Streaming and sports, a great love story! The LNV has chosen Kinow and its OTT Bee solution to optimize its streaming site and the broadcasting of the national league games.
What would sport be without fans? If you plan to create a streaming platform to broadcast matches and other sports content, the fan experience must be at the heart of your strategy. To satisfy your audience, you must first select an OTT solution adapted to your needs. Indeed, it is by choosing a stable, complete and easy-to-use streaming solution that you will be able to exploit its full potential to attract and retain users. Today we explain why the French National Volleyball League (LNV) selected Bee propelled by Kinow solution to optimize its platform and to offer a new experience to volleyball fans.
Choose an OTT solution adapted to sports streaming
Four years! It’s been four years now since the LNVtv platform launched. The streaming website was already starting to get known among volleyball fans, and this year the LNV organized an important call for tenders to meet new needs and optimize the user experience. Very quickly, we started to support the LNV. What were the first elements that motivated this choice? First of all, the League was looking for a service provider with teams based in France; able to transform the platform in record time and at a competitive cost. The LNV also needed a complete solution that was easy to use and fully interoperable to facilitate connection with other solutions: a capture solution, a sports data management solution, etc. At the same time, the League's teams wanted a stable and secure solution. These elements are very important to us. That's why Bee is hosted in the cloud and we use different AWS services to offer a robust solution to our customers: these services are related to the server and the database, as well as the storage of the files, with the objective of guaranteeing a secure broadcast. We want our customers to have full confidence in our solution. In fact, we have passed two certifications to become a member of the AWS Partner Network (APN).
Beyond these first "generic" arguments, the LNV wanted to use a solution adapted to sports streaming especially in terms of monetization. In fact, on the old version of the LNVtv, the League's teams could not implement all the pricing strategies they wanted. With Bee, the LNV continues to offer a freemium model: part of the content is free (after authentication) and part is fee-based. However, the monetization possibilities can now go even further as it is possible to offer a different price depending on the video quality. Monetization is an important component of your platform's success and it is one of the key axes that the LNV follows to develop its streaming service.
Finally, to facilitate the management of their sports-dedicated platform, the LNV teams have been convinced by our CRM. Indeed, with Bee, our customers can define the accesses of all the people who will manage their platform. It is possible to build a real access rights architecture. This allows the LNV to provide access to different stakeholders: the company in charge of the capture solution, for example, but also, in the future, it might give access to the different clubs so that they can manage their content autonomously.
… and improve user experience
The first elements that the LNV wanted to work on in terms of fan experience were the platform's aesthetic and navigation. Needless to say, the League's teams first wanted to personalize the streaming platform with the LNV colors, in order to attract the fans immediately. The League also wanted to offer a user-friendly streaming service. Thanks to Bee, volleyball fans can now use a search bar to access all the content related to a player, a coach, etc. Thus, after a simple search, all the videos associated with the career of a player, a coach, etc., are displayed on a dedicated page.
By using Bee solution, the LNV can offer a wide variety of content. First of all, the platform broadcasts matches. These are available live and on demand (VOD). Even if this was already the case on the old streaming service, the live experience has been considerably revised and optimized. For this part, we use dedicated AWS services: the AWS Elemental MediaLive service which allows to broadcast live content on a one-off basis (for example for an event) or on a linear basis (for a 24/7 channel), and the AWS Elemental MediaPackage service thanks to which we can package and encode the video stream to protect it from piracy. Our goal is to provide an optimal and secure viewing experience. With Bee solution, we enable the LNV to broadcast a large number of lives simultaneously. There is a wide choice of live streams and volleyball fans can watch up to four lives at the same time. In short, on its platform, the LNV has decided to offer a mosaic of lives so that fans can switch from one match to another. In parallel, the LNV is also starting to develop volleyball-related programs in order to build loyalty among its community beyond the championship matches.
The last aspect we worked on with the LNV is the multi-screen experience. Indeed, thanks to Bee, volleyball fans are able to cast content on their TV. At the same time, the League relied on us to develop a mobile application (iOS and Android). Fans can therefore access quality content on their PC, TV (by casting content) and on mobile. Note that users can also make any payment related to the platform directly from their mobile as the LNV has decided to allow in-app payments.
"The LNV is working every day to rebuild its digital offering. The OTT platform modernization project was one of our priorities in order to offer a new experience to volleyball fans. That's why we decided to rely on the Kinow team's expertise in this field. This choice is even more important as we are delighted to work with French Tech."
Yves BOUGET - President, LNV
"For sports organizations and especially for sports Leagues, streaming has become a real opportunity since the Covid period that we have experienced. It is an incredible asset to federate a community, build audience loyalty and benefit from a new source of revenue. The redesign of the LNV platform is a great example of success. Thanks to our solution, up to twenty simultaneous live matches are available to users as well as all replays and exclusive content automatically adapted to each user's preferences in order for them to follow their favorite competitions and teams."
Pierre ANTOINE - Kinow's Business Unit Director, Alpha Networks Group
Choosing an OTT solution is a key step for your streaming project. Daily platform management, audience acquisition and retention, etc., there are many aspects to take into account. With Bee, you benefit from advanced features in a simple and ready-to-use solution. As a result, you can launch your business quickly and stand out in highly competitive markets. To learn more about the LNV case study, about our Bee SaaS solution or to start being supported by our teams, contact us.
About LNVtv
The first LNV streaming service was launched in 2018. Since September 2022, it's a whole new platform; a whole new experience that is offered to volleyball fans. On the LNV streaming website, fans can find the top men’s and women’s French Volleyball Leagues (Ligue A masculine, Ligue A féminine and Ligue B masculine). Between live and on-demand videos, free catalog and paid contents, matches and programs (to come), on PC, television or mobile, the LNVtv is getting a new look for the greatest happiness of its fans. Another little anecdote? The LNV would like to broadcast other competitions one day, like the French Volleyball Cup or the Champions League. Stay tuned. Access the LNVtv platform.