NX0.PT2917E26tIn4KO3J0NucujQn8RPQMHknWU-A-G1teg

Introduction to the Zype Video API

DIY solutions seem like a great way to grow your video business. You can be fully independent and own your content at the same time, what's not to love? Well, it’s an idea that seems a lot better than it actually is.

A do-it-yourself OTT solution is a complicated process of creation, development, and business strategy that can quickly become very expensive and time consuming — especially for those who are new to video businesses and video platforms. Let’s take a look at what goes into a DIY OTT solution.

Smaller libraries are easier to manage and organize, but as your content grows, your system needs to keep up. Keeping track of different file versions for different platforms, like mobile, web, or set-top devices becomes more and more difficult as you continue to add to your library. Also, if your platform restricts certain monetization policies, you are now looking at separate systems to manage your AVOD vs. SVOD vs. TVOD content (at Zype, we handle all three, including hybrid models. Click here to learn more).

Application Development, Administration and Maintenance

There’s a lot that goes into developing and maintaining your video business. Maintenance becomes your responsibility. Every time your hosting platform or streaming destination endpoint updates their platform and software, you will need to make sure your apps are still compatible. Eventually, custom systems become too complicated for everyone to understand, and only the system administrator can do this.

With a DIY solution, it is your responsibility to make sure your videos are viewable on all of your endpoints. Streaming quality, internet connection, and bandwidth are all important factors to consider when evaluating a streaming service. Also, delivering to multiple platforms only makes it more complex when accounting for the viewer’s internet connection, device of choice, mobility and localized infrastructure in other regions. Also, you must make sure that your content is encodable so everything is up to the viewer’s internet speed.

Discoverability is also another area where a DIY solution adds an extra layer of stress. You need to create, manage and present your metadata in a way where you can reach your desired amount of viewers. Metadata, information that describes the key characteristics of the video, like the title, author, actors, description, etc, is so important because it allows for your content to show up in search engines and app stores. You also need to consider indexing, so that someone visiting your website can find your videos.

Digital Rights Management is a crucial aspect of content licensing that designates legal regulations around geographic availability, but it can also get extremely complicated. There are a bunch of third-party vendors who do this for you, but you need to make sure that their solutions are compatible with yours. If DRM is not properly implemented, there are very serious potential legal consequences.

A DIY OTT solution seriously distracts you and your team from the main reason why your customers flock to your OTT service — your content. It’s challenging and extremely difficult for one person, or a small team to accomplish; it involves third parties, coordination and discipline. Keeping track of all the moving parts while managing multiple vendor bills and paying higher rates for each usage component means the cost of doing business can get extremely high.

There are better solutions. Request a demo from Zype right here.

Why You Should Hesitate About a DIY OTT Solution

A DIY OTT Solution Sounds Great, But Should Make You Hesitate — Here's Why

Video-centric publishers, broadcasters, and enterprises typically have an outsized focus on content programming and distribution decisions: “ What content am I publishing, where am I publishing it, and how many viewers can I reach? ”

While these decisions are incredibly important to focus on, a challenge that may not always be top of mind is thinking about the Content Management Lifecycle, with a specific eye towards digital asset preservation.

How do you make sure the video content you own and manage digitally is secure, highly available, and will be formatted and distributed in the right protocols as new distribution opportunities emerge?

A snapshot of the contemporary Content Management Lifecycle:

In this diagram you can see what a sample content import, storage, transcoding, delivery, and publishing/distribution lifecycle might look like for video enterprises.

Increasingly important is ensuring your video content storage and management solution ensures support for both the present and the future.

Evaluating digital asset preservation needs:

Video enterprises should evaluate format portability, security, availability, and redundancy as important factors in their content management lifecycle. This way you can ensure your evergreen content will not only be distributed efficiently today, but available for future distribution opportunities as well!

Interested in learning more about Zype? Check out zype.com/request-demo/

Thinking About the Content Management Lifecycle

By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017 ( Cisco)

More video content is uploaded in 30 days than the major U.S. television networks have created in 30 years ( Invisia)

According to Forbes, 90% of customers say video helps them make buying decisions and 64% of customers say that seeing a video makes them more likely to buy.

Whether you’re B2B or B2C, selling to enterprises or consumers, one thing is clear: digital video is here to stay.

How does your organization take advantage of this growing trend and own the monetization, distribution, and management of your expanding digital video strategy?

It all starts with taking back control of your video infrastructure. If you’re relying on Youtube or other simplistic, one- or two-dimensional video platforms, your opportunities are limited.

You need infrastructure that can expand as quickly as the business team can ink deals.

So, what are the core components of a modern digital video infrastructure?

