Akamai launches Openvideoplayer.com, a community site and industry initiative intended to facilitate the development and sharing of open standards and best practices for video player applications that support a wide range of advertising technologies.

Leading advertising technology companies, ad servers, video solution providers and platform companies have joined to provide industry best practices for online video player development. Inaugural partners include: 24/7 Real Media, Adobe Corporation, BlackArrow, Clickability, EyeWonder, KickApps, Microsoft Corporation, OpenX, Panache, ScanScout and smartclip.

As online video syndication and distribution matures, there are some fundamental technology barriers to growth. One of the most important development considerations is the video player application, an increasingly strategic element as it impacts the way consumers experience video content and the media brand, and enables a business model for the video content by controlling how and when ads are delivered. Specifically, the lack of a standards-based approach to the video player application slows time to market and increases complexities around content syndication and revenue sharing between sites.

OpenVideoPlayer.com

Akamai is leading the effort, along with these companies to provide a forum dedicated to providing resources and encouraging a common approach to video player development. The goals of this site are as follows:

• Facilitate the development and sharing of best practices for video player development through community interaction
• Provide reference implementations and code to speed development and reduce the total cost of ownership
• Encourage adoption of open standards to help facilitate the aggregation of video audiences and streamline the media buying process for rich media and in-stream advertising
• Support the Internet advertising ecosystem, including agencies, interactive developers and advertising technologies for a comprehensive publishing solution

Rather than supporting proprietary video player formats, openvideoplayer.com relies on the industry leading video platforms – Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight --offering source code to enable rapid and flexible design with complete creative control. Through an open source licensing model based on the industry standard video formats, source code on the site can be extended and improved upon by designers, developers and media companies and either given back to the community as contributions or leveraged into video applications without complex licensing requirements.

Key Site Components

Media Framework

• The Media Framework is a valuable resource for the rapid development of video player applications using either Adobe Flash Player or Microsoft Silverlight. The framework is a developer toolkit with player source code, which leverages best practices and open technologies to enable the creation of video player applications for both streaming and progressive download content. Akamai is contributing the Media Framework under an Open Source license to be extended and improved upon by the community.

Media Framework Connectors

• Openvideoplayer.com offers sample code-based reference implementations from leading advertising technology companies for easy integration and support of ad formats, ad servers and ad networks.

Developer Forum

• A forum staffed by interactive designers and developers within the Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight developer community for an open exchange of ideas and expert advice on player development.

Developer Resources

• A library of documentation and video tutorials on how to utilize Internet standards to build professional grade online video players.