Collaboration between two media heavyweights signals industry cooperation key to a successful future
Imagine Communications, a global leader in advertising and media software and solutions, has announced a strategic partnership with Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), to provide significant benefits to TV networks and broadcasters, including a better-managed path for cloud migration, hybrid operations and orchestration, improved monetization through advertising, and extensive reach into FAST and CTV platforms.
This milestone partnership will accelerate the delivery of solutions against increasingly critical priorities for customers. The companies will address the convergence of cloud-based needs with the demands of on-premises technologies as customers balance the benefits offered in both environments. Also on the agenda in this partnership is the improvement of yield from advertising opportunities for streaming services.
“We want technology to be an enabler of change not a gating factor for our customers who are under unprecedented pressure,” said Tom Cotney, CEO of Imagine Communications. “Speed, flexibility, predictable costs and the ability to gain greater returns on content rights are demands that we can address more effectively by partnering with Amagi.”
From a technology point of view, the collaboration brings together a suite of pioneering solutions — integrating Amagi CLOUDPORT into Imagine’s Aviator™ suite and Imagine’s SureFire™ into Amagi’s THUNDERSTORM offering — to create an environment that can seamlessly move contribution, playout, and distribution workflows between Imagine on-premises solutions and Amagi cloud services to reach broadcast, FAST, and CTV audiences, while enhancing monetization. Amagi’s CLOUDPORT will now be available as Make within the Imagine Aviator suite, as part of the Plan/Make/Monetize framework first introduced in Aviator. Orchestration of streams, services, assets, and automation will be achieved through a new component of the Aviator suite called the Aviator Orchestrator, which will be integrated with the cloud-based services offered by Amagi.
From a business evolution point of view, the strategic partnership will enable advertising to be planned, sold, and executed across both linear and CTV audiences by leveraging Amagi THUNDERSTORM — a dynamic ad insertion platform — Imagine’s SureFire video ad server, and the Plan/Make/Monetize framework. This will fulfill the industry’s need for a solution for audience reaggregation and optimization across all viewers and inventory types. This is particularly critical for FAST publishers as their businesses grow larger and they require sophisticated advertising management platforms. Imagine and Amagi are perfectly positioned to help them with this challenge.
“We are combining the strengths of both companies — Imagine Communications’ on-premises and hybrid broadcast solutions expertise and Amagi's leadership in cloud-native playout and content monetization,” said Baskar Subramanian, CEO and Co-founder, Amagi. “This creates a converged solution enabling customers to migrate to a cloud-based SaaS platform while also making it easier for broadcasters and media companies to launch OTT services, FAST, and pop-up channels and further monetize content.”
Both companies went on to say that the emphasis needs to be on business and technical evolution, in response to rapid change driven by viewer engagement and a business-model transition toward CTV and direct-to-consumer models. Each company gains expansion to their independent capabilities and workflow integrations, facilitating a well-orchestrated solution that spans cloud content acquisition, playout, graphics, master control, redundancy, SCTE decoration, and dynamic ad insertion.
Demonstrations of the integrated solutions will be highlighted during the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas at both the Amagi booth (W1401) and the Imagine Communications booth (W2775).
More information about all Imagine’s products and solutions is available at www.imaginecommunications.com. More information about Amagi is available at www.amagi.com.
