BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, March 13, 2023 – Pioneering streaming and podcast solutions provider StreamGuys is adding new tricks to its workflow management and ad insertion capabilities in time for NAB Show 2023. StreamGuys will unveil new video and audio conversions demos that prove how radio broadcasters can expand business models to visual radio and other video-centric workflows – and offer OTT service provides, video content creators, and other customers ways to replicate and monetize audio streams from their existing video streams.
“This is all about demonstrating the power of live stream and ad insertion marker conversions in both directions,” said Eduardo Martinez, Vice President of Technology for StreamGuys. “We continue to extend the reach of our SaaS suite, and our latest workflow conversion tools will automatically turn SCTE-35 video ad insertion markers to ID3 metadata markers used in some audio-only insertion tools. That offers video producers and broadcasters a very cost-effective way to deliver audio streams with dynamic ad insertions. From the opposite view, we can use our same workflow management technology to unleash traditional radio streams to serve more video-centric workflows, and help radio broadcasters expand their audiences.”
StreamGuys’ new video and audio conversion capabilities evolve from its SGrecast podcast management platform, which features tools to repurpose live streams as podcasts or rebroadcasts. Like SGrecast, StreamGuys’ SaaS toolset will automatically convert and republish live content, and expand their distribution and monetization footprint to reach new audiences.
However, while SGrecast is very much focused on helping the radio broadcaster repurpose live content for other audio segments or streams, StreamGuys’ new conversion tools are truly media-agnostic. This creates an entry point into OTT and FAST (free ad supported television) channel services for radio broadcasters, for example. “We want the radio broadcaster to look beyond getting their stream onto audio aggregation platforms, and start producing their traditional feeds with video platforms in mind,” said Martinez.
Martinez notes that StreamGuys is already working with a major over-the-air broadcast network in the United States to bring their TV content into the audio streaming landscape. “With our new SCTE-35 tools, we can now automatically identify SCTE-35 markers and turn those traditional TV broadcasts into audio feeds without having to run a separate encoder. They maintain all the efficiencies of the mid-roll markers they have already produced for TV ad insertions on the audio-only outputs. All the customer needs to do is provide us with a single public or third-party source stream, which we will then convert and output in the desired video and audio formats and maintain through our 24/7 support services.”
StreamGuys will once again have a presence on the ENCO booth (W1743, April 16-19, Las Vegas Convention Center), where the company will talk about their new conversion toolsets can integrate with visual radio, automation, captioning and other video/audio systems from ENCO and RUSHWORKS. StreamGuys will also provide demonstrations into other recent innovations, including its recently expanded SGcontrol Content Access Suite for access control, licensing and monetization. Introduced at NAB last year, StreamGuys announced a new API for SGcontrol in January that automates programming and functionality, accelerating the deployment of new streams, features and services.