Transcoding Vertical Videos With Inhouse Developed Transcoder, What is FFmpeg? Usage, Benefits, and Installation Simplified, Latest OTT News and more
OTTVerse Newsletter #59
Hi everyone, and welcome back to the OTTVerse newsletter.
This week, we present:
Latest OTT News
Transcoding Vertical Videos With Inhouse Developed Transcoder
What is FFmpeg? Usage, Benefits, and Installation Simplified
And more!
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Latest OTT News
JioStar Reports Rs 10,006 Crore in Gross Revenue, JioHotstar Crosses 100 Million Paid Users - JioStar, the company formed after the merger of Reliance’s media business and the India unit of Walt Disney, announced its financial results on 25th April.
Netflix Reports $10.54B in Q1 Revenue - Netflix started 2025 on a strong note, reporting first-quarter revenue of $10.54 billion, slightly ahead of analyst expectations, which stood at $10.52 billion.
YouTube Celebrates 20 Years With New Features and Big Numbers - YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, is celebrating a major milestone its 20th birthday. Launched in 2005, the platform started with a short clip called “Me at the Zoo,” uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim.
Warner Bros. Discovery Launches Profile Sharing Feature for Max - Warner Bros. Discovery is the latest streaming company to crack down on password sharing. The company has officially launched a new Extra Member Add-On feature for Max subscribers in the U.S.
beIN Sports Extends UEFA Broadcast Rights Across MENA and Asia Until 2027 - beIN Media Group has announced it will continue broadcasting the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Women’s Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League until the end of the 2026/27 season.
Canal+ Sees Q1 Revenue Rise to €1.55 Billion, Driven by Content Hits and Global Expansion - French pay-TV operator Canal+ is the 1.5% upwards in the first quarter of 2025 for its revenue which stands now at €1.547 billion.
VICE Media Acquires UK-Based Cuba Pictures to Boost Scripted Content Production - VICE Media has acquired Cuba Pictures, a well-known British film and television production company, from the Curtis Brown Group one of the top literary and talent agencies in the UK.
Banijay in Early Talks to Acquire ITV or ITV Studios - On Monday, the Financial Times reported that French production powerhouse Banijay Group is in very early discussions about a possible bid.
TelevisaUnivision Avoids Tariff Impact, Posts Q1 2025 Profit - On April 24th, 2025, CEO Daniel Alegre explained that the company’s content produced in Mexico and imported into the United States is safe from the potential tariffs because it isn’t considered a physical product.
Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Comics Beat Superman Copyright Lawsuit in U.S. Court - Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Comics will not have to face a lawsuit in the United States over the rights to Superman, following a court ruling that dismissed the case
Peacock Grows to 41M Subscribers as Comcast Sees Mixed Q1 Results - Comcast, the company behind NBCUniversal and Peacock, has reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2025.
Air France Adds Canal+ Shows to In-Flight Entertainment Starting May 2025 - Air France is taking its in-flight entertainment to the next level with a brand-new partnership with French media giant Canal+.
Reshet 13 Management Takes Control in Major Buyout from Access Industries, WBD - Reshet 13, an Israeli television broadcaster, has finalised a management-led buyout with support from international media investors.
USA Defeats Canada in Overtime to Win 2025 Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship - At the 2025 IIHF Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship, Team USA won the gold medal after a close 4-3 overtime win against Canada, with Tessa Janecke scoring the decisive goal.
Euroleague Basketball Renews Long-Term Broadcast Deal with Israel’s Sports Channel - Euroleague Basketball has officially extended its media rights agreement with Israel’s Sports Channel, locking in exclusive broadcast rights for six more years until the end of the 2030–31 season.
Paramount+ Expands in Japan Through Lemino Streaming Deal - Paramount+ is making it easier for fans in Japan to access their favorite shows and movies, as the streaming platform has signed a new distribution deal with Lemino, a Japanese streaming service backed by NTT Docomo.
Transcoding Vertical Videos With Inhouse Developed Transcoder
Zee5 has seen a steady rise in the popularity of vertical (9:16) short-form videos, especially on mobile platforms. These videos, often under two minutes, are easy to consume and offer users a sense of quick completion. As demand grows, Zee5 handles a massive volume of such content daily. Until September 2024, they used a commercial managed transcoding service, which provided good quality but at a high cost. With Zee5 moving its infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform (GCP), the existing transcoding service was no longer compatible. Instead of switching to another costly commercial option, Zee5’s engineering team built a custom, in-house transcoder designed for speed, quality, and cost efficiency.
Sanchari Ganguly (Tech Lead), Rahul Banerjee (Principal Architect), and Suneel Khare (Senior VP) from Zee5 share how Zee5 tackled the growing demand for vertical video content by developing an in-house transcoding solution, and the team efficiently scaled video processing while significantly reducing costs - https://ottverse.com/transcoding-vertical-videos-with-inhouse-developed-transcoder/
What is FFmpeg? Usage, Benefits, and Installation Simplified
FFmpeg is a free and powerful tool that helps you work with videos and audio files. It’s used by professionals and beginners alike to do a variety of tasks like cutting, converting, compressing, and editing media files. Whether you want to resize a video, remove background noise, add text, or just convert a video from one format to another FFmpeg can do it all.
Installing FFmpeg is easy. Whether you're using Windows, Mac, or Linux, you can get it running in just a few steps. On Mac and Linux, it can even be installed with a single command. And for those who need a custom setup, FFmpeg can also be built from scratch. People use FFmpeg for many different reasons. It can help you extract frames from videos to create thumbnails, rotate or reverse videos, blur footage, add effects, and more. It’s also great for combining multiple videos or turning a group of images into a video. Besides editing, FFmpeg is useful for reducing file sizes, which helps in faster loading and saving storage space. It also supports almost every video and audio format you can think of, making it extremely versatile.
Krishna Rao Vijayanagar, Founder, OTTVerse, share details on how to use FFmpeg for video editing, compression, and playback, highlighting its versatility and ease of use across platforms - https://ottverse.com/what-is-ffmpeg-installation-use-cases/
The End
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