
Agama has a long history when it comes to device integrations. For more than a decade we've dealt with projects of all sizes/lengths. With every completed milestone, and even more with every obstacle, we've been steadily building up the knowledge required to succeed.
What are the plugins?One of the key parts of understanding the satisfaction of your users is to assess the quality of experience for the services they consume, their engagement, the type of content they like to watch etc. Agama has an excellent track record in providing such insights, in fact, this is the core of what we do.
The implementations of these important KPIs historically included, among others, the following steps: agreement on the desired metrics set, investigation of the available metrics in the target platform, and integration of these metrics towards the Agama core agent. A lot of these steps were unique for every integration. This was partially due to different wishes from different customers, but mostly due to the unique characteristics of each of the target platforms.
With the growing popularity of OTT platforms and the rise of players such as ExoPlayer, Shaka Player or AV Player, the target platforms became increasingly similar between integrations. The shift from everything is custom to common platforms and players enabled Agama to step outside its domain. We started actively investigating players and platforms, gathering knowledge about them, assessing what could be possible and feasible, and defining an absolute base of metrics that would benefit every customer. These are all implemented in what we call 'Player plugins .
The player plugins follow a few basic principles:
Agama develops and maintains the plugins
The plugins provide a good set of metrics, making them usable directly
No Agama domain knowledge is required for plugin integration - just a few, stable APIs are necessary
Ability to pass custom metrics to the plugin
Agama develops and maintains player plugins for most of the popular players, such as ExoPlayer, Shaka Player, AVPlayer, and for platforms such as Android, FireOS, iOS, tvOS, Chromecast, Browsers, WebOS, Tizen etc.
While the complete list of metrics differs slightly between plugins, they all share most of the metrics. Some of the features they have in common are:
QoS and QoE metrics
Device properties
Ability to understand asset consumption
Ability to understand playback errors (for instance, DRM errors)
Integration keep it simpleLet's take a closer look at what it takes to integrate Agama into your application. To make it as realistic as possible, let's use ExoPlayer as the target player and Android as the target platform.
ExoPlayer is currently one of the most popular players for Android. It is extremely customizable and flexible, yet easy to start with. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that it is used by everyone, from hobby enthusiasts to video operators and even YouTube.
RequirementsLet's start by describing what requirements and dependencies are needed to use the plugin in the first place. Players evolve quickly and so do their capabilities and APIs, and this truly applies to the ExoPlayer. Therefore, the plugin comes in multiple variants associated with various ExoPlayer minor versions. By using a relatively modern version, plugin-player compatibility should not be a problem.
Some metrics implemented by the plugin can be subject to platform permissions. These are not critical to have in any sense, but more on the good-to-have side and will only be included if permissions are granted. Also related to privacy issues, the plugin can be configured to skip certain sensitive metrics. Such information can be, for example, the collection of the device's longitude and latitude position.
Lastly, the plugin is to be included in the project as any other 3rd party library. And the empclient must be included in the same way as well.
Initialization and configuration stepsInitialize the plugin as early as possible. The plugin's lifetime shall reflect the application's lifetime. To initialize it, one needs an Agama configuration string. It is passed on to the Agama core agent - empclient, and includes information such as report heartbeat and the operator id. The configuration string is typically provided by Agama. The application properties such as the applications name and version are needed during initialization.
String agamaConfig =
emp_service=https://cdm1.company123.se/report;report_interval=60;id_report_interval=240;operator_id=fooSoo; ;
String appName = Company 123 Play App ;
String appVersion= 2.1 ;
// Initialize the plugin
EmpStats.getInstance().init(agamaConfig, Definitions.LogLevel.DEBUG, appName, appVersion, ExoPlayerLibraryInfo.VERSION, getApplicationContext());
Once the plugin instance is created, an account associated with the user should be set as well. This will enable (among other things) to find the customer in the Agama system by its account id.
// Set user account id for user John Doe
EmpStats.getInstance().setUserAccountId( johdo28 );
Monitoring videoNow the plugin is initialized, configured and sending data to the Agama backend. It's time to start monitoring the consumed assets. The user has switched to a new channel, started up an asset from the catchup library or simply opened a new episode of their favorite TV series. Opening any new asset shall be signaled to the plugin.
// Load asset & play
String assetUri= https://demo.agamatech.se/Manifest.m3u8 ;
EmpStats.getInstance().sessionOpen(assetUri, Definitions.AssetType.VOD, Sintel , player);
URI uri = uri.parse(assetUri);
player.setMediaItem(MediaItem.fromUri(uri), false);
player.prepare();
Analog to signaling the intent to start playing content, one needs to signal playback termination as well. There are two common ways of doing this: t
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
NBCU brings together News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo for a 50+ camera live pr...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
02/07/2026
Thursday 2 July 2026
Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen
Sky today confirms Tea with Judi Dench will return this su...
02/07/2026
Summer is heating up - and GeForce NOW is taking players along for the ride.
Start the month with Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, bringing a galaxy fa...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...