At a glance
Fz Sports is a sports streaming platform, headquartered in the United States, that bridges the gap between fans, rights owners, and brands by delivering Latin America high-quality sports content to viewers. They have brands like Fanatiz, AFAplay, L1play, etc, and they engage with fans through interactive features and live broadcasts while ensuring that rights owners have control over content distribution and monetization.
Currently, the primary audience of Fz Sports consists of expats in the US and Canada. However, Fz sports aims to expand its reach globally. To ensure that the growing number of sports fans can enjoy their favorite content, it is crucial for Fz Sports to deliver a premium viewer experience across all devices.
The challenge: platform coverage and latency
Fz Sports faced several challenges with their previous commercial video player, which struggled to keep up with their growing demands.
- Viewers were experiencing buffering. This resulted in a negative impact on their viewers’ experience.
- The compatibility with web-based smart TVs was cumbersome, hindering the expansion of platform coverage.
- There was no support for low latency protocols such as LL-HLS and LL-DASH. This resulted in a 17-second delay, which gave spoiler effects with social media.
It was clear to Fz Sports that they needed a premium video player partner to improve streaming performance and support their business growth. Besides lower latency, better video quality, and a solution that could support a wide breadth of platforms and provide a better viewer experience.
The solution: Dolby OptiView Player
Through industry research, Fz Sports discovered Dolby OptiView Player (formerly known as THEOplayer). The player was strongly recommended by their peers in the OTT space, who praised its performance and versatility. Plus, they’ve also heard positive feedback from other sports-related OTT services that have successfully integrated it.
Dolby OptiView Player: the choice for high-quality streaming
During the evaluation phase, Fz Sports tested multiple commercial video players on playback performance, low latency capabilities, cross-platform support and ease of integration. Ultimately, Dolby OptiView Player stood out from other alternatives in all of these areas:
- Premium playback performance: Dolby OptiView Player delivers high playback quality, ensuring smooth viewing experience even during peak events.
- Low latency capabilities: The ability to play back both HLS and LL-HLS protocols is essential for ensuring a high-quality live streaming experience, lowering latency to 4 seconds.
- Cross-platform support: Dolby OptiView Player offers robust compatibility across various devices, ensuring seamless viewing experience on web, mobile and web-based smart TVs.
- Ease of integration: The player integration is swift and smooth thanks to developer-friendly APIs and dedicated support from video experts.
Go live smoothly within 6 weeks
The integration process with the Fanatiz app was smooth and efficient. Fz Sports successfully transitioned from their previous video player within just six weeks, going live across multiple platforms including web, iOS mobile, Android mobile, tvOS, AndroidTV, web-based smart TVs, and Chromecast. This launch included an analytics integration with Youbora.
Damian, the VP Technology and Operations at Fz Sports, mentioned that the Dolby support team is responsive, knowledgeable, and proactive in addressing any concerns they’ve had. This swift switch led to immediate enhancements in streaming quality and user satisfaction.
“Our first experience going live with Dolby OptiView Player was very positive. We saw a significant reduction in latency from 17 to 4 seconds. This has enhanced the viewing experience for our fans, leading to increased engagement and retention.”
— Damian Kryneveniuk, VP Technology and Operations at Fz Sports
The results: better viewer experience across platforms
Increased viewer satisfaction
The switch to Dolby OptiView Player led to a 75% reduction in latency, with average buffering times dropping by 90%. These improvements were not just technical—they were felt by fans. Viewer engagement increased by 30%, and customer satisfaction scores climbed by 40%.
From a business perspective, it has also helped Fz Sports maintain a competitive edge in a fast-paced OTT market.
Reach more sports fans across platforms
Fz Sports is using the HTML5 / Tizen / webOS SDK to optimize the playback experience on web-based smart TVs, offering a consistent and high-quality viewing experience for sports fans on large-screen devices. Thanks to Dolby OptiView Player’s extensive compatibility with both legacy and new Smart TVs, Fz Sports managed to reach a wider audience.
“Our favorite feature of Dolby OptiView Player is its ease of integration and support for a wide range of platforms. This has allowed us to provide a consistent and top-tier experience for our users, regardless of their device. The player has not only improved our operational efficiency but also significantly enhanced the viewing experience for our audience.”
— Damian Kryneveniuk, VP Technology and Operations at Fz Sports
Focus internal resources on innovation
Since launching with Dolby OptiView Player, Fz Sports has experienced a significant reduction in technical issues. This improvement has freed up valuable resources, enabling the team to concentrate on creating high-quality sports content and driving innovation in fan engagement. With fewer disruptions. Fz Sports can now focus on delivering more engaging and immersive overall sports fan experience.
Conclusion
High-quality video playback is crucial for sports streaming platforms. By switching to Dolby OptiView Player, Fz Sports is delivering a premium cross-platform viewing experience to sports fans worldwide. Internally, the team has reported fewer technical issues, allowing them to focus more on sports content and innovation. This transition has significantly boosted viewer satisfaction and given Fz Sports a competitive edge over other sports streaming platforms.
Looking ahead, Fz Sports is poised to explore new opportunities in fan engagement, leveraging Dolby OptiView Player’s capabilities to further push the boundaries of what’s possible in sports streaming. As they continue to grow their global reach, the focus will be on delivering even more innovative experiences for fans—keeping them at the center of every play.
