Conviva Leadership
Press Release
NEW YORK—November 5, 2009—Conviva, a provider of online video solutions, has been selected to provide real-time insight on the experience of online viewers to NBC during the network’s coverage of the Vancouver Winter Games from Vancouver, February 12-28, 2010, powered by Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Live Smooth Streaming. The announcement was made today by Perkins Miller, senior vice president, digital media, NBC Olympics, and Keith Zubchevich, vice president of development and operations for Conviva.
In the U.S., consumers spend an average of 1.5 hours per day watching video online1. As this medium increases in popularity, consumers are demanding the high definition (HD) and guaranteed consistency of traditional television with the convenience and user control of the Internet. Conviva ensures that the quality of online video meets these expectations, and is clear, crisp and reliable at HD bit rates. Through close work with Microsoft, Conviva’s media control platform will allow NBC to obtain real-time insights on viewer experience, audience trends and network distribution performance to ensure quality viewing during the Vancouver Winter Games. Furthermore, Conviva’s technology is unique in its ability to scale cleanly to meet the needs and HD requirements of broadcast-sized audiences during peak times.
“As Americans watch the world stage next February in Vancouver, NBC Olympics is committed to providing the highest quality for video streaming,” Miller said. “We are turning to Microsoft and Conviva to ensure quality and uninterrupted online video viewing.”
Conviva’s media control platform manages the distribution of media over heterogeneous resources with customized policies and control that enable broadcasters to deliver the highest possible video quality to viewers at any given point in time. By addressing a critical gap in delivery and audience insight left by today’s streaming technology, Conviva’s reliable video platform will help provide stable, high-quality online coverage over the 17 days of the Vancouver Winter Games.
“As viewers more regularly turn to the Internet to watch their favorite sporting events, nothing is more important than providing an interactive, HD-quality video experience with technologies like Silverlight and IIS Live Smooth Streaming,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform at Microsoft Corp. “By working with Conviva’s media control platform, the Microsoft Silverlight player will deliver a reliable, consistent experience to online fans of the Vancouver Winter Games.”
“As NBC witnessed first-hand during the 2008 Beijing Games, online users expect a flawless viewing experience,” said Zubchevich. “Conviva provides the live telemetry to manage the inconsistencies of the Internet, and deliver on the promise of first-rate performance. By working with Microsoft and its Silverlight technology, the NBC Olympics team will have their fingers on the pulse of their online audience. For example, from the Conviva console, they will be able to make decisions in real-time to prevent buffering, promote clips that are popular, diagnose individual user problems, and aggregate intelligence to help make the online broadcast to Silverlight-based media players a truly smooth event.”
About NBC Olympics
NBC, America’s Olympic Network, has broadcast 11 Olympic Games, the most Olympics broadcast by any network. NBC surpassed ABC’s 10 Olympics with the 2008 Beijing Games, the most watched event in U.S. television history with 215 million viewers.
The 2010 Vancouver Games mark the sixth of an unprecedented seven consecutive Olympic broadcasts by NBC Sports which began with the 2000 Sydney Games and continues through the 2012 London Games.
About Conviva
Conviva is transforming the online video experience. Through its real-time, intelligent video platform, content publishers can manage a diverse set of resources to deliver high-definition quality, optimize economics and scale efficiently to accommodate increased growth. Conviva’s unique approach of blending the best of the Internet and traditional television has given customers such as Indy Racing League, NBC Universal and Yahoo! the ability to consistently deliver clear, crisp, reliable video to all of their audiences.