Origin/Source - Location of digital video content

Video Content Management System (VCMS) - Manage metadata, organization, and distribution of your digital video

Content Delivery Network (CDN) - a CDN is a system of distributed servers (networks) that deliver video and other content as quickly as possible to end-users and consumers

Encoding Pipeline - A video encoding (sometimes called “transcoding”) pipeline comprises of systems, hardware or software that compresses and optimizes digital video for distribution.

Clients/Players - A client or player is a software application that allows your viewers to actually watch your video content.

Now let’s dive deeper into each of these.

A video origin or source is where a video file is stored by an organization. For small companies, this might only be Youtube. For larger organizations, they often have custom-built or SaaS solutions to store and manage all of their video content.

Highly scalable - Enough to handle a large volume of origin requests.  This is particularly true for live streaming events

Multi-regional -   Localizing an origin as close to the majority of the users that consume the content as possible.

Efficiently Optimized for Costs - All cloud providers charge fees for data leaving their networks.  As such, optimising efficiency in terms of cost, between origin and CDNs, is paramount to maintaining a healthy margin.

Located Near CDN - An origin and CDN should be close to each other.  In terms of geographic proximity to each other, this reduces latency and overall quality of service for content distribution. We’ll talk more about this in a moment.

A video encoding (sometimes called “transcoding”) pipeline comprises of systems, hardware or software that compresses and optimizes digital video for distribution.  It is an essential piece of video preparation and delivery that ensures proper formatting for end-user experiences. For example, it is a best practice to ensure that video is encoding into various bitrates so that users on varying qualities of connection can watch without interruption.

Encoding pipelines should have the ability to:

Encode content using widely supported industry standard codecs

Encode to different bitrates and formats to support streaming to viewers with varying quality of connection and bandwidth

Encode to multiple file formats for delivery to multiple end players and/or download use cases

Encrypt content for digital rights management

Detect  and preserve advertising signaling metadata so that ads can be stitched in later on advertising breaks

Before your videos can be streamed, you need to ensure metadata has been set and is available to end viewers to provide sufficient context when showcasing your content. Beyond this, you need to be able to organize your content, whether that’s on your site, an OTT channel, or an MRSS feed to your partners.

Video content management systems should feature the ability to edit:

According to Akamai, a  CDN is “a highly-distributed platform of servers optimized to deliver content including web applications and streaming media. This network of servers is dispersed across many physical and network locations, in order to respond directly to end user requests for web content and fast, secure media delivery. It acts as an intermediary between a content server, also known as the origin, and its end users or clients.

Without a CDN, content origin servers must respond to every single end user request. This results in significant traffic to the origin and subsequent load, thereby increasing the chances for origin failure if the traffic spikes are exceedingly high or if the load is persistent.”

CDNs are typically priced in a way that allows for high-scale so organizations do not have to incur prohibitive network and computing costs to deliver content to end-users at scale. The goal of a CDN is to provide end-users with the same quality viewing experience regardless of where they are in the world.

Global - Make sure your CDN partner(s) can deliver high-quality video playback to where your users are with as many edge nodes geographically near your consumer base as possible.

Able to Optimize for Different Types of Content - A CDN should have different options for types of content like VOD, progressive media, and live streams along with a high cache hit ratio

Scalable - As your audience and overall success grows, your CDN partner(s) should be able to expand service alongside your organization.

A client or player is a software application that allows your viewers to actually watch your video content.

Every web-based video client or player should support:

The latest video codecs for both audio and video

Support adaptive bitrate playback for different bandwidth scenarios

Casting to Chromecast and , Apple Airplay, etc

Multiple language closed captioning and subtitles

An Open Javascript API framework so clients can manipulate the player surface for their own implementations

Advertising support through industry standard VAST tags

Supported across multiple devices and/or browsers; HTML5 web player as a standard for desktop and mobile web, as well as native applications for playback on mobile and OTT/Connected TV apps and marketplaces

Video players are constantly evolving and changing, and a video player on a closed-system like Apple TV is a completely different animal than an open HTML5 browser optimized for desktop browsing.  Managing the variety of players in the wild can become daunting once a publisher moves beyond their website. Dynamic Player Technology (DPT) allows teams to scale their video without investing in various video players based on the end-point.

 Deciding How to Build the Core Components of Your Digital Video Infrastructure 

When it comes to expanding your digital video infrastructure to distribute your content anywhere and anytime, there is one critical question...how? Do you piece together your CDN, utilize AWS’ suite of media-specific products, and develop your own analytics? Do you utilize video SaaS providers like Zype to facilitate the entire management, distribution, and monetization of your digital video? Or, do you utilize a hybrid model where you might bring your own CDN but rely on SaaS providers for specific pieces?

However you decide to build your core digital video infrastructure, having the power to control your future without huge investments is critical to the ever-evolving digital video landscape.

Want to dive even deeper into these core components? Download Zype's Digital Video Infrastructure: The Complete Guide to learn more.

