thePlatform Creates Universal Video Player Service Across iOS, Android™, and Windows®-based Devices

SEATTLE, Jan. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Media and entertainment companies have historically faced a challenge creating a common video player that can be rendered across different browsers and devices, due to continued market fragmentation and a lack of cross-platform standards. Today, thePlatform, the leading white-label video publishing company, unveiled an enhanced video Player Service to address this issue, and has placed HTML5 at the forefront of its efforts.

thePlatform's enhanced Player Service provides a simple to use console, so even non-technical users can build their own video players – choosing from a variety of layout templates, skins, color schemes, and more. In 2013, thePlatform's Player Service will now default to HTML5 players to render video quickly, but seamlessly switch to Flash^® if needed, allowing consistent playback on websites, iOS devices, Android^™ devices, Windows^® 8 devices, and more. By leading with HTML5, customers can experience faster load times for video playback, and lower development costs. Unlike other market alternatives, there is also no need for companies to manage duplicate systems for individual players, since thePlatform's mpx publishing system automatically associates all the metadata and business policies for each video across both HTML5 and Flash players.

"We've always supported HTML5, but the technology has matured over the past 18 months, and it's now ready for primetime," said Marty Roberts, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, thePlatform. "Companies are being swamped by the combination of devices and browsers needed to ensure their videos render well on their customers' device of choice. Our new Player Service alleviates that challenge in an incredibly simple and cost-efficient way. HTML5 has become the lead technology that we recommend to our customers for publishing video across devices, and it has replaced Flash as the default setting in our mpx Player Service."   

iPads^® and iPhones^® Top List of Portable Video Consumption Devices 

Companies, including major media companies, TV networks, and five of the largest TV service providers in North America currently rely on thePlatform as their central logistics system for publishing premium video. As such, thePlatform predominately manages premium ad-supported or subscription videos, such as full-length episodes and clips of TV shows and movies, on computers, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, and other IP-connected devices. During the month of December 2012, thePlatform analyzed video views managed through its mpx publishing system across thousands of specific device "profiles", or unique combinations of device models, operating systems, and browsers. Outside of computers, iPads accounted for the most video views in December, followed by iPhones, followed by Android smartphones and tablets. thePlatform introduced its new Player Service to reduce the complexity for customers trying to manage video playback across a growing number of devices.

Key Benefits of Player Service

Key benefits of mpx's new Player Service include:

Better Viewing Experience:

• Leading with HTML5 enables faster video playback than traditional Flash-based players.
• Dynamic switching between HTML5 and Flash allows videos to quickly render on iOS, Android, Windows 8 devices, and more.
• The players select the optimal video format and bitrate based on the device, browser and operating system.
• A simple-to-use console enables companies to create beautiful, customized HTML5 players, in which skins, layout and controls are easily configured, ensuring a consistent experience for all viewers.
• Sharing features and social media integration allow videos to be distributed instantly across leading social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and many others. 

Easy and Low-Cost Player Management

• HTML5-based players enable companies to dedicate less development resources for producing and managing video players than has been traditionally required.
• mpx automatically associates all the metadata and business policies for content across both HTML5 and Flash players. This means there is no need to create duplicate systems for individual players, unlike other solutions in the market.
• The Player Service automatically updates with iOS, Android and Windows 8 releases, ensuring that videos are always available.
• Closed captioning persistence saves and applies your language settings to both HTML5 and Flash, ensuring policy compliance.

Flexible Integration

• The players enable optimization of advertising for both video on-demand (VOD) and live ad insertion through advertising partners such as FreeWheel, Adobe Auditude, and DoubleClick by Google. 
• Companies can monitor the quality of their players with real-time and historical reporting tools, and access data on usage, quality of service, and audience engagement through partnerships with Conviva, Google Analytics, Omniture, Comscore, Nielsen, and more. 
• The players are also compatible with video recommendations engines that can increase time on-site by suggesting what to watch after each video completion.
• Companies can also utilize an extensive list of hosted plug-ins through the Player Service or build their own custom JavaScript^® plug-in with thePlatform's PDK.

Additional information can be found at www.thePlatform.com.

About thePlatform
thePlatform™ is the leading white-label video management and publishing company. Media companies rely on thePlatform as their open, central hub for managing, monetizing, and syndicating billions of professionally produced video views annually. The company's services provide unmatched versatility for designing and supporting video businesses on PCs, mobile, and TV. Customers include: A+E Networks, Cablevision, CBC, Comcast, Cox Communications, E!, the Golf Channel, HIT Entertainment, Liberty Global, NBC Local Media, NBC Sports Regional Networks, Outdoor Channel, Oxygen, Rogers, Shaw Media, Style, Syfy, Time Warner Cable, Travel Channel Media, truTV, USA Network, and numerous others. With more than decade history of service, thePlatform is an independent subsidiary of Comcast based in Seattle, Wash. For more information: www.thePlatform.com.

SOURCE thePlatform