Trace taps Simplestream for OTT TV service

Olivier Laouchez

Modern Times Group-owned media group Trace has tapped technology outfit Simplestream to provide its cloud TV platform for its new subscription video-on-demand service Trace Play.

Trace Play will launch on desktop, iOS and Android mobile and tablet devices, and Apple TV and will be progressively rolled out globally, starting with 80 countries including the UK, Ireland, US, Africa, the Caribbean, all French-speaking European countries and the Netherlands. The service is slated to be available on additional devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Roku and smart TVs later in 2017.

Simplestream is enabling the delivery of HD live channels and video-on-demand, including 2,400 VOD assets at launch. The platform includes tools to enable Trace to create multiple thematic content packs based on deep metadata that provide viewers multiple personalised ways to discover relevant content across all screens, according to Simplestream.

Region-based content controls will enable Trace to customise and tailor how content is presented and featured to enable real-time changes that best reflect audience consumption patterns, according to Simplestream.

“Simplestream has been an amazing partner. The flexibility of their Cloud TV platform and the company’s talented design and development teams have enabled us to launch our exciting new service on time and in budget. I look forward to this multi-year and multi-territory relationship to help establish Trace Play as a leading SVOD and live platform for urban music and entertainment,” said Olivier Laouchez, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Trace.

“Trace Play is a really innovative and disruptive service that we are hugely excited to be part of,” said Dan Finch, chief commercial officer of Simplestream.

“Trace Play is truly global: it is multi-device, multi-lingual and it will appeal to a huge audience in more than 200 countries. We see this as total validation that, for highly complex projects, the cloud is the only way to go. This 12-week ‘multi-everything’ build also proves that, thanks to our long-term investment in cloud video technology and solutions, Simplestream is capable of handling the industry’s most complex digital transformation projects – and we can do it fast.”

Laouchez unveiled plans for Trace Play to Digital TV Europe at MIPCOM in October, following the company’s acquisition of African VOD outfit BuniTV.

The service includes Trace’s total offering, encompassing its suite of linear channels as well as VOD, along with download capability.