SAN JOSE, Calif. - Adobe today announced that NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, has selected Adobe Primetime, the industry’s most advanced TV publishing and monetization platform for programmers and pay-TV service providers, to power the Games across desktops and mobile devices, including iOS, Android, Mac OS, Windows, and others. NBC subscribers will be able to view all competitions, highlights and other content live and on-demand on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra App.
“By using the Adobe Primetime video platform, NBC Sports will be able to reach more screens and deliver premium video experiences to digital viewers of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games,” said Jeremy Helfand, vice president, Primetime, Adobe.
“We are pleased to be working once again with Adobe and are confident Adobe Primetime will allow us to ignite even more excitement among fans watching the Games on the multi-platform offerings of NBC Olympics,” said Rick Cordella, senior vice president, digital media, NBC Sports Group.
Adobe and its partners are announcing several innovations to make broadcasting of the Winter Games across devices and platforms a reality:
- Massive Scale: Microsoft and Adobe have partnered to integrate Primetime’s video delivery and packaging technologies into Azure Media Services. This gives broadcasters the scalability to reach all of Primetime’s enabled devices, including desktop, iOS, and Android. With Primetime and Azure Media Services, programmers can easily deliver online video and ads to millions of viewers at scale.
- Instant Access: Adobe partnered with major operators to offer viewers, who subscribe to both high-speed data and video through the same provider, auto-authentication based on individual IP addresses. These IP addresses are cross-referenced with their video subscription, providing millions of viewers instant access to the Games online without having to memorize their login information when they connect from their homes.
- Free Preview: The first time viewers visit NBCOlympics.com or the NBC Sports Live Extra App they will be able to watch the Games online for 30 minutes through Adobe Primetime’s Free Preview feature. After the time window expires, viewers will be prompted to verify their video subscription using their login information. Each subsequent day, viewers will be able to watch 5 minutes of Olympic content, before being asked to verify their subscription. However, viewers only need to verify their video subscription once to enjoy more than 1000+ hours of live Olympic content.
- TV-like Advertising: For the first time, users will receive broadcast-like ad experiences without buffering between content and ads that can be dynamically inserted. Adobe Primetime is the only platform in the industry that delivers broadcast content and ads within the same player through client-side ad insertion, which ensures maximum efficiency for mega events with large audiences. Adobe Primetime also ties in seamlessly with NBC Sports’ existing ad infrastructures.
- High-quality Viewing Experience: Adobe Primetime offers advanced bitrate optimization to ensure faster startup time and higher bitrate adoption to ensure viewers can enjoy HD-quality viewing experiences without interruption.
- Outage Protection: Primetime pay-TV Pass provides real-time monitoring to detect potential operator disruptions during high traffic times. Adobe Primetime’s outage protection ensures that viewers still receive instant access to programming on behalf of operators during network down times.
Adobe Primetime
Adobe® Primetime helps operators and programmers reach viewers on any IP-connected screen, creating more value for pay-TV service and strengthening brand affinity for content owners. For more information, visithttp://www.adobe.com/solutions/primetime.html