The 5 Core Components of Every Digital Video Infrastructure

Today we conclude our series on the core tenets for VidOps success — the approach that breaks down silos and provides a framework of shared responsibilities, visibility, collaboration and workflows to uncover the value from premium video.

The VidOps Framework outlines ways that teams can build better video products by aligning business stakeholders and objectives and practicing collaborative workflows.

During our series, we’ve covered a lot of ground, and we hope you are well on your way to adopting new best practices for delivering awesome video products.

Here is a quick review of what we’ve already covered:

Asses Current Video Delivery Processes, Teams, Tools and Infrastructure

Create a unified and measurable matrix of requests, requirements, and goals around video initiatives

Collaboratively Build Target Audience Personas

Map short and long-term objectives and audience personas to the video distribution landscape

Establish a system-of-record for content, video subscriber and audience-data management

Establish streamlined workflows based on collaboration and visibility

Think security, reliability, scalability, and governance — build from a solid foundation

This brings us to the ninth and final tenet of the VidOps framework:

Tenet 9: Test early, launch, measure performance, and iterate

Defining success for your video product is relatively simple. Irrespective of genre or target audience, all content providers want to drive strong viewer engagement, audience growth, and penetration and to maximize the lifetime value (LTV) of your customers. However, with so much control provided to customers and the rapid rate of change in video technology, keeping pace with this evolving landscape of customer needs and technology is a far more vexing challenge.  In addition, it is almost impossible to nail your video offering and experience at the outset with the optimal mix of monetization models, platform reach and UX design and feature set.

Hence, speed and agility are now the coins of the realm. VidOps teams must be empowered to execute a lean, agile approach. This requires a combination of processes, collaboration, and technology stack, and tools to enable responsive iteration and experimentation. In addition, capturing data and surfacing the right insights is crucial to guide your iterations and tuning of your service.

It is increasingly rare for video teams to nail their strategy and experience out of the gate.   Hence, teams should focus on fast time for market for their initial experience, putting themselves in a position to quickly assess end-user feedback and analytics to hone and optimize their suite of apps over time.   To accomplish this, there are a number of foundational capabilities and approaches video teams should pursue.

Target the platforms “that matter” at the outset - Building, deploying and maintaining apps can be complex and costly.  Consequently, teams should target platforms that can provide the greatest reach - namely Apple, Android and perhaps Roku, and then gradually deploy to second and third tier platforms such as Smart TVs and gaming platforms.

Leverage UX templates; ensure they are customizable - Building customized apps from the ground-up are typically the most cost, time and resource intensive aspect of launching a video service.   Consequently, teams should seek to leverage out-of-the-box templates for their initial launch and after gathering experience and insights determine whether the investment for fully custom apps is prudent.  Ideally, these templates are highly customizable and teams have the ability to own and modify the underlying app code.

Ensure monetization flexibility - In addition to having the ability to layer in additional interactive features, a modern video platform should provide an easy ability to tweak or make wholesale changes to your monetization model including building hybrid monetization plans (e.g. subscriptions plus rentals plus ad-based monetization.).

This agile approach must also extend beyond tools and into teams. Empower your developers with platforms that have all the necessary tools built in, so they can focus on innovation and speed-to-market. Make sure your content management tools enable your creative teams to experiment and test with minimal time required for development.

Leverage data to inform your iterations and optimizations.

Once a product has been launched, gathering metrics and measuring performance will help your team make data-driven decisions moving forward. Diane Strutner, CEO of Datazoom, recently shared a post on the Zype blog discussing methods for obtaining and leveraging data within the VidOps lifecycle.

While testing and measurement is a discipline, art, and science all unto its own, some good ideas that have worked for successful products include:

Sending out customer surveys - particularly NPS - to gather feedback and create conversations with early adopters and later stage product champions

Understanding your customer segmentation and behavior - using tools like Google Analytics and your video analytics platform

Paying careful attention to high-level engagement trends on each endpoint or platform that you distribute to. Give your team the tools to answer questions like: How are we performing on Roku App vs our website?  Facebook vs. Apple TV App?

Create interactive tutorials to guide users towards features and journeys proven to drive high levels of engagement (based on analytics) or to avoid identified pitfalls of your end-user experience.

When launching, testing, measurement, and iteration come together through VidOps, not only will time-to-market speed up, but you’ll continuously learn what is working and you’ll know how to iterate for continued success.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this series as we’ve dug into each of the core tenets that drive VidOps success.

If you want to download the entire VidOps framework, you can find it here.

Building Video Products that Endure with VidOps

Free Ad Supported Streaming: Tap Into the Massive Audience Behind the Free TV Movement

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Zype Releases Playout Enhancement for Faster Stream Start Times for EU Viewers and Improved Streaming Analytics for Smarter Programming

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