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Eluvio CEO Touts Benefits of EluvioLIVE

The blockchain-based EluvioLIVE 4K streaming and ticketing platform for owner-controlled content distribution that Eluvio introduced in March at South by Southwest (SXSW) offers low-latency, owner-controlled content distribution that allows content owners to continually monetise their content, according to Michelle Munson, the multimedia software firm’s CEO and co-founder.

Speaking during the Audience, Insights & Evolution breakout presentation “EluvioLIVE: A Novel Streaming & Ticketing Platform Distributed Directly from Artists & Publishers” May 12 at the annual Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) Spring event, she noted that the new 4K service’s ticketing is “essentially controlled by the blockchain and that blockchain is in” the Eluvio Content Fabric platform.

It is that technology that “enables the premium streaming experience that is truly under the artist or publisher’s control in terms of the monetisation” offered by EluvioLIVE, she said.

The Eluvio Content Fabric has been used by Tier 1 media companies including MGM Studios and FOX Networks.

“When we think about online experiences today, particularly live, such as concerts and games… it’s mostly low quality or mediocre quality, very much limited by technology and is often a walled garden kind of environment,” Munson explained. “And, for the fans, it’s also difficult to really enjoy without having a hodgepodge between the logins, the e-commerce site and the streaming experience. And anybody who’s tried to watch these things… has seen this or experienced it directly.”

Importantly, it is “also expensive to do if you’re using traditional technology and it can be out of the publisher’s control,” she told viewers.

“The other problem… is that the big platforms that offer higher-quality experiences basically take the content and use it to monetise for their own advertising,” she pointed out, adding: “When we look at all of this, it’s basically a passive experience. It’s one that was built on technology that started about 20 years ago and we think is really ready for change.”

The platform that Eluvio “created is really about delivering the highest-possible quality in the video experience, having it be able to be dynamic and remonetisable and giving the monetisation control to the publisher,” she noted.

When it comes to higher quality, EluvioLIVE provides 4K/High Dynamic Range (HDR) to any device, no more re-buffering and a better fan experience, according to Eluvio. In announcing the service at SXSW, the company noted that it is available on mobile, browser, desktop, AppleTV and Roku.

By “dynamic content,” the company points out the service offers multiview feeds and content sequencing, there is no more “client-heavy delivery” and content providers that use it can fully engage fans.

And by “complete control,” the company says it provides 100% ownership of all the content, there are no more high costs and fans get the experience Eluvio’s customers want their fans to have.

When it comes to payment, “the tickets really are tokens,” Munson said, pointing to the fact that cryptocurrency is accepted as a form of payment for live streaming events.

Additionally, she said: “We have just gotten some of our core capabilities going around” non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and “we will be announcing one of our first major NFTs next week.”

Strong concert content has already been announced for the service, including Black Eyed Peas and Rita Ora is coming up also, she said.

During the Q&A, she was asked why Eluvio decided to launch EluvioLIVE.

“It was absolutely an organic thing, if you will, that really came out of convergence of our technology, what the Fabric can do and what happened in 2020,” she replied, adding: “The real impetus for this is this opportunity the content creates and the timing.” Eluvio was approached by music producers and screenwriters about such a service, she also noted.

“The Content Fabric platform is a novel approach that isn’t in a” Content Delivery Network (CDN), “it isn’t a cloud and it is truly content in a just-in-time network built for scale and real-time video,” she further explained.

“All of the identity of the content, its life cycle, is managed in the Fabric’s blockchain, which gives its rights directly in the content and that is really what powers all of this. It allows us to do live 4K with a much lower cost model than you would traditionally have with CDNs and clouds, and it also makes possible this continuous remonetisation from any of the dynamic versions of the content,” including for video on demand. Artists can also add things including royalties to the NFTs, she added.

To view the entire presentation, click here.

HITS Spring was presented by IBM Security with sponsorship by Genpact, Irdeto, Tata Consultancy Services, Convergent Risks, Equinix, MicroStrategy, Microsoft Azure, Richey May Technology Solutions, Tamr, Whip Media, Eluvio, 5th Kind, LucidLink, Salesforce, Signiant, Zendesk, EIDR, PacketFabric and the Trusted Partner Network.