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A sprint to success

How Ultimate Pool Group and Insys Video Technologies built the first English 8-ball pool streaming platform

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Read how Ultimate Pool Group launched a streaming platform for the 8-ball pool fans around the world, grew international brand recognition, and reached

1.1 billion yearly views

01

Ultimate Pool walking the pioneer path

How it started

The Ultimate Pool Group’s streaming journey began when the company partnered with a ViaPlay (former FreeSports) TV channel to broadcast live 8-ball pool events. While this setup worked well at first, it had one major issue: its potential to reach new audiences and help the brand grow was limited. And so, in early 2021, Ultimate Pool Group decided to venture into unknown territory and build the first online streaming platform for English 8-ball pool events.

The initial goal was simple - creating a platform capable of streaming Pay-Per-View events (and supporting different monetization models in the future) and using it as a starting point to develop the service and the brand. All they needed was a trusted technology provider.

02

Choosing the right partner for the job

15 weeks until the big event

As Ultimate Pool Group started looking for the right streaming tech provider, they had several project requirements in mind:

  • integration with their chosen payment gateway, Stripe, to successfully monetize the content
  • world-class content security measures to successfully combat the greatest plague of the online sports industry - the illegal restreaming
  • headless CMS (content management system) that would guarantee flexibility and growth space
  • readiness to develop new features and make changes to the product so that no off-the-shelf, take-it-or-leave-it solution hinders their growth plans

The company that met all those requirements - and more - was Insys Video Technologies. In addition to their streaming expertise, their large portfolio of international clients gave the Ultimate Pool Group the confidence to proceed.

Jordan Chavoush, the managing director of Ultimate Pool Group says:

“We didn’t want to be anyone’s guinea pig. After we discovered that so many large organisations rely on Insys solutions and saw how the team handled our initial consultations, we knew that’s who we wanted to work with.”

The partnership began in June 2021, with the deadline already fast approaching.

03

Building the first 8-ball pool streaming platform

5 weeks until the big event

With the development needing to adapt to the 8-ball pool event calendar, there was no room for delays. It was imperative to deliver the product within just a few weeks, before the Pro Series games. How did Insys VT approach this?

Dawid Górniak, product manager at Insys Video Technologies says:

“With such strict time constraints, we had to break the product scope into stages. This allowed us to draft an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and focus on the crucial elements that needed to be ready for the first event.”

The MVP consisted of four key features:

Video processing

Video processing

While the Ultimate Pool Group already had a production team on-site, they needed to prepare the source video for streaming and deliver it to their audience. The tool chosen for the job was Insys VT’s Cloud Video Kit.

Cloud Video Kit is a modular product based on AWS Media Services that handles video processing and delivery. The source signal, provided by the production team, is sent directly into the service, where it is encoded into multiple different ABR (adaptive bitrate) profiles and packaged for delivery through the Amazon CloudFront CDN (Content Delivery Network). That, combined with the Insys Video Technologies video player, culminated in a streaming experience that was smooth, high-quality, and crash free - regardless of the viewers’ bandwidth.

Monetization

Monetization

The next step was turning the video content into revenue. Ultimate Pool Group has initially decided on the PPV (Pay-Per-View) model, or charging a fee for access to each event. However, the payment service also needed to support paid subscriptions in the future.

The payment gate chosen for the job was Stripe, a globally recognized solution for online payments. It allowed Insys VT to quickly integrate it with Cloud Video Kit and set up a secure system on the Ultimate Pool website, but also allowed for different monetization options in the future - by serving as a hub for App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) payments.

Content security

Content security

According to a study by Digital Citizens Alliance, the illegal streaming of live sports costs the industry over 3.3 billion dollars a year. For smaller companies just setting sail on their streaming journey, leaving their video unprotected would be like signing into a bank account on a public computer and not logging out - sure, it might save you a few seconds now, but you can’t be sure if you will afford a bagel tomorrow.

With so much on the line, it was paramount that the videos and live streams were secure. For that task, Insys VT chose Cloud DRM, their digital rights management solution built on AWS

Headless CMS

Headless CMS

To help Ultimate Pool manage their video content in the most time - and resources-efficient way, Insys Video Technologies has chosen Strapi. This headless content management system allowed them to quickly set up the service’s backend and connect it with other components via API. Its main benefit, however, was its high flexibility - so that as the Ultimate Pool platform developed, it wouldn’t be necessary to rebuild the entire architecture.

