OneFootball Kicks Off Collaboration with Bitmovin and Akamai
OneFootball is using Bitmovin’s Live Encoder, which runs on Akamai’s Connected Cloud, to deliver high-quality live streams at scale for its global community of soccer fans.
Denver, Colorado(11 Apr 2024)
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming software solutions, and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), announces OneFootball, one of the world’s biggest digital football platforms backed by clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester City and FC Bayern Munich, has chosen to deploy Bitmovin’s Live Encoder that will run on Akamai Connected Cloud to deliver the highest levels of audio and video quality for its audience. The joint solution will ensure OneFootball can deliver high-quality streams from its roster of broadcasting partners such as Sky Sport, DAZN, and Globo to soccer fans around the world.
OneFootball established itself as an early leader in digital soccer content, and it was one of the first 100 football news and scoring apps available on the Apple App Store. Over the past few years, OneFootball pursued a unique opportunity to remedy the fragmented soccer media landscape by becoming more than just a mobile scoring app and bringing content from hundreds of clubs, leagues, federations, blogs, and broadcasters to fans. Now, OneFootball is home to 200 million active users globally and brings fans closer to the action on the pitch by offering a personalized experience of soccer content, products, and services, including the ability to live stream matches on a free ad-supported or pay-per-view basis. OneFootball’s company ethos is to reimagine how younger Gen Z and Y fans consume soccer-related content, and these cutting-edge experiences need to be powered by industry-leading technology.
“We wanted technology partners who embody the spirit of innovation and provide solutions and tools that ensure quality, reliability, and process ownership,” said Yannick Ramcke, General Manager OTT at OneFootball, “We partnered with Bitmovin and Akamai because they’ve created a solution that’s setting a new standard in live experiences by helping us securely deliver an unrivaled quality of experience on behalf of our broadcasting partners and for our community worldwide.”
OneFootball starting to deploy Bitmovin’s Live Encoder has been proof of the company’s recent growth success as a OTT distribution platform: Its existing video streaming infrastructure and process were built to stream up to 1,000 live matches per month, and OneFootball had started to outgrow the capabilities and capacity of the existing solution. OneFootball wanted to invest in in-sourcing and custom-building a fit-for-purpose video chain, with preferred, bespoke partners for each step of the modular process.It chose the Bitmovin Live Encoder because of its ability to guarantee high-quality streams at speed and scale by optimizing start-up times and provides more efficient encoding workflows. Choosing Bitmovin’s Live Encoder also means the globally operating digital media platform can leverage the power of Akamai Connected Cloud, the world’s most distributed platform for cloud computing, security, and content delivery.
“A platform dedicated to the world’s most popular sport backed by some of the sport’s best-known clubs and carrying market-leading broadcasters demands the global scale and performance that comes with Akamai Connected Cloud,” said Jon Alexander, Vice President of Cloud Technology Product Management at Akamai. “Running Bitmovin’s Live Encoder on Akamai can help organizations like OneFootball engage their passionate fan base with exceptional viewing experiences and consistently high quality of service.
The Bitmovin Live Encoder and Akamai is a dynamic duo that ensures high-speed delivery and streams in stunning visual quality,” Stefan Lederer, CEO and co-founder of Bitmovin, “We are incredibly proud that OneFootball has deployed our solution, and the role it will play in providing curated, online experiences for the global community of soccer fans and delivering live video streams that exceed viewer’s expectations.”
Bitmovin Live Encoding is a fully managed software-as-a-service (SaaS) that helps organizations stream live sports, news, and events of all types to viewers on any device. Bitmovin’s Live Encoder also has an intuitive user interface that makes it easy for users of all levels to set up live streams quickly, while Bitmovin’s robust API gives users complete control over every aspect of the encoding pipeline. Running Bitmovin’s Live Encoder on Akamai Connected Cloud means the encoder is pre-integrated with Akamai cloud storage for live-to-VOD and live clipping. Furthermore, integration with Akamai Media Services Live (MSL4) and Akamai CDN provides secure, efficient content delivery.
Bitmovin will demonstrate its Live Encoding on Akamai Cloud Computing at the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 14-17 (Bitmovin exhibitor stand W3013, Akamai meeting space W235LMR).
About Akamai
Akamai powers and protects life online. Leading companies worldwide choose Akamai to build, deliver, and secure their digital experiences — helping billions of people live, work, and play every day. Akamai Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform, puts apps and experiences closer to users and keeps threats farther away. Learn more about Akamai's cloud computing, security, and content delivery solutions at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies on X, formerly known as Twitter, and LinkedIn.
About Bitmovin
Bitmovin is the leading provider of video infrastructure for global digital media companies and service providers. The company has been at the forefront of industry innovation and all major developments in the digital video streaming industry.
Bitmovin built the world’s first commercial adaptive streaming player and deployed the first software-defined encoding service that runs on any cloud platform. Its cloud-native technology offers the most flexible and scalable media encoding, playback, and analytics solutions available with unparalleled device reach, ease of integration, and world-class customer support.
Bitmovin customers benefit from optimized operations, reduced time-to-market, and the best viewer experience possible. Bitmovin is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and has major offices in Vienna, Klagenfurt, Austria as well as London and Berlin. The company has over 400 customers across the globe, including ClassPass, BBC, fuboTV, Hulu, and Discovery. For more information, visit www.bitmovin.com.
About OneFootball
Founded in 2008, OneFootball is a leading football platform for a new generation of mobile-first football fans, with plans to become the football marketplace for content, products and services of the future. It serves over 200 million people every month through its owned and operated platform (across mobile and connected TV apps as well as website) and video distribution network, bringing fans closer to the game with breaking news, highlight clips, live streaming, and more. OneFootball is backed by the biggest clubs in the world of football, such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, PSG, FC Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Chelsea FC, Arsenal London, Olympique de Marseille, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus, Torino and the German Football Federation. OneFootball partners with over 200 clubs, leagues, federations, players and broadcasters to bring their content to the OneFootball Platform across 194 markets, and with a video distribution network that includes around 250 premium publishers partners globally.
For more information, please visit: https://company.onefootball.com/