Solutions.
At Velocity Matters, a solution is not a solution until it truly solves a problem. And most problems are born out of need. That's why we focus on being problem finders and solvers. Whether it’s the front-end user experience or backend functionality.
I want my interactive TV
Telecom video platforms are white-hot. Here’s why. After years of battling it out for the three-tier play, the legacy culture of telecommunications is shifting. It’s no longer enough to provide a phone, Internet and TV bundle. The consumer is seeking a more meaningful in-home viewer experience.
At the forefront of this culture shift is interactive TV. And Velocity Matters founding partner, Adrian Pittman, played a key role in anticipating the trend’s hard-hitting impact a few years back. Today, this shift is not only taking hold but also turning a corner. Moving forward, creative content-makers will reign supreme in deciding the consummate telecommunications crown.
May the market force be with you
Teaming up with an established content provider of real-estate shows, Adrian came in with a strong vision of telecom’s next generation, including the interactive viewer experience. So his playbook now features how to transform a specialty television offering into an interactive broadcast. The technology design directive: to create a real-estate program that attracts high audience participation and integrates one-on-one with emerging video platforms such as Verizon’s FiOS® and AT&T’s U-verse SM.
Problem-solving in three dimensions
To carry forward his project vision, Adrian first imagines the end-user experience. It should feel like the viewer is conversing with the program saying, “Here’s what’s most meaningful to me,” and the show responds with content matched accordingly. The information-rich experience is custom built, featuring the requested real estate listings, local facts and points of interest, and relevant sponsor messaging. Most interactive of all, with a few controller clicks, the viewer can request up-to-the minute additional details or program refinements. Adrian’s three-dimensional process unfolds, using the steps that follow.
Begin with a clearly defined project vision: How to create a real estate show that plays like elegant software – one that’s available on-demand, geographically sensitive and, most important of all, engaging to the viewer.
Show the finished product to the engineers: To ensure seamless integration of the viewing experience, the engineers fully appreciate how the real-estate program looks and feels before any technology requirements are defined or any coding begins. This becomes key to the project’s dynamic flow, and is essential when managing creative and development teams across three locations – New York, California and Mumbai.
Address real-world concerns when putting parameters in place: How to provide a premium interactive real-estate experience that needs to be fiercely location-sensitive but nationally available through existing broadcast lines.
Riding the momentum
Adrian’s vision and three-dimensional problem solving result in an innovative technology solution that:
- Provides information-rich content, including multi-media listings paired with graphics, audio and video
- Paces the rate and amount of data sets transmitted to avoid vulnerabilities, ensuring that the video plays seamlessly and uninterrupted
- Features a powerful combination of hardware and software components including a centralized content database, head-end location-based servers, and specialty applications to interact with set-top box middleware and content rendering systems.
The result: Shows are dynamically created to present the most meaningful viewer experience. It’s a seamless marriage of multiple data sources delivered in real-time, relevant to the viewer’s location and presented in a format that’s visually engaging. The telecommunications culture is shifting, and creative content providers who make the interactive TV play are destined to not only survive, but also thrive. 