KickApps Announces Video Publishing Solution That Integrates Akamai's Stream OS

New York, NY, August 18, 2008 - KickApps, the leading on-demand social media, video player and widget platform, today announced an offering that makes advanced online video publishing available to every web publisher. By combining the KickApps Platform with Akamai's enterprise class rich media management platform, Stream OS®, web publishers now have access to powerful tools for turnkey creation and management of players for video publishing.  Through the integration between Akamai's Stream OS media management system and the KickApps Platform, the offering provides web publishers drag-and-drop video player customization, a comprehensive media management system, social media enhancements, High Definition (HD) video players, and new video revenue opportunities.

Using the KickApps Widget & Video Player Studio, web publishers can easily create, manage and program an unlimited number of custom online video players.  Together with the automated digital distribution workflow of Akamai's Stream OS business rules, web publishers now have on-demand access to a robust online video publishing solution. In addition, KickApps' video players can be deployed with a range of social media features (e.g. rating, tagging and one-click viral syndication) to drive deeper levels of audience engagement with video content. 

"Web publishers have few viable options when it comes to affordable, enterprise-level video publishing solutions that include deep, out-of-the-box social media functionality," said Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps. "By integrating the two solutions - social & media applications and an enterprise scale video management and distribution solution - web publishers have the means to handle even the most advanced media requirements. With on-demand deployment, we are enabling web publishers to dramatically reduce costs and time-to-market."

Together, KickApps and Akamai offer web publishers many options for creating unique and differentiated video experiences.  In addition to industry-leading video player customization, the offering also provides publishers with a solution for on-demand deployment of HD video. As consumer expectations and demand for HD quality video increase, the challenge for media companies and web publishers will be to easily access these technologies at an affordable price.

To further facilitate growth in the online video market, the companies have developed a standard approach to video player development for web publishers, large and small. As part of this, KickApps has integrated the Akamai Media Player Framework into its video players. The Akamai Media Player Framework provides best practices for creating and deploying video players that support streaming and progressive download of content created in Adobe Flash®, Flex® and AIR^TM. The Akamai Media Player Framework enables standards-based integration with many of the major video advertising networks, inviting web publishers to more effectively monetize editorial and user-generated video. Additionally, when coupled with Akamai Stream OS, KickApps' video players will support automated workflows for publishing and syndication, allowing web publishers full control of their media assets. 

"This is a huge step for KickApps' customers, web publishers and the industry as a whole," said Tim Napoleon, chief strategist for digital media at Akamai. "This solution offers a simplified way to build players and monetize content with an efficient workflow that is made available through Akamai's Stream OS.  Together, we're hopeful to remove the final barriers to adoption by making available a highly sophisticated video publishing platform to web publishers of all sizes." 

About KickApps

Selected by BusinessWeek readers as Best of the Web 2008, KickApps provides brands, enterprises and web publishers with solutions that enable social, interactive, dynamic, distributed and data-informed web experiences. KickApps solutions consist of a suite of hosted social and media applications and services that are used by some of the world’s largest websites and brands to grow & engage their online audiences and foster deeper relationships with customers. Clients include: Budget Travel, H&R Block, U2, CW Television, Guinness World Records, Special Olympics, HBO, Cinemax, Cox Television, the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and thousands of other sites. For more information, visit www.kickapps.com and www.kickdeveloper.com.

KickApps Public Relations