Author:James Patrick

Introducing ZINIO TV Powered by Unreel

ZINIO is a technology company that works with some of the largest publishers in the world to digitize and distribute their print magazines on smart devices. In early 2018, Unreel and ZINIO teamed up to begin developing branded streaming services for their publishing partners interested in distributing video on OTT.   With the help of Unreel, ZINIO has now launched their own branded streaming service, ZINIO TV! Serving as an aggregate distribution destination for video content from their partners, the streaming service...

Acquisitions, AVOD, and the Next Big Thing on OTT

OTT has undoubtedly arrived and it is not going anywhere but up. The scales are tipping and it won't be long before the vast majority of video consumption occurs via streaming rather than broadcast. Over the last decade plus, consumers have voted with their time and money for the convenience, content and business models of OTT over outdated alternatives.   Many consumers were first introduced to OTT content by subscription services. The original drivers for viewership on platforms such as Roku, iOS...

World Poker Tour and Unreel team up to launch New OTT Streaming Service WatchWPT!

We are proud to announce a new partnership with World Poker Tour, the premier name in internationally televised gaming and entertainment.   Working with Unreel's full stack OTT solution, WPT has launched, WatchWPT, a free OTT streaming platform for poker fans and players. WatchWPT gives users access to hundreds of hours of their favorite WPT video content, to be viewed on any device.   As an AVOD streaming service, WatchWPT rellies on Unreel's Adstack TV to help sell addressable ad inventory to advertisers across multiple...

The Definitive OTT AVOD Glossary

This blog post is only a section of Unreel's complete OTT glossary covering over 100 key terms every successful streaming service needs to intimately understand.  View the entire glossary here.    AVOD or advertising video on demand is not always easy for streaming services to implement.  It requires knowledge of current best practices and experience with the industry's in's and out's to navigate.  Even with ad spend on OTT rapidly increasing year-over-year, predicted to grow almost two and a half times by 2021, we have yet...

7 Tips to Grow Your Video Streaming Service

Success for a streaming service hinges on audience acquisition and retention. Growth has to be a conscious effort. The “if you build it they will come” mindset is a mistake new streaming services cannot afford to make. Consistent growth in any industry rarely happens by accident, and in an increasingly competitive OTT marketplace, it is near impossible. Consumers are hungry for new content from brands in the verticals they care about – but getting their attention is not easy. Simply...

The Future is AVOD – Pt 3 & 4: Why AVOD is Hard and How Unreel Has Solved it

In part one and two of our blog series, "The Future is AVOD", we established that advertisers are hot on OTT and that an AVOD model can grow and support industry-leading streaming services at scale.  With an expected 225% growth in OTT ad spend predicted over the next 3 years, the market is inarguably on a torrid trajectory. However, with money increasingly pouring in, there is unexpected friction for streaming services looking to implement ads.  There is no shortage of...

The Future is AVOD – Pt. 2: Can Streaming Services Scale on Ads Alone?

Give a moment’s thought to consider the early heroes of OTT.  For most — Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Amazon Prime come to mind as the Mount Rushmore of streaming.  With their hefty financial and corporate backings, ultra-premium content libraries, and consistent subscription revenue sources, it’s fair to say that they’ve dominated the streaming world thus far.  Their inarguable growth has led to a false narrative in the industry and a misinformed belief held by many; that subscriptions are necessary to...

The Future is AVOD – Pt 1: Why Advertisers Love OTT

In OTT’s nascent state subscription services such as Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime have stolen the spotlight.  It’s time they made room. Advertisers are putting an increased emphasis on OTT. They view the burgeoning technology as an extremely valuable part of their funnel moving forward, and recognize the unique advantages the medium provides. For streaming services able to capture the new ad dollars pouring into the space, the unit economics behind an AVOD business model paint a picture more attractive...

What Networks Should Know About Live-Streaming an Event Online

This article originally appeared in Streaming Media as a guest post that can be viewed here.     At Unreel, we’ve taken part in the enormous undertaking of live streaming an event across multiple over-the-top (OTT) channels including the 2018 Daytime Emmy Awards and the Dew Tour. We want to share the challenges and tips we have from these experiences with networks that might want to stream their next event live online.   Click here to read the rest of the article. ...