Published May 9th, 2018
Amsterdam, May 9th, 2018 – 24i Media, the leading internet TV app technology provider for the world’s top media companies, today announces the acquisition of Mautilus, the Czech TV app agency specializing in HbbTV and applications for multiple devices. The acquisition strengthens 24i’s technology framework with new products and features, and increases its production capacity with Mautilus’ highly-skilled engineers. The acquisition of Mautilus is the next step in 24i’s ambition to deliver the most innovative, modular, flexible and scalable video streaming application technology.
“Mautilus shares our vision and recognizes the importance of delivering flawless and immersive experiences for our clients and their end-users. Its solutions strongly complement the broader 24i portfolio, and allows us to continue building a global internet TV app powerhouse with the best talent in the industry,” said Martijn van Horssen, CEO and Co-Founder of 24i. “We are excited to be adding a tremendously talented team to contribute to our competitive edge. Sharing our values, our culture and our ongoing commitment to bringing state-of-the-art solutions to the new TV industry will allow 24i to bring even more powerful solutions to market. As one company, we will provide customers with truly innovative solutions enabled by cutting-edge technologies.”
24i continues to grow and expand its position in today’s evolving video landscape. While 2017 was a year of record growth, this trend is continuing into 2018. In fact, Mautilus is 24i’s second acquisition in 2018; the company acquired multiscreen video platform provider Vigour in March.
“Innovation, agility and the ability to scale are crucial ingredients to surf the impressive waves caused by the TV industry’s fundamental changes. We’ve been able to accelerate our growth by picking partners that strengthen our strategic positioning. We always strive to attract great media professionals, whether individually or by teaming up with highly valued peers like Mautilus. Based on our successful integration with the former Siemens CVC front-end team in 2016, we are convinced of the value creation and cross-pollination of our teams in Brno,” added 24i’s Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Hans Disch.
Mautilus develops TV apps for multiple platforms, including smart TVs, mobile, HbbTV, as well as for games consoles, set-top-boxes, and much more. Its customers include HBO, T-Mobile, iFlix and Showmax.
“Joining forces with 24i will allow us to better serve our customers by offering an innovative approach to streaming video technology,” said Rehor Vykoupil, CEO of Mautilus. “The combination will allow us to provide the best solutions to our customers, and will be a great home for our technology and team. With our unique blend of multi-platform experience, specific HbbTV expertise and knowledge of addressable TV, we can strengthen and accelerate 24i’s ambition of becoming the most recognized technology provider for developing cutting-edge video applications across all devices. Petr Mazanec, Ivan Bradac and myself, as founders of Mautilus, are really proud to marry our team into the 24i family.”
Having experienced rapid growth in 2018, as well as announcing the launch of the Tennis Channel app for Sinclair Broadcasting Group last month, 24i will continue to expand its market position in the coming months.
Apr 07, 2020
NewsPress
First Look Media launches new OTT streaming video service for ‘culture cravers’ on topic.com, Apple TV and iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 7 April 2020 – 24i, the industry-leading video experience company, today announced that Topic, the new entertainment streaming service from First Look Media, has chosen 24i to power its new streaming video experience across topic.com, Apple TV and iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
24i provides Topic with a brand-new suite of subscription and ad-supported video applications each with a consistent, intuitive video experience irrespective of viewing platform or device. The next-generation 24i Smart OTT productised solution, integrated with specialist partner technologies from Bitmovin, CenturyLink, Cleeng, EZDRM and JUMP enables Topic to extend, manage and monetize its programming to a fast-growing audience of ‘culture cravers.’
“We’re committed to providing our audiences with compelling and thought-provoking programming that reflects their values and interests, wherever they wish to access it,” said, Ryan Chanatry, Topic’s General Manager. “The smart products and solutions provided by 24i enable the Topic team to dynamically create next-generation video experiences, customize the presentation of titles by platform, and to differentiate Topic in an increasingly competitive direct-to-consumer video market”.
Topic, which officially launched November 21 2019, is a new streaming service offering North American premieres of global favourites along with original programming that includes a variety of scripted dramas, comedies, discussion shows, documentaries, and non-scripted programming which highlight human-focused stories from creators with a passionate point of view.
