CASE STUDY

Demand Africa chose Simplestream to power a set of OTT services to promote the very best of Afro-centric food, culture, and lifestyle entertainment, globally. Established as a premium destination for the aforementioned programming, Demand Africa is present worldwide with the objective to provide African citizens resident outside of the country to watch content and through on demand video and live linear streaming.

Simplestream was tasked to provide Demand Africa with a comprehensive end-to-end solution, to facilitate the operational workflow when managing premium content for distribution, and to provide the existing audiences with an array of applications, across multiple platforms and operative systems. Operating as a subscription-based video service, the client included monthly and annual plans as part of the business model, including free trials and a referral scheme to reward customers’ loyalty.

Simplestream deployed its core products – Media Manager and App Platform – to power a robust set of OTT and streaming services from the backend to the frontend respectively. The online video platform is integral to the content management, from categorisation to presentation, allowing Demand Africa to streamline the operation with on demand assets that include movies, box sets, and documentaries. The deployment of the services through App Platform includes all the rich features that are part of the Simplestream’s offering, among which device flow for authentication, continue watching, play next, etc..

Beside the management for the VOD proposition, Simplestream ingests a live stream provided by Amagi. Demand Africa can easily manage the live stream through the dedicated Media Manager module, with options to configure geo restrictions or other options. As part of the SVOD business model chosen as the backbone of the service, Demand Africa offers free trials for users to test the platform before committing to a plan. Most importantly, the operator required an integration for referral schemes. Simplestream integrated SaaSquatch, among the most advanced providers for loyalty and referral programs. This particular strategy empowers Demand Africa to grow the customer base through referrals.

Simplestream helped Demand Africa to launch on web, iOS, Android, Roku, FireTV, tvOS, Android TV with out-of-the-box applications easily manage via Media Manager as a backend. The array of apps developed was key to Demand Africa to expand the audience reach worldwide, delivering premium on demand content and live linear streaming to subscribers.