Adobe Upgrades Primetime, Demos 4K
By | April 15, 2014
Adobe is stepping up its TV Everywhere game. A year after the launch of the Adobe Primetime TVE platform with Comcast and NBC Sports Group as launch partners, the company announced Primetime 2.0, which includes a new streaming feature dubbed Concurrency Monitoring and a new cloud ad-insertion service.
The upgraded platform now supports new MPEG-DASH streaming format and is compatible with Xbox 360 gaming consoles and Roku devices, in addition to desktop operating systems, Smart TVs, Android and iOS devices. TV programmers and ops can enforce streaming policies across platforms through Concurrency Monitoring, Adobe Primetime vp Jeremy Helfand told us. The new handshake capability is in beta today and will launch this summer.
The service is also expected to prevent password sharing as it provides a universal count of active video streams per user account in real time, across browsers and devices, Helfand said. Ops and programmers could then decide whether to allow or limit video playback or enable new types of content packages and add-ons, he said.
Adobe is touting itself as the 1st company to support the new Open Authentication Technology Committee (OATC) Resource Usage Monitor (RUM) specification, which standardizes the data format and workflow between ops and programmers for subscriber concurrency monitoring across access points. OATC counts companies like Adobe, Fox, NBCU, Turner, Showtime, Viacom, DirecTV, Cox, Scripps, and Synacor as members.
When it comes to ad-insertion in a multiplatform world, there are two situations in which cloud ad-insertion is needed instead of client-site insertion: Devices with low processing power, such as earlier versions of smart phones, and certain OTT services that don’t allow client software on them, Helfand said. The cloud ad-insertion offering aims to enable "maximum device scale" and more ways to monetize content across devices without requiring client code for ad insertion, he said.
Meanwhile, like a few other vendors, Adobe wants to get ahead of the 4K wave. It’s demonstrating support for 4K at the NAB Show this week and expects the service to be available this summer. Though the TV industry is still a couple of years from mainstream adoption of 4K, it will start to see 4K services in some markets this year, starting with popular sports programming, Helfand said. Adobe counts MLB and WWE as Primetime customers, helping them offer live and on-demand video content across platforms.
