Back in last summer in 2023, HOY TV has started to adopt HKAI-developed OTT platform and our AI-powered supply side platform (SSP), AlgoAD. These solutions have enabled HOY TV to seamlessly serve ads across the brand-new OTT platform and have contributed to their ad monetization. We have successfully supported them to broadcast two major sport events—the Asian Games and Olympic Games. Recently, we had the privilege to talk to Sandy Yu, General Manager of TV Operations & Content of i-Cable Communications, to dig into the reasons behind for HOY TV choosing HKAI as their trusted technical partner.
Why did HOY TV choose HKAI, a start-up company, to develop the OTT platform and incorporate the AlgoAD ad serving solution?
We notice that HKAI is a start-up company just established in 2020. And yet, it doesn’t mean that their solutions are less competitive. HKAI is the sole company that offers us end-to-end OTT solution to cater our needs from content management to streaming technology in improving the audience’s viewing experience on the OTT platform, while integrating a stable ad serving technology into the platform.
Last year, as HOY TV prepared to exclusively broadcast the Asian Games — one of the company’s most significant events — we had an immediate need for a technical partner with substantial experience in deploying large-scale technology solutions, while bearing deep understanding of the broadcasting industry environment. HKAI met both requirements.
Could you share with us some measurable results that HOY TV has achieved since the implementation of the customized solution provided by HKAI?
We have launched the new OTT platform and incorporated AlgoAD into it for a year already. There is significant growth in the number of registered users and active users, especially during the broadcast of the Olympic Games in this summer. Throughout the Olympic Games, the number of weekly active users has reached over 560,000. During peak live streaming times, 220,000 viewers are concurrently watching the Olympic games, while our HOY app continues to deliver seamless viewing experience for our audience. We believe that the demand for watching live streaming sports events has largely contributed to the increase of active users. And the addition of user-friendly new features, such as alerts for live sport streaming competitions and reminder of new releases of bookmarked programs, have prompted more audience to become registered users.
Besides, the total ad impression and click-through rate have been raised respectively to 79.2% and 194%. Such increase is largely contributed by the UI of ad display placement and the AI technology behind that delivers personalized ad-serving experience according to the viewing history of the audience.
How do you find HKAI in supporting HOY TV to meet the evolving needs of the audience and the expectations of the publishers?
After the success of broadcasting the Asian Games and Olympic Games in live, HOY TV is going to relay more sport events and prestigious competitions, including the Argentine Primera División, AFC Champions League Two, FIFA Women’s World Cup and World Skate Games Italia 2024. With the influx of data, we will rely highly on the AI-powered ad-serving features to deliver personalized ads to HOY’s audience with greater precision and effectiveness.
Additionally, we trust that the development of OTT platforms and broadcasting industry in the future will inevitably trend towards enhancing audience interaction. Recently, we have added new features to the HOY app, such as electronic coupons. We are planning to launch an e-commerce platform in the near future. These advancements have been made possible by the flexibility and adaptability of the technological provision developed by HKAI, which offers us tailored solutions that are aligned with our needs over time.
Editor’s note: After the interview, I found that there is an Alibaba Cloud trophy placed in the meeting room as display. It reminds me that early in the year, the HOY app has also been awarded “Alibaba Cloud Innovation of the Year – Media” at the Alibaba Cloud 10th anniversary ceremony, recognizing our effort in delivering top-notch streaming experience that servers the media industry and HOY TV audience in Hong Kong.
