Synamedia just announced Senza, a new white label cloud-based streaming platform aiming to simplify the complexity associated with traditional application development, deployment, and integration for streaming content delivery. Parks Associates research, conducted in partnership with Symphony MediaAI, finds that companies that own or aggregate television and video assets report distributing their content, on average, across 18 platforms. In a market where application development can be costly, slow, and highly fragmented, streaming providers seek solutions that can streamline the process.
Synamedia’s approach is to push all of the streaming work away from the edge device and into the cloud, so the edge device can be absolutely bare bones, and low cost. By simply providing a URL for a company’s web application, Senza can launch an app in a matter of hours – sometimes minutes. The company estimates it can achieve a reduction of up to 90% of onboarding costs for a streaming service. The “cloud connector” hardware associated with the Senza platform is just $6. At that price, Synamedia expects that telcos, content owners, and other media players will provide the device for free to consumers along the model of set-top boxes today.
Synamedia is taking aim at the economics of streaming delivery. Dominant CTV platforms take control over crucial components such as data delivery and measurement, and ad and content placement, while taking a share of subscription and ad revenue. Instead, Synamedia puts the control back into the hands of developers and content owners, taking no revenue share, charging instead for cloud costs plus its service fees.
It also frees streaming providers from walled garden ecosystems with limited metrics and control. The higher level of control allows content providers to notify users of live events, or offer custom notifications for individuals in specific cities, states, or counties. These features can help to drive up attention and increase user engagement without requiring users to install or update apps. Plus, with privacy in mind, Synamedia promises that Senza will not collect personal consumer data, further differentiating the device from competitors by limiting vulnerabilities and establishing a position of trust with customers.
Additional Senza features announced by Synamedia include:
- The ability to watch multiple events simultaneously, such as four sports games at once (with even the ability to pause one while the others continue to play).
- Powered by AI, Senza augments content thumbnails with moving features within the artwork as viewers scroll through the interface’s carousel.
- Support for gesture control and smart home integration so that users can control the lights, look at the traffic report, and check the outcome of last night’s game all in the same place.
Parks Associates research finds 41% of those intending to purchase a Smart TV rank the ability to control smart home devices and see camara feeds on the screen a “top 5” desired feature.
Ultimately, Senza is designed for flexibility, simplicity, and efficiency – all three of which are highly desired in today’s complicated, costly, and fragmented landscape. The Senza approach parallels the old set-top-box model but with IP delivery and promised efficiencies. Streaming players are desperately seeking to keep costs down and boost revenues in the mounting pressure to turn a profit, so a new delivery system that does away with subscription and ad revenue shares will be attractive. Still, user acceptance of yet another streaming box in the home and need to learn yet another user interface will need to be proven out. Synamedia’s plans to work with hospitality clients may be a particularly good fit, and shared learnings from its early deployments with SuperCloud International would help ecosystem players gain confidence in the Senza approach.
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