BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA—Streaming and podcast solutions provider StreamGuys will be arriving at IBC2023 with new automated metadata management features for its StreamGuys Contribution Network, an enterprise-level streaming media ecosystem that helps customers move self-produced, locally originated, and/or third-party media content onto the public internet for end user consumption.
The updates include an extension of audio ad triggers to expand monetization opportunities beyond the preroll stage, and new metadata source switching capabilities for content localization.
Timothy Labelle, broadcast streaming specialist at StreamGuys, explained that strengthening ad insertion capabilities in the Contribution Network Service provides customers with a reliable way to standardize their ad triggers in diverse metadata scenarios.
“Organizations that broadcast both audio and video content experience greater consistency and reliability across when it comes to automatically identifying their SCTE-35 and ID3 metadata markers without the need for separate encoders,” he said.
Labelle added that StreamGuys has also incorporated stronger content localization capabilities into its Contribution Network Service, including geo-targeting and geo-location services that media and entertainment companies increasingly require for access control. Both services are part of StreamGuys’ SGcontrol solution, which offloads complex stream management and access control functions from broadcasters. Specifically, the geo-targeting applications allow users to deliver appropriate regionalized stream variants based on audience location, while geo-restriction services prevent audience members outside defined regions from accessing content.
New for IBC, StreamGuys has also enabled the continuation of ID3 metadata further downstream to support server-side midroll insertions.
“This simplifies the production workflow that traditional TV broadcasters use to automatically create and repurpose audio-only feeds of live TV programming for web streams and podcasts by removing manual conversion stages and auxiliary hardware further downstream,” said Eduardo Martinez, vice president of technology for StreamGuys. “It also raises our value proposition for stream monetization by applying our proven midroll insertion capabilities for radio broadcasters to our Contribution Network Service, which caters to a wider variety of media and entertainment companies including TV and OTT broadcasters, sports networks and publishing businesses.”
The StreamGuys Contribution Network is designed to provide an efficient on-ramp to reliably move content onto CDN streaming services or social media platforms, manage bitrates and protocols, and republish or rebroadcast content in new places and new forms, the company said.
The StreamGuys Contribution Network solution brings proven StreamGuys streaming and SaaS toolsets together to achieve these goals, including recently announced workflow conversion tools that convert video streams to audio and vice versa. That includes the ability to identify and preserve SCTE-35 ad markers from HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) streams, and convert them to ID3 metadata markers for server-side audio midroll insertions.
StreamGuys will exhibit on the ENCO stand (8.C73) as an official IBC co-exhibitor. IBC 2023 takes place September 15-18 at Amsterdam RAI.
