INDUSTRY WATCH
ALTICE FRANCE AND
WILDMOKA HAVE DEFINED
A NEW STANDARD FOR
THE INDUSTRY.
Altice France has launched on
BFMTV to offer the world’s
first vertical, live video format
for mobile.
Rolling news channel, BFMTV, has
reinforced its position as France’s
leading broadcaster on digital by
launching ‘Live Vertical’, a new
smartphone user experience that is a
world first. Developed in collaboration
with French startup, Wildmoka, the ‘Live
Vertical’ solution automatically converts
the horizontal frames of standard TV
streams to a vertical format better suited
to smartphone screens.
‘Live Vertical’, a world first
The launch of ‘Live Vertical’ is a world
first. Developed in collaboration with
Wildmoka, it revolutionises the TV
viewing experience on a smartphone.
Thanks to a new way of managing live
production workflows and the addition
of a dedicated stream, the traditional
horizontal format of television is
automatically ‘rezoned’ into a mobilefriendly
vertical format. Now, whenever
BFMTV is viewed from a smartphone,
the entire mobile screen will be occupied
with content, regardless of device, brand
or model. This is a major improvement
on the standard approach which
broadcasts a horizontal image into the
vertical screen, making it too small and
challenging to watch.
Turning horizontal TV images to a
vertical format represents a significant
technical advance. It also responds
to the central role smartphones now
occupy in the consumption of news
media. By being the first news channel
in the world to offer vertical viewing
on smartphones, Altice France and
Wildmoka have defined a new standard
for the industry. This innovation also
overcomes the mismatch between
the fact that most smartphone users
naturally hold their devices in a vertical
position, whereas TV content continues
to be broadcast for a horizontal screen.
Wildmoka, based in France, specialises
in real-time enrichment of digital media
content and has exclusively developed
‘Live Vertical’ in collaboration with
Altice France.
Technology strengthening
BFMTV’s leading position
on digital
Already firmly established as one of
France’s leading news organisations,
BFMTV is also a trailblazer when it
comes to mobile among news sites,
particularly the ‘anytime, anywhere’
approach these devices have introduced.
With ‘Live Vertical’, Altice France is
making BFMTV the first channel to
use all of the screen space offered
by smartphones. This further widens
the lead BFMTV has over the rest of
the field in digital – not to mention
BFMTV’s innovative use of easy-to-read
graphics, lower thirds, on-the-ground
reporters interaction and other crucial
components of rolling news.
This enhancement of BFMTV’s
experience on the smartphone screen
increases the strength of the channel and
its leadership on mobile. Already a frontrunner
of the radio format on TV, this
innovation will allow BFMTV to combine
the professionalism of its editorial teams
and the technical excellence of its image
production crew at its Altice Campus
studios with the responsiveness needed
for news consumption on mobile.
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