VuClip integrates Bitmovin video encoder on Google Cloud

VuClip Integrates Bitmovin’s Cloud Agnostic Video Encoder on Google Cloud

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Bitmovin, a global leader in online streaming video technology, today announced that VuClip, one of the largest technology-driven media companies in the world that delivers on-demand entertainment to emerging markets, has achieved scalable, high-performance video encoding with Bitmovin on Google Cloud. The deployment is part of a new Bitmovin service offering, ‘Bitmovin Cloud Connect,’ that enables over-the-top (OTT) content providers such as VuClip to deploy the company’s cloud-agnostic encoding solution on all existing cloud platforms.

VuClip delivers on-demand entertainment to over 42 million monthly active users in emerging markets such as India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The media company needed a single cloud-agnostic encoding solution that could be deployed quickly on any cloud platform and improve cost efficiencies. VuClip chose to deploy Bitmovin’s cloud-based encoding solution on Google Cloud because the combination of technologies enabled the company to reduce time to market for its video assets in incredible time and significantly reduced costs to meet its infrastructure, storage, and Content Delivery Network (CDN) needs.

Bitmovin was able to achieve scalable high-performance encoding on Google Cloud by increasing VuClip’s probability of securing and using preemptive virtual machines (VM). Bitmovin does this through segmented transcoding which enables VuClip to utilize Google Cloud virtual machines in parallel and reduce the cost of encoding. Bitmovin’s API is designed to efficiently move data with varying amounts of excess capacity so that less data is stored and less bandwidth used to distribute acceptable, high quality video across CDN to diverse audiences.

Bitmovin Connect on Google Cloud has enabled the following for VuClip:

• A significant cost reduction by utilizing preemptive VMs rather than static VMs, which can be very costly when dealing with volume transcoding;
• Increased probability of utilizing preemptive VMs by using segmented transcoding;
• A 35% cost efficiency for VuClip by using Bitmovin’s segmented transcoding capabilities.

“VuClip needed a sophisticated encoding solution capable of delivering quality video assets at scale and cost-efficiently,” said Praveen Singh, Technical Product Manager, VuClip. “Bitmovin’s cloud-agnostic encoding solution enabled VuClip to deliver the highest quality video in industry-leading time and resulting in significant bandwidth and storage cost savings. This translates to a better viewing experience for our mobile and diverse audiences, including those in emerging markets where bandwidth is already scarce,” Singh added.

“In order to glean the cost savings that preemptive VMs can produce, media companies need a sophisticated system that can keep track of preempted VMs and redistribute the workload to ensure every encoding job is complete,” said Kip Schauer, Global Head of Media & Entertainment, Gaming Partnerships, Google Cloud. “The Bitmovin API is clever and can manage preempted VMs. With speed efficiencies already built into various encoding touchpoints such as the codec, parallelism, per-title, and three-pass encoding, Bitmovin on Google Cloud can help improve the user experience and speed up the encoding process. Ultimately, Bitmovin on Google Cloud provides ease of use and mind for streaming service providers that exercise large workloads in different regions.”

“Bitmovin is thrilled to offer our cloud-agnostic encoding solution that scales the encoding needs of streaming service providers such as VuClip, running on Google Cloud,” said Stefan Lederer, CEO and Co-founder, Bitmovin. “Bitmovin’s innovative encoding methods are at the core of everything we do. We’re continually working closely with customers like VuClip to enhance our robust solutions that enable competitive advantages with the fastest, most efficient delivery of content from the studio to the end viewer.”

The Bitmovin encoding solution is cloud-agnostic and supports multiple codecs such as H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP8, VP9, and AV1. It also offers advanced features such as per-title and three-pass encoding to guarantee that the streaming service is providing the lowest possible bitrate on video assets. These features ensure the delivery of video despite bandwidth restrictions. Bitmovin also releases SDKs that developers can customize enabling flexibility and fastest time to market.