Interview with Yang Cai, President & CEO in VisualOn, Inc. at IBC 2023.

• What are the main trends of IBC 2023, in your opinion?

The primary concern I see is achieving profitability for streaming service providers. Despite the growing popularity of streaming, which has surpassed broadcast cables in the US, many companies aren’t turning a profit. Even industry giants are facing financial challenges, leading to cost-cutting measures, including significant layoffs. To reach profitability, businesses are exploring new models, such as incorporating advertisements, as seen with platforms like Vizrt. Another crucial aspect of profitability is cost savings. At this event, we’re introducing our VisualOn Optimizer, a product designed to help operators reduce their video data size by 70% or more, with an average reduction of over 40%, based on real-world customer data. Technologically, there’s a noticeable trend of AI being applied across various segments. Additionally, there’s a growing emphasis on sustainability, which I believe is a positive shift for the streaming industry.

• What new products is your company showcasing at IBC 2023?

Our primary focus is on our latest offering, the VisualOn Optimizer. This encoding technology utilizes AI models to analyze content pre-encoding, ensuring a more efficient bit distribution. What sets our product apart is its universality—it’s encoder-independent and supports any compression format. Moreover, it’s highly efficient and doesn’t necessitate any additional hardware.

• Are there any developments in integrating AI into your solutions?

Absolutely. AI is becoming increasingly prevalent in various areas, including compression. It’s being used to identify objects within content, which proves invaluable for targeted advertising. For our product specifically, we’re developing AI models to classify content. By doing so, we can fine-tune the encoding process for different content categories, leading to superior results.