Synacor’s OTT Ambition

Known for its authentication services, Synacor counts major cable MSOs and programmers as its TVE customers and has streamed major live events like the Olympics. Now the company is looking to expand into the OTT space by partnering with online video providers. Synacor is “systematically escalating” its video capabilities, combining its technology with platforms from partners to allow consumers to access TV content across platforms, CEO Himesh Bhise told us. The company announced a deal last week with Siemens to integrate Siemens’ online video platform, OTT Swipe, with Synacor’s TVE services. OTT Swipe is designed to enable carrier-grade OTT services such as video workflows, policy management and device distribution, with Synacor’s TVE services. Video encoding firm EveMeta is part of the deal. The move came just a few months after Synacor struck a similar pact with Comcast unit thePlatform, which will combine Synacor’s multiscreen video platform with thePlatform’s mpx, a multiscreen video management system. And Synacor plans to integrate mpx into its existing multiscreen offerings including Starpage, the content search, discovery and metadata platform that Synacor inherited through its NimbleTV acquisition earlier this year. Synacor also hopes to leverage its relationship with pay-TV providers as it wades into OTT. With Synacor’s video platform integrated with more than 50 MVPDs, the goal for the company’s OTT service is to be carrier-grade, modern, flexible, scalable and fully-featured, with speed-to-market and both cost and broadband efficient, Bhise said. Meanwhile, it has been several years since pay-TV providers rolled out TVE authentication services, and adoption has been slower than expected. Bhise said it’s really about eliminating the friction factor for consumers. “We’re talking about watching TV—and watching TV is fun. It has to be fun no matter the device,” he said. That means delivering features like auto-authentication and social login. “Consumers want to encounter exactly zero hassle when they’re accessing their favorite movies, TV shows or sports events. Any headache in the authentication process slows consumer adoption rates across-the-board. As for the industry, adoption delays are about figuring out the complexities of technology integration and the monetization opportunities,” Bhise said.