RTÉ and TV3 to enhance catch-ups

RTÉ AND TV3 are both set to upgrade their catch-up players. RTÉ is changing the interface of its player and increasing the quality of its streams while, from tomorrow, a mobile-optimised version of TV3’s 3 Player will be available.

“We’ve optimised it for the smaller screen on phones, so it’s a nicer experience in the mobile space than we would have had before on 3 Player,” says TV3’s director of online, Stephen Grant.

The mobile version of the player was developed via HTML5, meaning it is available via browser rather than as a “pure app”. This allowed TV3 to add content such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale, for which it has web rights, but not mobile rights.

“We’ve managed to crack some of the difficult issues, particularly around advertising,” says Grant. By using HTML5 video tags, TV3 was able to add one or two pieces of pre-roll advertising to the mobile-optimised player.

Some 13 per cent of 3 Player traffic comes via mobile devices including iPads - a figure that TV3 is hoping to bring closer to RTÉ’s percentage. “We would expect by the end of the year that mobile would be about a quarter of the traffic,” says Grant.

Meanwhile, the forthcoming version of the RTÉ Player will encourage users to log in via the fledgling RTÉ ID registration system. This will log favourites, post to social media if desired and allow programmes to be paused on one device and played from that point onwards on another device. It will also offer PIN-managed parental controls.

Video streams on RTÉ Player will double to 1Mb and switch to adaptive streaming, which means viewers with lesser broadband services won’t have to endure buffering.

“We won’t be stopping at 1Mb, and we’ll have HD content eventually,” says RTÉ Digital’s technology infrastructure manager, Jonathan Lundberg.

The addition of both RTÉ Player and 3 Player to UPC On Demand is likely to widen the market for catch-up services in the medium term, while RTÉ Digital is also conducting technical trials for adding its player to the Saorview platform.

The most popular programme genres watched back via players vary according to the device used, RTÉ Digital says.

On smartphones, comedy is the most popular genre, reflecting a younger demographic, whereas tablet users favour news and drama, and plays via desktop are closer to the television top 10.

Citing a desire to promote “snippets” of TV3 programmes such as Xposé via mobile, Grant hopes to target commuters and other viewers in a way that doesn’t cannibalise traditional television audience ratings.

“What we would like to see is people watching more TV at non-traditional TV times.”