The first app, literally the first app, that I played with the morning I received my original Apple iPad (the weekend before NAB, by the way) was the ABC Player. And that was all it took, I was hooked. Simple, clean, easy to navigate. It was—and in many ways still is, the epitome of what an OTT app should be: Here’s the content. Access it. Enjoy.
And, much to my relief—while I love being an early adopter (I was fawned over on my Delta flight to Las Vegas… it was the first anyone had seen an iPad)–I’m not fond of being an orphan (woe the demise of the Google Reader). The Disney/ABC Television Group says that, to date, some 10 million users have downloaded the ABC Player app. Those downloaders have viewed more than 200 million episodes of ABC programming and—did you say “monetize?â€â€”watched 1.31 billion ads on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and Windows 8. The app also just recently launched on Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD.
ABC hasn’t stood pat on the app, upgrading for optimization for retina display on next-gen iPads, adding closed captioning functionality, and providing the ability for users to “save and recall” their playback position between iOS devices.
The app’s still going strong, being named, within the past year, the sixth most downloaded free iPad app of all time.
DATG has expanded its lineup of apps over the past three years as well, adding the WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH Disney Junior and WATCH Disney XD. Those three apps—which rely on technology from upLynk–allow authenticated users to access live streaming of linear channel feeds, as well as on demand episodes of popular shows.
upLynk this week announced that its live linear streaming service, which gives content owners the opportunity to create a linear feed for viewers to access online, complete with dynamic ad insertion and content replacement, is now generally available.
