Queensland Rugby League Taps Layercake, DoubleTake Sports, Enveu for OTT Tech Stack By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Monday, May 20, 2024 - 8:00 am
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Rugby League is one of Australia's top sports and when Queensland Rugby League's Qplus.tv OTT streaming platform and when it came to finding the right technology partner Tom Mitchell, Senior Content and Broadcast Manager, Queensland Rugby League, says Layercake was the right fit to meet the technical and business needs of the service.
Layercake has helped Queensland Rugby League offer a top-notch streaming service.
We needed a partner that had an established track record for quality and timely deliverables and from the outset, we knew that Layercake was the partner for us, he says. They really are the subject matter experts when it comes to sport, video, production, digital publishing and distribution and, despite our very tight launch deadline, we knew we were in safe hands.
Qplus.tv is a subscription service where users can purchase a weekly, monthly, or annual subscription, granting them unlimited access to the platform. Some of the featured game content is also free-to- view for users who sign up to use the platform while every game of every state-wide competition - including the flagship Hostplus Cup - is streamed live and on demand on Qplus.tv alongside select regional and community content.
Layercake's Media Orchestration and Automation platform, Streamcake forms the backbone of Qplus.tv. The solution makes QRL's elite match content available live for their fans and provides sponsors and partners with unique commercialization opportunities.
Layercake, together with partner DoubleTake Sports delivered an end-to-end streaming operation for QRL. DoubleTake Sports managed the master control room and production while Layercake provided the technical solution and wider OTT platform offering.
Layercake tasked with creating the end-to-end definition of requirements as well as design of a UX, key integrations, infrastructure, security, and more. The solution needed to be reliable, cost-effective and delivered within a very tight timeframe of one month ahead of the start of the 2024 season. The new solution for Qplus.tv also needed to have additional functionality including subscription tracking and user metrics; commercialization of assets; integration with existing partners and technology; and asset migration.
Layercake's award-winning Media Orchestration and Automation Platform, Streamcake forms the backbone of Qplus.tv. Streamcake delivers cost-effective streaming solutions using a unique approach that enables clients to BYO' their own infrastructure and tailor their media workflows. Smart and seamless, Streamcake has enabled live and video-on-demand streaming of the QRL competitions via AWS media services. Streamcake can also integrate and automate other media services infrastructure and platforms.
Streamcake is the best automated streaming solution we have seen on the market, adds Mitchell.
Robert Matthews, Managing Director of DoubleTake Sports, says Layercake led the development of the new Qplus.tv with technical and operational excellence, working with multiple stakeholders, resulting in the deployment of a rich and functional on-screen product in a very compressed timeline.
Their work has supported and enabled the successful production delivery by the DoubleTake Sports team, allowing the efficient and effective management of multiple production tools and processes, resulting in a highly successful launch of a critical strategic program for the QRL, he says.
Additionally, Layercake's collaboration with Enveu helped elevate the live streaming experience for Qplus.tv to new heights. Enveu is a global provider of specialized OTT solutions that includes the managing the user experience platform, player, and subscription. Streamcake manages the automation of production and infrastructure going upstream into specific workflows, while pushing the data to Enveu, to manage the playout platform, user experience and device platform of Qplus.tv.
Shalabh Agarwal, founder and CEO at Enveu, says Enveu has not only elevated Qplus.tv's live streaming experience but has set a new standard for immersive viewer engagement.
Together, we've crafted a seamless user experience platform that ensures every moment resonates with our audience, reaffirming Enveu's commitment to top-notch OTT solutions, he says.
Streamcake's central user interface and flexibility allows the Master Control Room (MCR) team at DoubleTake Sports to quickly adapt based on specific production operations. New features of the Qplus.tv solution include the ability to receive and redistribute feeds easily via various streaming protocols; a multiview dashboard for one-click function operations to manage and monitor streaming; and the ability to replace files if there are issues at source or changes need to be made to original source stream/file. Game streams can also be trimmed for VOD and distributed to multiple destinations.
More than 200 games from the six QRL statewide competitions have been streamed to Qplus.tv so far with an estimated 450 games to be streamed in the 2024 season.
This is an outstanding result for Queensland Rugby League, which now has a cutting-edge platform, in Qplus.tv that gives us direct access to important data and additional revenue opportunities. Layercake has been instrumental in the successful delivery of Qplus.tv and we look forward to our ongoing partnership.
