Have you ever been sold an end-to-end video software solution? Just look online at how many sell themselves as that. So you buy into that promise, try it out and you end up disappointed. Any video streaming service that says they are end to end is lying. It’s a bold statement but it’s true! 

The reason is that the landscape is too fragmented and there are too many moving parts. To be truly end to end you have to shoot content, store it, edit, colour grade, add special effects, preview, curate, share, collaborate, transcode, publish on multiple platforms, review analytics and so on. There are probably seventy steps. Your chosen platform must also include a high-quality live streaming CDN and multi-bitrate streaming.

“What about YouTube?”, I hear you say. Well, YouTube is great if you only want to be on YouTube but what about the other 10–12 social platforms? There’s no escaping it: all video technology solutions must integrate/partner with others in order to deliver the best possible streamlined workflow.

Partnerships and API Integration

Creating content is fun. Creating exceptional content is difficult. The good news is that managing your video assets can be easy…with the right partnership. So how does such a partnership work?

An API — or Application Programming Interface — is when two tech solutions create a bridge for mutual benefit. For example, Overcast has an API integration with JW Player so you can manage content on Overcast and stream directly to JW with the push of one button. 

Other examples include big applications like Salesforce and Dropbox, which integrate with literally hundreds of other apps. As we mentioned in our previous post, API stackability is an essential component of a video management platform, with some companies including dozens of technologies in their workflow stacks.

Gartner predicts that by 2021, 65% of new applications will be built as a mesh of multichannel apps and multigrained back-end services that communicate via APIs. Internal APIs are used to access data and application functionality while external APIs are used to connect to SaaS and other cloud services. In terms of video management, Overcast takes the tech challenges out of the equation, leaving you free to wow your target market with your amazing videos!

Partner For Success

Success comes from a simplified customer workflow so it’s critical from the outset to choose a platform that provides all of the functionality that allows you to realise your creative vision. This has become more complex because the range of capabilities continues to grow. Some critical capabilities include but are not limited to: advanced API access control, high performance, the ability to customise the developer’s portal and the availability of a free/limited trial. By having a platform that is smart, secure, effective and easy to use, you can let your creativity flow and scale your video production to your heart’s content.

In order to create compelling content, an excellent platform goes hand in hand with high production values. Our next post talk about how to find the video clip you’re looking for quickly and easily. 

In the meantime if you’d like a no-obligation chat, contact our CEO Philippe Brodeur on how you can “Partner For Success” philippe@overcasthq.com.