AWS and Salesforce team up to help content distributors deliver better streaming services

Amazon Web Services and Salesforce are teaming up with a bundle of new services for content distributors that want to improve their direct-to-consumer video and live streaming services. 

The joint offering promises to deliver high-quality video streaming technology, access to viewer data and feedback analysis tools. Combined, these tools can help content distributors provide audiences with personalized content, as well as interactive and varied viewing experiences. They can also make it easier to make content delivery more profitable.

Streaming services surged in popularity over the past couple of years, while the COVID-19 pandemic largely kept people on their couches. According to Nielson, time spent streaming increased by almost 75% in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of streaming subscribers in the US doubled from Q1 2019 to Q4 2020.

It’s not just media companies offering direct-to-consumer video streaming services. Businesses in verticals like retail and fitness are also leveraging video streaming as a means of reaching customers.   

Still, keeping viewers happy and engaged is always a challenge, and it will be increasingly difficult as the pandemic subsides. 

Also: Best video streaming service: Top 11 services

“Attracting and retaining a diverse audience while delivering consistent, high-quality video is one of the key challenges content distributors face today,” Christopher Dean, VP and GM of Salesforce’s Media & Entertainment Cloud, said in a statement. The new offering with AWS, he added, should “to further help studios, streamers, publications, and other distributors quench consumers’ thirst for personalized content.”

The companies said in an announcement that Salesforce and AWS are already working with NBC Universal while adding that their new offering is designed for content distributors “of all shapes and sizes.”

Salesforce is bringing subscriber lifecycle management capabilities to the table via the  Salesforce Customer 360 and Media Cloud. AWS, meanwhile, delivers media, data, analytics, AI and machine learning capabilities. 

Here’s a rundown of what their combined capabilities mean for content distributors: 

• A way to offer personalized content for viewers. A subscription streaming service could, for example, recommend that a car-loving subscriber tune into upcoming pay-per-view content like a professional car racing championship. The AWS/Salesforce service would assist with the integration of new content delivery models, like live streaming, on top of existing subscription services.
• Useful insights into viewers. Content distributors will be able to track and analyze the ways subscribers engage with content, such as their likes and dislikes on specific content recommendations.
• A configurable platform for adding commerce-driven experiences and targeted ad placements. For example, a brand could add product placement into a video stream, enabling the viewer to purchase that product at the same time they’re watching a video.