Watch television your way with Stievie's over-the-top (OTT) content delivery platform

Platform Architecture

Media and broadcasting were some of the first industries that felt the huge impact of digital and mobile. A product like Stievie originated from several interesting evolutions. The first is technology. Stievie is an over-the-top (OTT) content delivery platform. As broadband internet has become the norm and the number of connected devices has exploded, TV networks such as Medialaan are no longer solely reliant on cable operators to get their content to viewers, effectively allowing them to cut out the middleman.

This is also a win for the consumer (and the second evolution that led to Stievie): people want to consume media on multiple devices like tablets and smartphones. Media consumption on digital devices has been growing 150% year-over-year and encompasses both short-form (clips) and long-form content (entire shows). A multi-device platform like Stievie allows TV networks to reach their viewers on all household devices.

The last evolution that demands networks to take drastic action is a shift in consumer attitudes. While TV as a medium has not really changed that much over the past decades, people have. A growing number of (younger) consumers are not accustomed to traditional, linear television. They want to watch shows or features on their own time and at their own pace. It is the on-demand generation that is not (or no longer) willing to pay a fixed fee for a fixed number of networks with a fixed schedule. Networks need to adapt to these “cable-cutters” and “cable-nevers”, or they risk losing them to cheaper (and more exhaustive) newcomers like Netflix or YouTube (Red).

‘It has been a pleasure to work with a company like In The Pocket for the last 2 years. All very passionate people with the right mindset, knowledge and skills. They are part of the Stievie team and together we are building a wonderful product that will change the future TV experience.’
Kim Boghe, Product Owner Stievie

Stievie offers free television on pc, tablet and smartphone, both live and on demand. It can stream content to seven channels on the go and offers a 6-day backlog. Stievie is made to watch and experience tv your way. The interface is designed to give every type of user the ultimate watching experience:

  • The home screen cleanly displays the current live content so you can dive into the tv experience right away
  • Tuned in a little late? No problem. Stievie allows you to rewind video on demand as well as live streams
  • The program library gives you instant access to everything available on Stievie. Browsing through this catalog will easily keep you binge-watching for hours straight
  • On top of that, you can easily mark your favourite shows so you’ll always have them up-front and highlighted in your Stievie experience

The platform runs three types of advertising: pre-rolls, mid-rolls and post-rolls. Ads are also personalised on user level. Basic user data is fed through an SDK, serving up ads that are more likely to be relevant to the user. When you rewind a tv show or movie, Stievie will not replay an ad but rather just continue its stream, offering a more pleasurable experience with fewer ads.

The results

Stievie Free is a fixed value in every household. The app has been installed over 220.000 times which results in 1 million views per month. The iOS and Android versions received 3 out of 5 stars in the App and Google Play Store

What holds the future?

Stievie FREE has a great roadmap ahead, as Medialaan heeded our advice to ‘build it, ship it and then tweak it’. These interesting newbies are set to be released in 2017:

  • Cast Stievie to Apple TV, Chromecast and Smart TV
  • Record shows and watch offline
  • Stream content from 28 channels

Our approach

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