Akamai unveils Open Video Community

BANGALORE, INDIA: Akamai Technologies, Inc. , the leader in powering rich media, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, today announced the launch of  Openvideoplayer.com, a community site and industry initiative intended to facilitate the development and sharing of open standards and best practices for video player applications that support a wide range of advertising technologies.

As online video syndication and distribution matures, there are some fundamental technology barriers to growth.  One of the most important development considerations is the video player application, an increasingly strategic element as it impacts the way consumers experience video content and the media brand, and enables a business model for the video content by controlling how and when ads are delivered. 

Specifically, the lack of a standards-based approach to the video player application slows time to market and increases complexities around content syndication and revenue sharing between sites.

Sanjay Singh, managing director, Akamai India said: “For a number of years, Akamai has had the unique opportunity to work closely with the top Global Media & Entertainment companies, including key Indian brands, as they move their entertainment strategies online.  As a result, there’s a considerable knowledge base around delivering high quality consumer video experiences – including best practices around video player application development”

“Utilizing an open source licensing model, branded players is easy to incorporate into commercial applications without locking content owners into something that is propriety or result in complex licensing requirements,” he added.

OpenVideoPlayer.com

Akamai is leading the effort to provide a forum dedicated to providing resources and encouraging a common approach to video player development. The goals of this site are as follows:

Facilitate the development and sharing of best practices for video player development through community interaction

*  Provide reference implementations and code to speed development and reduce the total cost of ownership

Encourage adoption of open standards to help facilitate the aggregation of video audiences and streamline the media buying process for rich media and in-stream advertising

*   Support the Internet advertising ecosystem, including agencies, interactive developers and advertising technologies for a comprehensive publishing solution

“As widespread syndication has become an increasingly important part of content providers’ business models, the ecosystem must evolve to allow video content to flow more readily and to be monetized more effectively,” said Will Richmond, a broadband analyst at VideoNuze.com. “A modular approach to building players will help to expand the universe of online video significantly.”

Rather than supporting proprietary video player formats, openvideoplayer.com relies on the industry leading video platforms – Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight -- offering source code to enable rapid and flexible design with complete creative control. 

“Adobe Flash has been used by the industry in the creation and distribution of rich media, such as video and advertising, since its inception,” said Jennifer Taylor, director of product management for Flash Creation and Distribution at Adobe.  “This initiative will help provide community-driven best practices around video player development to the global developer community for Adobe Flash technology, making it easier to deliver and monetize video content.”

Through an open source licensing model based on the industry standard video formats, source code on the site can be extended and improved upon by designers, developers and media companies and either given back to the community as contributions or leveraged into video applications without complex licensing requirements.

“Microsoft is excited by the community efforts of the Open Video Player initiative that supports the latest Silverlight 2 technology,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the Developer Division Microsoft.  “Having an enhanced, Silverlight-based media framework allows the millions of .NET developers to streamline the complexities around video distribution and create more opportunity for everyone.”

Key Site Components

Media Framework

•  The Media Framework is a valuable resource for the rapid development of video player applications using either Adobe Flash Player or Microsoft Silverlight.  The framework is a developer toolkit with player source code, which leverages best practices and open technologies to enable the creation of video player applications for both streaming and progressive download content.  Akamai is contributing the Media Framework under an Open Source license to be extended and improved upon by the community.

Media Framework Connectors

•  Openvideoplayer.com offers sample code-based reference implementations from leading advertising technology companies for easy integration and support of ad formats, ad servers and ad networks.

Developer Forum

•  A forum staffed by interactive designers and developers within the Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight developer community for an open exchange of ideas and expert advice on player development.

Developer Resources

•  A library of documentation and video tutorials on how to utilize Internet standards to build professional grade online video players.