HKRU

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Background

The governing body for Rugby Union in Hong Kong since 1952, Hong Kong Rugby Union(HKRU), is a not-for-profit organisation that channels all revenue back into development.Overseeing local and global events, HKRU is committed to bringing the excitement ofrugby to its extended community around the world.

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Objective 

With the Men’s and Women’s premiership season approaching, HKRU wanted to delivera direct-to-consumer video service, which enabled viewers to watch matches both live and on-demand. The impact of COVID and uncertainty around some of those livematches also meant that HKRU wanted to deliver something unique that would give fansan engaging video experience, even when they cannot attend live matches in person orwhile live matches were cancelled all together.

HKRU was keen to offer a premium service solution to the end consumer whilst alsokeeping the project cost-effective and time efficient. It was particularly important forHKRU to work alongside an organization that could develop the video servicecollaboratively, offering insight and adding value to the project throughout the process.

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Solution

HKRU knew that it needed an experienced partner on board to successfully implement and launch the project. With 15+ years of knowledge and experience in developing video service ecosystems, Accedo was the perfect fit for the project. Accedo Play- Sports is an out-of-the-box OTT solution, packaging application & Video CMS all in one. It offers support for both live and VOD content, different monetisation strategies and for all OTT platforms. The launch of Accedo Play - Sports gave HKRU a holistic end-to-end solution that would enable HKRU to create a bespoke app which could be self-managed. This made Accedo the ideal partner to deliver against HKRU’s requirements and launch its new OTT project in a timely manner.

Developed specifically for the sports market with the aim of helping the industry grow, Accedo Play - Sports was implemented. The solution enables sports organizations and rights-holders to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy live and on-demand video apps across multiple platforms. It also allows for an element of flexibility, enabling HKRU to tailor its app experience as its requirement or user preferences evolve. It also enabled HKRU to launch in record time, from an initial kick off at the beginning of October 2020, to first launch just one month later.

With COVID-19 significantly impacting the sports industry, resulting in empty stadiumsand a loss of physical touch points, many organizations are turning to OTT solutions.Accedo Play - Sports provides a new stream to engage with fans, whilst enabling users toaccess VOD content at their own convenience. Utilizing this offer would help HKRU tomaintain its relationship with fans whilst also unlocking an additional revenue stream.

Being fully cloud-native, Accedo One platform used the AWS Cloud to ensure scalability, performance, and availability around the globe. Accedo One utilizes a variety of AWS services - including Amazon CloudFront, a fast content delivery network (CDN), Amazon S3, Amazon Elastic search Service, Amazon DocumentDB, and Amazon Elastic Container Services (Amazon ECS) to provide a robust service that ensures OUTtv's footage is securely delivered with high transfer speeds and quality.

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Results

Thanks to Accedo’s involvement, HKRU TV successfully launched in November 2020 in time for the Premiership season. Available on smartphone and tablet devices, fans can conveniently access HKRU TV to watch both live and on-demand matches. HKRU TV also includes a range of highlight shows and other content surrounding the sport and the athletes, key to enabling engagement while COVID put a pause on live matches. The use of AuthVOD enables fans across the globe to register and use the video service for free.
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The service has been well received by fans of Hong Kong rugby across the globe. Having access to all games, along with other content, in one place, has made it easier for fans to keep up with the action, especially for fans living aboard.
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Rocky Chow, Chief Community Officer for HKRU, commented, “Thanks to Accedo, we have been able to implement a premium OTT service cost-effectively. I have no doubt that HKRU TV will be well received by fans across the globe and I look forward to continuing our work with Accedo to bring more exciting value-add features for our sponsors and partners.”
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The next step is to introduce Accedo Sponsor, a suite of digital tools that create long-term value for the sponsor brands, the fans & the sports. Accedo Sponsor leverages Augmented Reality to bring new content formats into the ‘fanless’ experience, creating personalised digital offerings to activate new fans

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