Digital Theatre chooses Simplestream, expands across multiple platforms with TVOD and live events

London, 21/06/2022 - Simplestream has been selected by Digital Theatre to create the theatre industry’s first full digital lifecycle distribution model, from Pay-per-view Live and Pay-per-view as-live, to content available on Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD), Rentals, and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD).

With Digital Theatre, each production fully embraces the latest technology to deliver to the end-user the magic of the theatre experience as if witnessed from the front row of a theatre. The service brings together world-class theatre productions – such as Richard Armitage in The Crucible, and David Tennant & Catherine Tate in Much Ado About Nothing – as well as musical theatre, opera, ballet, and classical music. It puts together the sector’s first full digital lifecycle distribution platform: from Pay-per-view live streaming and as-live productions, through to SVOD and Rental TVODs. To enable viewers to watch at a time and place convenient to them, on everything from personal devices to TVs, the Digital Theatre free-to-download apps have launched across desktop, Android, iOS, and Amazon Fire TV, with Roku and many other platforms in development.

Digital Theatre leverages Simplestream’s proprietary App Platform, the fully managed, end-to-end solution supporting a range of monetisation models, that now supports Event Video-on-demand (EVOD) in addition to one-off Pay-per-view events, TVOD rentals and SVOD viewing. Digital Theatre can control both the price and rental period, defined as transaction tiers, delivering greater choice for the end users, discounted rentals for subscribers, and rewarding loyal customers. Traditional subscription models, with monthly and annual packages are also available to audiences.

Commenting on the successful launch, Simplestream’s Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder, Dan Finch, said:

“Our work with Digital Theatre brought to life an exciting project that we completed during lockdown. Firstly, we worked on the migration of the existing database. We then created a solid infrastructure that included TVOD, SVOD and Pay-per-view functionality for Digital Theatre’s premium offering, allowing the end-user to purchase both subscriptions and single rentals of theatre events, avoiding expensive app store commissions and providing more revenue to Digital Theatre’s premium partners.”

Digital Theatre’s General Manager, Stuart Barr, said:

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Simplestream to develop the next stage of our full digital-lifecycle distribution platform. In doing so, we will continue to build out a world-class platform that increases engagement, driving subscriptions and sales, and providing best-in-class access to the widest range of premium theatre productions.”

The launch follows similar projects Simplestream has recently undertaken for global broadcasters and content owners like A+E Networks, AMC Networks, TN Marketing’s Craftsy, GB News, Narrative, and News UK.

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Media contact

To arrange an in-person briefing or to find out more about this project, please contact Marco Lorenzi at marco.lorenzi@simplestream.com or +44(0)20 7 930 7809.