woomi’s smart Samsung move
February 4, 2011
By Colin Mann
Cloud-based video distribution platform Miniweb has confirmed that woomi, its connected TV destination, is now live across the UK on all Samsung smart TVs that feature the Internet@TV portal.
The UK launch marks the beginning of woomi’s European rollout. By mid 2011, Miniweb predicts woomi to be on more than half of the world’s connected TVs.
“We encourage publishers and device manufacturers to embrace connected TV. This is the future of TV and that is why we have created a unique marketplace for them. We are not streaming video or acquiring rights, but are acting as an agent or retailer. We enable our content partners to keep their brand identity and business model, and promote and monetise their content on as many TVs as possible,” explained Jerome de Vitry, CEO, Miniweb.
He stressed that woomi wasn’t aiming to replicate the web experience for TV, and described the initiative as a “reshuffling of the value chain in the way TV is delivered,” adding that ultimately, people will want to watch their content on every device. “We’re enabling place shifting,” he said.
“Internet-delivered entertainment has taken a new step forward,” declared Miniweb Founder and Chief Architect Ian Valentine. “But as you enable the large volumes of mid-tail content , you need to be able to quickly find what’s relevant. Viewers need to be empowered, making the organising of content as easy as possible,” he said, pointing out that the user’s viewing profile belongs in the cloud, rather than the device.
By registering their content with woomi, publishers get immediate access to an exponentially expanding base of consumers with woomi-enabled TV devices. Woomi allows them total control and the ability to personalise the user experience with their brand and business models. It also offers a complete monetisation solution through either single-click secure end-user payments or advertising.
Miniweb says that woomi provides an effective solution for TV device manufacturers and operators looking to expand video content to hundreds of publishers on connected TVs, set top boxes, Blu-ray players and gaming consoles. The system is enhanced with user-friendly functions such as search’ discovery, recommendations, personalisation and single click payment.