Adobe Adds Features to Project Primetime Platform

Launches beta version with new Adobe MediaWeaver and Primetime Media Player components

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/15/2012 12:19:17 PM

Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced new features for its Project Primetime platform for the delivery and monetization of content across multiple platforms that include a new ad insertion service, Adobe MediaWeaver, and the Primetime Media Player.

Adobe has been rolling out new features for the Project Primetime platform all year and with the addition of these two components is now making a beta version of the technology available.

The company also noted that it was working with some large customers, whom it declined to name, on the beta version and the product will be widely available in the first quarter of 2013.

The Project Primetime solution is designed to help operators and programmers capitalize on the rapidly growing consumption of video on Internet-connected devices, notes Ashley Still, director, product management, video solutions, Adobe.

In a briefing, she cited projections that online TV and video advertising would hit $28.7 billion by 2017 and that some 480 million homes in 40 countries would be viewing TV and video content that year.

As an illustration of the shifting consumer demand, Still also noted that Adobe had seen the number of TV Everywhere video streams growing 10 times in the first six months of 2012 among its clients.

"We see this as a transformative opportunity" for the TV industry, noted Still, adding that "this is a huge opportunity for incumbent broadcast content providers or distributors."

But companies still faced a number of challenges in terms of device fragmentation, user experience and monetization that the completed version of Project Primetime was designed to solve.

The new components of the Project Primetime include Adobe MediaWeaver, which is a new ad insertion service that places ads into live, linear, and VOD content. Using new patent-pending technology, the company argues that it provides "unparalleled control, flexibility and user experiences" that also includes extensive features for targeting and reporting on audiences.

The second new component, Primetime Media Player, allows TV content owners and distributors to rely on a single workflow for content preparation, rights management and streaming to eliminate platform fragmentation challenges and maximize reach, Still noted.

The player is also designed to reduce costs by tightly integrating with all Primetime components including Adobe SiteCatalyst, Adobe AudienceManager and Adobe Auditude.