NWSL Media – a joint venture between the National Women’s Soccer League and A+E Networks – has selected Simplestream’s Cloud TV platform to deliver its multiscreen streaming service for the US’ premier women’s football league.
The platform has been designed to provide an end-to-end service, including live-streaming, live-to-VoD and VoD capabilities within a unified workflow.
Over 120 live matches per season are streamed outside the US to international audiences in HD, with embedded real-time sports data provided by Opta. Whilst watching, fans can view synchronised scores, line-ups, play-by-play and box score data across desktop and mobile platforms.
Browser-based editing simplifies the creation of in-game highlights, including one-click publishing to NWSL properties and social media sites. Post-game, Opta data is used to automate the creation of match replays.
Comprehensive online video platform (OVP) functionality including multi-bitrate encoding, HTML5 video player, image management and publishing rules are supplemented with advanced metadata management, including the ability to tag videos to any team, game or player. Integrated metadata from Opta, provides NWSL editors with a fast and efficient way to publish video clips.
“NWSL Media called upon Simplestream to help build great digital platforms for the National Women’s Soccer League’s passionate fan base,” said Evan Silverman, EVP, Digital Media, A+E Networks. “With their end-to-end OTT expertise, Simplestream delivered under intense time pressure, and we’re pleased to now have improved digital services and platforms to showcase the talented NWSL players.”
Dan Finch, CCO, Simplestream, added: “The NWSL has grown considerably, and this service provides soccer fans with the opportunity to enjoy much more live and recorded action plus in-depth stats to interact with.”
“This partnership enables the NWSL to provide its rapidly growing fan base with one of the most cutting-edge, interactive global live streaming sports services available today.”
