Virtual Channel

A virtual channel is a Live content generated from different sources, whether they are Video-On-Demand, Live events, or the combination of both. In an era where TV viewers are welcoming back what we call "a lean back" experience, Friday's night expectations are to seat back, and let ourselves being entertained with relevant content, without having to browse over the SVOD or TVOD catalogue. Virtual channels also encourage frictionless experience by limiting the level of interaction required by the subscribers to a very low number.

When the possibility to create a channel for a specific audience has always been around technically, it has never really been commercially viable. It usually involved creating a dedicated media processing and media delivery pipeline per audience, which would generate heavy operation costs, and therefore making highly personalized virtual channel commercially irrelevant.

broadpeak.io brings a more modern approach to Virtual channel by shifting the process of channel creation from the playout down to the data plane, leveraging existing content preparation and delivery systems. A single video processing pipeline now provides multiple experience opportunities for the same cost of operation.

Whether the need for the virtual channel is subscriber retention or monetization through FAST, a key component to success is personalization. Would it not be the ultimate experience if one turns on its TV only to find the type of content he/she loves?
TV subscribers' habits and viewing preferences data are more available to operators than ever; this makes relevant targeting per audience or per subscribers easy and enables opportunities to deliver a very compelling experience while maximizing ROI on targeted advertising.

Working at the manifest level and manipulating content referencing, broadpeak.io's technology allows to point the right subscriber to the right level of content personalization at the right time. Lifting the barrier of technology's heavy cost and with easy access to relevant data, the level of personalization now belongs to creative minds, the limit being where the human brain can go.