Civolution
 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (June 2009) |
| Company type | VC funded |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media, broadcast, television, pay TV, digital cinema, internet, pre-release, digital watermarking, video and audio fingerprinting |
| Founded | Eindhoven, the Netherlands (incorporated 2008) |
| Headquarters | , the Netherlands |
Key people | Alex Terpstra, CEO |
| Website | www.civolution.com |
Civolution is a company focusing on technology and services involving audiovisual media content. It offers digital watermarking and fingerprinting technology, forensic tracking of media assets, and media intelligence.
History and ownership
[edit]Civolution was spun off from Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands.
The first digital watermarking activities started in the Philips Research labs in 1996, after several years of research and development of the technology. The first commercialization activities started in 2000.
In 2002, a dedicated business line, Philips Content Identification, was formed to further develop the technology, particularly in the domains of monitoring and forensic tracking of applications using Philips audio and video digital watermarking technology, and the recently developed audio and video digital fingerprinting technology. The same year, Philips Content Identification signed a joint venture agreement with corporate news and multimedia services provider Media link, to launch Teletrax, the world's first global broadcast intelligence service. Philips Content Identification digital watermarking technology was used for identifying the source of illegal copies of the 2003 Academy Award Screeners and by the major Hollywood Studio's for protecting pre-release material and theatrical releases content.[citation needed]
In 2006, the Philips Content Identification business unit introduced a forensic marking solution for digital cinemas. The technology allows unlicensed copies of content from digital theatre to be traced back to the time, date and location where the illegal copy occurred.[citation needed]
A few months later a digital watermarking solution for the Pay TV environment was deployed. Designed for set-top box integration, the technology uniquely watermarks and identifies content delivered to individual Pay TV subscribers and hospitality TV screens. Whenever Pay TV content is accessed or distributed, a watermark is applied into the video stream in real-time. Any redistributed content can be traced back to a specific Pay TV subscriber or viewer.
Philips content Identification assumed, in September 2008, full ownership of its joint venture Teletrax and completed a spin-off from Philips Corporate Technologies as a stand-alone company Civolution B.V. backed by venture capital firm Prime Technology Ventures.[1]
On July 21, 2009, Civolution announced that it had acquired Thomson Software and Technology Solution (STS) watermarking business from Thomson.[2] As a result of the amalgamation, Thomson became a shareholder in Civolution.[citation needed]
In December 2014, WPP's Kantar Media acquired Civolution's SyncNow audio watermarking unit supporting Audience Measurement and Second Screen synchronization applications [3]
Following the Kantar Media acquisition, Civolution announced the launch of two separate business units, NexGuard and Teletrax.[citation needed]
Civolution has offices in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), London (UK), Rennes (France), New York City, Burbank (Los Angeles).
In July 2016, Kudelski Group acquired Civolution's market leading NexGuard forensic watermarking business supporting content tracking solutions for pre-release, digital cinema, pay TV and streaming.
Technology
[edit]The automatic content recognition and synchronization technology has been deployed by Red Bee Media for The Walking Dead by FX (UK). [4]
Another capability offered by the technology for 2nd screen and smart TV application providers, as well as social TV platforms, is a server-side content triggering service that provides real-time recognition of broadcast content such as advertisements, movies, TV series, music, and more. By automatically notifying application providers in real time of what content is airing on which channel, such service allows for the synchronization of value-added functionality such as content-specific background information, hyperlinks, and synchronized social newsfeeds, all within the developer's second screen or smart TV applications. Application providers can thereby offer users a more powerful and engaging TV-synchronized experience. The service enables application providers to work more deeply with advertising agencies and brands to further monetize their app platforms. Through the real-time ad identification and triggering service, synchronized ads or ad-interactivity can be delivered to 2nd screens, extending the advertising experience over multiple screens in a synchronized manner. The company has also partnered with Vetrya on mobile platform technology.[5]
Global operations
[edit]Civolution is headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands, and has offices in Rennes (France) London (UK), New York, Hollywood and Hong Kong. Its teletrax service currently[as of?] tracks and monitors over 2,000 television channels worldwide through a network of monitoring stations located in Europe, Middle East, Asia, North and South America.[citation needed]
Affiliations
[edit]Civolution is among the 12 founding members of the Digital Watermarking Alliance, an organization that was formed to promote and educate the public about the benefits of digital watermarking technology.
References
[edit]- ^ Prime technology ventures and philips arrange for successful spin-out Archived 2009-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Civolution acquires Thomson Software and Technology Solution watermarking business".
- ^ "WPP Plc's Kantar Media agrees to acquire unit of Civolution". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18.
- ^ "FX UK Signs up Red Bee Media to Launch Watermarked Companion App | News | Red Bee Media". Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2012-01-26..
- ^ "Civolution and Vetrya facilitate a more powerful and engaging TV-synchronized experience".