Video processing

Video processing

While the Ultimate Pool Group already had a production team on-site, they needed to prepare the source video for streaming and deliver it to their audience. The tool chosen for the job was Insys VT’s Cloud Video Kit.

Cloud Video Kit is a modular product based on AWS Media Services that handles video processing and delivery. The source signal, provided by the production team, is sent directly into the service, where it is encoded into multiple different ABR (adaptive bitrate) profiles and packaged for delivery through the Amazon CloudFront CDN (Content Delivery Network). That, combined with the Insys Video Technologies video player, culminated in a streaming experience that was smooth, high-quality, and crash free - regardless of the viewers’ bandwidth.

Monetization

Monetization

The next step was turning the video content into revenue. Ultimate Pool Group has initially decided on the PPV (Pay-Per-View) model, or charging a fee for access to each event. However, the payment service also needed to support paid subscriptions in the future.

The payment gate chosen for the job was Stripe, a globally recognized solution for online payments. It allowed Insys VT to quickly integrate it with Cloud Video Kit and set up a secure system on the Ultimate Pool website, but also allowed for different monetization options in the future - by serving as a hub for App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) payments.

Content security

Content security

According to a study by Digital Citizens Alliance, the illegal streaming of live sports costs the industry over 3.3 billion dollars a year. For smaller companies just setting sail on their streaming journey, leaving their video unprotected would be like signing into a bank account on a public computer and not logging out - sure, it might save you a few seconds now, but you can’t be sure if you will afford a bagel tomorrow.

With so much on the line, it was paramount that the videos and live streams were secure. For that task, Insys VT chose Cloud DRM, their digital rights management solution built on AWS

Headless CMS

Headless CMS

To help Ultimate Pool manage their video content in the most time - and resources-efficient way, Insys Video Technologies has chosen Strapi. This headless content management system allowed them to quickly set up the service’s backend and connect it with other components via API. Its main benefit, however, was its high flexibility - so that as the Ultimate Pool platform developed, it wouldn’t be necessary to rebuild the entire architecture.

To accelerate the work on the MVP, Insys VT decided against building one ‘monolith’ platform. Instead, chose modularity - working on all the components separately and connecting them through API. This approach also promised more benefits in the future - making it easy to develop just one part of the service and facilitate its maintenance.

04

The launch

and what followed

Despite the short deadline, the Ultimate Pool platform launched in time for the first event and met with a warm reception from the 8-ball pool community. That, as Jordan Chavoush says, was also due to the support provided by Insys VT:

“Certain providers are not necessarily available for a quick phone call or to respond to urgent requests - but Insys has been. Because of the nature of our business, we have needed that level of support. It has been very beneficial.”

But the Pay-Per-View events were just the first step in the journey. After many successful live event streams, the Ultimate Pool group was considering transitioning to a subscription model. That was made simple by another Cloud Video Kit feature - the live-to-VOD recorder. It allowed the company to capture its live events as they were streamed, transcode them into the correct format and build its own VOD library. It helped them increase the life shelf of their content and offer their subscribers additional value.

Meanwhile, the Ultimate Pool brand kept gaining recognition. With their streams finally available outside of the UK, they could finally reach an international audience and spread their wings. Their social media following grew from zero to over 1.4 million followers, and soon they decided to launch their own merchandise store that has become widely popular.

Another milestone in the project's history was the launch of mobile apps for Android and iOS. Developed by Insys Video Technologies, the apps offered the same seamless streaming experience as the website while also supporting Google Pay and Apple Pay transactions.

05

The journey continues

Future development plans

Ultimate Pool Group closed the year 2022 with an astonishing number of 1.1 billion views. But according to Jordan Chavoush, the company does not intend to stop there. They plan to continue improving their products, reaching new platforms, and ensuring the most user-friendly streaming experience.

When asked if he wants to continue working with Insys Video Technologies, Jordan confirms:

“We basically consider Insys as our developer - it’s like we are a part of the team rather than a separate organisation. We work very closely - and we appreciate that.”

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