Built for Broadcasters, Float Left Celebrates 10 Years as a Direct-to-Consumer OTT Technology Provider
April 6, 2020
It’s been 10 years since Float Left Interactive first launched and gave Broadcasters, TV Networks and Media Distributors a solution to reach their audiences quicker and more effectively through innovative OTT apps and video experiences. Float Left was founded in 2010, a turning point for the television industry. During this year, viewership was shifting away from traditional TV and demand was on the rise for more convenient ways to access media, such as over-the-top and TV everywhere applications. Since its inception, Float Left has launched hundreds of OTT applications and has had the privilege of working closely with some of the most prolific media brands in the world, including, NBC, CBS, AMC, and Viacom. Float Left has since become one of the industry leaders in developing direct-to-consumer OTT services for content distributors and publishers.
In 2015, Float Left rolled out its complete end-to-end, white-labeled OTT solution, Flicast, across all major platforms: Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS Mobile, Android Mobile, and Smart TVs, such as Samsung, Vizio and LG. Flicast is fundamentally designed to reduce the complexities of launching a premium OTT service and is a combination of quick-to-market and bespoke solutions. Its sophisticated, flexible framework reduces production times, allowing a quick delivery and unified experience on all platforms. Furthermore, Flicast’s non-templated approach enables clients to tailor the application and deliver a customized experience to their audience. To keep those audiences engaged, the framework is enhanced with the most widely used OTT features such as a “favorites” list and a cross-device resume. All in all, Flicast is Float Left’s flagship OPEX-based solution that enables Broadcasters and Publishers to deliver seamless, first-rate OTT experiences to their audiences.
In November 2019, Float Left was acquired by iMedia Brands, a global interactive media company based out of Eden Prairie, MN. Joining forces with a powerful brand like iMedia, allowed Float Left to accelerate their growth and add more advanced OTT products and services to their roadmap for the upcoming years.
In 2020, Float Left is introducing its Application Management Platform (AMP). AMP will give clients the power to manage all aspects of their content and audience-facing screens on the Flicast platform. Using AMP’s intuitive graphical user interface, clients can modify their videos and build playlists from the ground up. Playlists can then be added to one or more screens and published across all devices, keeping platforms consistent and updated. AMP allows Float Left’s clients to take control and update their content with ease, by letting them immediately publish new media or schedule it to be available during a specific time period. AMP Version 1.0 is on-track to roll out in April 2020. Future plans for AMP include an analytics dashboard, user engagement, CRM capabilities, publisher support features, and much more!
As a pioneer of OTT technology, Float Left has learned to evolve as the industry grew, and OTT is moving at a very rapid pace. As of 2019, over 64 million households used at least one OTT device. Over the next three years, the global OTT market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 13%. OTT represents the future of media, and Float Left is proud to have been around since the beginning and will continue to progress with this dynamic space.
Over the past ten years, we’ve witnessed consumers modifying their viewing habits as they discover the advantages of Streaming TV.
During this time, It’s been a privilege to lead a company that has made significant contributions in the areas of OTT app user-experience, monetization, and analytics.
I look forward to the future as we continue to innovate the OTT app experience while helping brands deliver more advanced TV services.
– Tom Schaeffer, Float Left CEO
Celebrating 10 Years of Achievement
A Timeline of Events
2009: Float Left became Roku’s first partner for channel development, launching NBA Gametime and MOG Music (acquired by Apple Beats).
2010: Developed apps for some of the first generation of SmartTVs and BluRay devices.
2011: Started developing apps for new set-top boxes emerging on the market, such as; Boxee Box, and the Popcorn Hour. “PopBox”.
2012: Worked with popular and innovative media brands pioneering technology to power the first generation of AVOD channels and services.
2013: Launched one of the first OTT app solutions in Flicast, which brought the convenience of SaaS software to TV app development.
2014: Collaborated with Roku and Viacom to develop the first and only TV apps that leveraged the 2D API game engine, and developed custom TV interfaces. This allowed for unparalleled UX/UX customization on the platform and other brands quickly followed suit.
2015: Continued our rapid expansion of new custom TV applications with Red Bull, Gaiam, Roku Recommends, Curiosity Stream, Christian Cinema, and many others.
2016: Worked with Crackle, Red Bull, and AMC to usher in a new generation of TV applications with Roku’s new SDK, which included expanding the capabilities of interactive advertising on the platform. Float Left was also part of the first live stream of Super Bowl 50 in 2016 by launching CBS Sports on Roku.
2017: Continued Flicast’s rapid expansion to include the next generation of Smart TVs, Apple TV, mobile devices, and Amazon Fire TV.
2018: Expanded the scope of Flicast’s capabilities, which included a seamless UI/UX experience across a wide range of connected devices, coupled with the ability to create customized experiences for each brand.
2019: Started tested an early version of our Flicast application management platform, which will revolutionize how OTT services are managed, by simplifying workflows, providing OTT specific metrics, and making app updates much faster.