Google Expands Cloud Platform via Anvato Acquisition

Google acquired Anvato, the maker of a software platform that fully automates the encoding, editing, publishing and distribution of video content across multiple platforms.

Google announced the purchase, sans financial details, in a July 7 blog post, saying that Anvato will join the Google Cloud Platform team.

Anvato brings with it an impressive roster of TV operators and broadcasters, including NBCUniversal, Univision and Fox Sports, and will enable Google to compete against Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure Media Services.

“In recent years, the adoption of over-the-top (OTT) technologies has emerged as a critical platform for delivering rich audio, video and other media via the Internet,” Belwadi Srikanth, senior product manager of Google Cloud Platform, said in the post.

“With OTT adoption rapidly accelerating, the Cloud Platform and Anvato teams will work together to deliver cloud solutions that help businesses in the media and entertainment industry scale their video infrastructure efforts and deliver high-quality, live video and on-demand content to consumers on any device,” Srikanth continued, “be it their smartphone, tablet or connected television.”

Alper Turgut, CEO of Anvato, said that combining Anvato with the scale and power of Google Cloud Platform will create “the industry’s best offering for OTT and mobile video.”

“This will allow us to supercharge our capabilities, accelerate the pace of innovation, and deliver tomorrow’s video solutions faster, enabling media companies to better serve their customers,” he added, in a post on the Anvato blog.

Anvato’s Media Content Platform (MCP) can be paired with a buffet of video publishing tools, including Live Streaming, Cloud Editing, Ad Insertion and Syndication.

Univision, for example, uses the MCP with Cloud Editing and Syndication to, among a long list of capabilities, broadcast live from 18 local stations and remotely create clips that be accessed from any one of them. According to Anvato, the results include a 5X increase in Univision content’s time to market, and a 50-plus percent reduction in editorial costs related to editing and simultaneous remote access.

Anvato recently won The NewBay Media Best of Show Award, which is evaluated by a panel of engineers and industry experts. In a press release announcing its win, Anvato called itself the “only complete OTT and TV Everywhere solution that can guarantee the delivery and monetization of video on every connected device.”

Google representatives said they will share plans for Anvato in the coming months.