“The quality and variety of Topic’s programming make it extremely attractive to their growing audience,” said Martijn van Horssen, Joint-CEO of 24i. “By being able to support Topic’s platform-agnostic delivery strategy, we are delighted to deliver their next-generation video experiences and super-charge their growth to new platforms and audiences.”
Topic aims to push the art of storytelling to new heights by exploring different genres and media formats to develop and showcase impactful and engaging programming. The new service sources programming from leading global media companies, acquiring the rights to titles premiering at the world’s most prestigious film festivals as well as streaming original programming produced in-house by Topic or in partnership with some of today’s most prolific creators. Topic’s parent company is First Look Media, a company that was launched in 2013 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
Within the 24i Smart OTT product, Topic can readily launch and manage its new, next-generation OTT service and extend its reach to multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and the web. In addition, the 24i SMART BACKSTAGE management and insight manager ensures Topic delivers a consistently high-quality and personalised streaming service to every subscriber on their choice of device.
Jul 22, 2020
Press
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – 22 July 2020 – 24i, the industry-leading, global video experience company, today announced the launch of its Video Experience Platform (VEP), a smart and cost-effective SaaS platform that, for the first time, productizes all the services required for the convergence of Pay-TV, IPTV, and OTT streaming.
VEP has been designed to accelerate time-to-market while delivering the essential flexibility and functionality required for the creation of next-generation video services.
“The launch of the 24i Video Experience Platform challenges traditional industry delivery models by maximizing flexibility and functionality to provide service providers with, for the first time, the freedom to choose their own path to delivering next-generation video experiences,” said Martijn Van Horssen, Joint-CEO 24i.
Combining significant industry experience, consumer insight, and modern microservices-led architecture, 24i has created a powerful, modular, and flexible SaaS platform that focuses on the consumer, prioritizes operational efficiency, and provides cost-effective, agile technologies to ensure flexibility, scalability, and continuous innovation.
“The development of this exciting new platform has been informed by the deployments we’ve handled recently for customers such as BroadwayHD, Slovak Telecom, T-Mobile Czech Republic, Topic, and Youfone. Every customer is different, but they all need flexibility and a laser focus on the consumer. By launching services through VEP for all these customers with very different aims and goals demonstrates that this new platform is incredibly flexible and powerful. We look forward to our new platform continuing to help TV and video service providers to stay audience relevant by taking advantage of new business opportunities at every stage of their video evolution,” added Van Horssen.
VEP combines 24i’s Smart Apps framework, the 24i Smart Video engine, 24i Backstage, and a Smart Ecosystem of technologies and partners, to power the redefinition of the modern video experience.
The 24i Smart Apps framework supports every media company’s unique video business strategy and technology architecture with custom or white label applications, UX, and UI development. The framework simplifies the syndication and delivery of live and on-demand TV and video content to mobiles, web, Smart TV, TV, STBs, and game consoles.
24i Smart Video is a feature-rich platform that gives video providers the operational flexibility for end-to-end multiscreen video delivery. Smart Video simplifies the syndication and delivery of live and on-demand TV apps across mobile, web, smart TV, game consoles, and Set-Top-Boxes (including support for HbbTV and ATSC 3.0. The scalable cloud-based model is designed to leverage existing infrastructure and/or 3rd party technologies and provides options for on- or off-premise deployment of relevant workloads, such as service creation and video processing. The platform takes in and converts raw live or on-demand libraries to the required delivery formats for all types of devices, including encoding and transcoding of linear content to multiple bitrates and resolutions.
24i Backstage is an award-winning, real-time UX and integration manager that allows media companies to define and manage their application experiences by connecting back-end systems via a cloud-based management console. Backstage enables media companies to configure apps, define and schedule content availability or promotion, curate content, orchestrate and enrich metadata, and seamlessly integrate with ecosystem technologies.
Additionally, 24i has also announced the launch of the Smart Ecosystem, which ties together the online video value chain through a seamless combination of in-house products and premium partner integrations. This open ecosystem delivers TV and video service providers with the most effective video experience solutions based upon their unique business needs and growth strategies. Modular and flexible, the 24i Smart Ecosystem is designed to scale and expand platform architectures without the complexities and risks typically associated with a multi-vendor strategy.