Brightcove Announces New Services to Transform the Video Encoding Workflow

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brightcove (NASDAQ: BCOV), a leading global provider of cloud content services, today at IBC 2012 announced significant new services to accelerate and streamline the video encoding workflow for on-demand and live content. Zencoder Instant Play™ is a new capability that enables on-demand video playback to start just seconds after the file upload process begins, greatly accelerating the video publishing process. Zencoder Live Cloud Transcoding provides a powerful alternative to costly on-location live encoding hardware and dedicated uplink bandwidth.

“We are shattering the status quo with these new capabilities, using the cloud to nearly eliminate the transcoding-to-playback delay and make it possible to cost-effectively deliver high quality multi-screen live streaming.”

“Video professionals have been conditioned to accept transcoding delays for on-demand content publishing and costly on-premise infrastructure investments for high quality live streaming,” said Jon Dahl, vice president of encoding services at Brightcove. “We are shattering the status quo with these new capabilities, using the cloud to nearly eliminate the transcoding-to-playback delay and make it possible to cost-effectively deliver high quality multi-screen live streaming.”

New Instant Play applies live streaming methodology to file-based transcoding and takes advantage of parallel processing in the cloud to enable media playback within seconds of commencing transcoding. With Instant Play, files are transcoded while the file is being uploaded, and most importantly, content is streamed for playback before the entire file is transcoded. Publishers of breaking news content, sports highlights, political commentary and other types of time-sensitive content can immediately publish video and get a head start on breaking news cycles to capture viewer interest. Instant Play, combined with the efficiencies of a cloud-based solution, enables organizations to achieve instant scale and greater operational efficiencies than previously allowed by existing hardware and software encoding solutions.

The Live Cloud Transcoding service eliminates the complexity and cost associated with encoding and streaming live events to multiple screens. Currently, streaming live events to multiple devices necessitates costly hardware or software encoders, requiring significant operational expertise. The complexity and number of encoders required for live streaming video is multiplied when adaptive bitrate technologies, such as HLS, are used. When publishing multiple encoded streams, as with adaptive bitrate streams, uplink bandwidth becomes a bottleneck, driving up the cost of on-location Internet connectivity.

With Live Cloud Transcoding, content providers encode a single live stream from an event and publish the stream to the Zencoder cloud transcoding service. The stream is transcoded and packaged for adaptive bitrate HLS and/or multiple RTMP streams. This results in reduced operational complexity, eliminates bandwidth bottlenecks, and provides viewers with a high quality user experience on their device of choice.

Video encoding is essential in online video content delivery strategies and is key to reaching audiences on any device or platform with a high quality viewing experience. With the continued growth in the consumption of video and the expanding number of devices on which video can be consumed, encoding has become even more critical to video publishers. In fact, according to Frost & Sullivan, the market for video transcoding will grow to $630 million by 2017, up from $264 million in fiscal year 2012¹.

Availability and Pricing

Instant Play is now available in public beta, enabling anyone with a Zencoder account to take advantage of this new approach to content publishing. Content providers can sign up for a free Zencoder account at http://zencoder.com/pricing/. Pricing will be announced when the product becomes generally available.

Live Cloud Transcoding is available in limited beta. Content providers interested in gaining early access to this technology may apply here for the limited beta program. Pricing will be announced when the product becomes generally available.

Following successful conclusion of the beta program, Instant Play and Live Cloud Transcoding will be available as standalone API services at the Zencoder website. Live Cloud Transcoding beta participants may use the service in conjunction with the Video Cloud player. The Video Cloud player does not yet support Instant Play.

Brightcove is demonstrating Zencoder Instant Play and Zencoder Live Cloud Transcoding this week at the IBC2012 exposition in Amsterdam in Hall 5 at booth 5.C20.

Note to Editors

Brightcove acquired Zencoder in August 2012. Zencoder is a leading cloud-based video encoding service used by more than 1,000 organizations worldwide. Zencoder also provides Video.js, an open source HTML5 video player used on more than 24,000 websites. Brightcove plans to continue to develop, operate, support and promote the Zencoder services in their current form as distinct product offerings.

About Brightcove

Brightcove Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOV), a leading global provider of cloud content services, offers a family of products used to publish and distribute the world’s professional digital media. The company’s products include Video Cloud, the market-leading online video platform, App Cloud, a pioneering content app platform, and Zencoder, a leading cloud-based media processing service and HTML5 video player technology provider. Brightcove has more than 4,650 customers in over 50 countries that rely on Brightcove cloud content services to build and operate media experiences across PCs, smartphones, tablets and connected TVs. For more information, visit http://www.brightcove.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may include forward-looking statements regarding anticipated Zencoder Instant Play (TM) and Zencoder Live Cloud Transcoding product and service developments or enhancements and the growth of the market for video transcoding. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of the following words (among others): "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "plan," "should" or "anticipates," or comparable words and their negatives. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees but are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations contained in these statements. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Brightcove assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release in the event of changing circumstances or otherwise, and such statements are current only as of the date they are made.

¹ Frost & Sullivan, World Video Transcoders Market (sum of Enterprise Video Transcoders and Multi-screen Video Transcoders), July 2011