Axon, Civolution Partner to Sell 175th Audio Watermarking Solutions

Axon, the modular broadcast infrastructure, monitoring and control specialist, and Civolution, a provider of technology and solutions for identifying, managing and monetizing content, celebrate their successful partnership with the joint sale of their  175th watermarking solution which has seen many millions of downloaded apps that instantly sync to entertainment content through watermarked audio streams.

Axon and Civolution teamed up to integrate Civolution’s digital audio watermarking for audience measurement and Second Screen synchronization capabilities with Axon’s modular interfacing and conversion product line, Synapse.

“We are pleased that the expectations that both parties had for this collaboration are being fulfilled”, comments Harry Kanters, Axon’s Director Marketing & Sales. “The Synapse platform combines with Civolution’s audio watermarking to provide a very flexible synchronization solution and support loudness control from Linear Acoustic, Junger Audio, and various Dolby processing capabilities”.

The audio watermarking solution has been deployed in a wide variety of projects with dozens of leading broadcasters and app developers around the world. Audio watermarking offers some key features (such as real-time identification, support for live and time-shifted content, etc) and is significantly more scalable compared to fingerprinting. Civolution’s watermarking has proved to be highly robust and, combined with Axon modular hardware, can support virtually any combination of audio processing requirements.

Latest applications relying on the joint solution include the Vienna State Opera Second Screen app for live performances distributed as Over-the-Top Television (OTT). The app, which went live on October 27, enables OTT opera viewers to make the most of the experience with a multilingual SecondScreen app that is synchronised with the opera performance.

Shanghai Media Group (SMG), one of China’s leading television and radio broadcasting, news and Internet company launched a 2nd screen experience around the reality-singing competition program “Chinese Idol,” which premiered on SMG’s Dragon TV channel in May.  The Second Screen experience for “Chinese Idol” allowed for audience rating, provided additional biographical information about the show contestants, and included social network integration.

More recently Axon and Civolution have partnered on the audio watermarking of TV3 content for its ShowPal app developed in partnership with Axonista, the award-winning provider of social TV and 2nd screen technology platforms. Using Axonista’s Ediflo platform, TV3’s ShowPal app leverages Civolution’s live Axon-based embedding solution at the head-end to sync content between linear or non-linear TV viewing and the companion app. It ensures that the app delivers contextual real-time gaming, advertising and social content to viewers even with live-produced content and TV programming drifts.

“The advent of Second Screen has led many organisations around the world to request solutions to sync and trigger content in real time”, adds Andy Nobbs, CMO, Civolution. “We’re expecting continued adoption and strong growth of Second Screen apps and look forward to continue working with Axon to deliver powerful and innovative watermarking solutions to broadcasters and operators on a global scale.”