Episodic Launches Platform for Managing and Monetizing Live and On-Demand Video

Episodic (note: among other projects, the company has worked with BitGravity to produce an online interactive TV service, called "Strikeforce: All Access," for Showtime Networks--see the articles published on itvt.com, April 9th and August 12th) will today announce the general availability of its new Episodic Video Publishing Suite, which it says targets "the growing market of content owners and Web marketers who broadcast both live and on-demand streaming video." According to the company--which, with the announcement of the new broadband video platform is signaling its intent to operate in a space currently occupied by such well-funded rivals as Brightcove, Ooyala and thePlatform--the new product is the first online video platform for managing and monetizing both live and on-demand streaming from a single application, and provides producers with the flexibility needed to succeed in an era of "pervasive video delivered simultaneously to the Web and handheld devices." It provides tools for managing and measuring video content, the company says, as well as monetization services that enable ad insertion and credit card transactions for both live and on-demand video streaming.

In order to promote the new platform, which it says is already being used by Showtime Networks and other national cable networks, Web publishers and small and medium businesses, Episodic is launching a 30-day free trial program. "Video monetization and delivery on both Web and mobile devices have just begun to mature and it's time for a platform that can keep up," Episodic CEO, Noam Lovinsky, said in a prepared statement. "The days of prolonged deployment cycles and endless professional services bills are behind us. With Episodic it's all out of the box and it just works. Customers want a platform that is easy to use, quick to deploy and contains all of the capabilities needed for online streaming without having to wrangle four different vendors or even a single vendor who is interfacing with multiple partners on your behalf." Added Showtime Networks' senior director of digital content development, Nicole Meola: "Episodic has been a valuable partner in Showtime's online video initiatives. What started as a trial production has now grown into a potential revenue source for us with the use of the tools provided by the Episodic platform. With Episodic, we launched and syndicated our commerce-supported live streaming events and we will continue to broadcast these events worldwide."

According to Episodic, the new publishing suite is a turn-key solution that requires little or no customization and can be deployed "in days." It is billed by the company as providing five different kinds of functionality:

• Video content management. The platform can scale "massive" video libraries, the company claims, allowing content owners to easily encode and organize their video from an intuitive interface. Publishers can set up custom metadata fields, the company says, generate auto-updating query-based playlists or feeds, and easily keep everything synchronized across the platform and their video asset management and storage systems.
• Adaptive bitrate playback, delivering what Episodic bills as "a television-like experience without any additional software or plugins necessary."
• Monetization. According to the company, the Episodic ad server is VAST-compliant, delivers standard IAB video ad units and is interoperable with all major ad serving platforms. The ad server is coupled with subscription management and a credit card authorization system, the company says, allowing for new revenue opportunities.
• Audience measurement. Episodic says that its analytics engine provides real-time metrics and reporting on audience engagement, viewer performance, and network and user quality of service. Available QoS metrics, according to the company, include average viewer bandwidth, average number of skips and stutters, player load times and content delivery latency.
• Syndication. Episodic claims to offer automated distribution to over 30 video portals, and premium syndication to paid destinations such as Hulu, iTunes and Amazon.