The Challenge 

Recognizing the inherent complexity, time, and cost associated with cross-platform video playback development and integration, ITV aimed to identify the best solution to deliver a consistent and high-quality media playback experience across the devices that carry their OTT services. These devices encompass a wide range, including Web, Android, Android TV, Fire TV, Fire Sticks, Apple TV, Chromecast, LG Freeview, iOS, LG WebOS, Roku, Samsung Tizen, Hisense, Vestel, SkyQ and Xbox.

While ITV had developed its own video player based on open source, they initiated an evaluation to determine whether to retain it or transition to a commercial video player. To facilitate this decision, ITV engaged a third party - Spicy Mango - for an independent video player evaluation, comparing their in-house player with three commercial alternatives, including THEOplayer.

The evaluation included both quantitative testing and qualitative review of materials shared and published by the commercial video player vendors. Areas covered included, amongst others:

• Automated testing (more than 1,200 tests) across 5 devices and browsers: Safari, FireTV, SkyQ, Samsung Tizen and LG Freeview; 
• Assessment of integration capabilities with third parties;
• Quality of documentation and support.

Enhanced agility in ITVX development

With THEOplayer, ITV ensures high-quality viewer experiences cross-platform, backed by rigorous systematic testing and comprehensive developer support. ITV previously relied on external partners to certify software releases and updates. Yet, upon closer examination of the testing scope and Quality of Experience risks, they found that many of the problems could be traced back to the video player. By leveraging THEOplayer's frequent releases and automated testing, ITV can now focus its testing efforts primarily on the other parts of ITVX than the video player, reducing complexity and costs, and accelerating release cycles with enhanced agility.

Reduced costs thanks to end-to-end advisory support

Our video experts collaborated with ITV to optimize the end-to-end video workflow. ITV employed multiple variants of the same stream to ensure device coverage, resulting in duplicate transcoding and packaging costs. With THEOplayer, ITV can streamline its approach by deploying a single cross-platform video player and reducing the number of stream variants required for device coverage. This optimization leads to cost reductions in transcoding, packaging, and video player maintenance.