Sceenic

Creating interactive audience communities

People like to share and interact with each other while watching live broadcasts: commenting on social media or calling a friend during sporting events, TV talent programmes or even international events such as the Eurovision Song Contest. Yet not as many people watch ‘live’ television as they used to, and the use of multiple channels for simultaneous streaming and conversation can be challenging.

Sceenic Watch Together brings audiences together in a unified experience, enabling them to watch and communicate using the same app. If people can’t actually be together to share the experience, this is the next best thing.

Watch Together is a multi-platform solution that puts content and conversation in one place so that people can simultaneously enjoy and interact with the same content in different locations – from families to fanbases. It can add to the viewing experience by, for example, enabling someone to order a pizza for a friend remotely while they watch together. It also facilitates interaction with the content source, for example, by presenters ‘dropping in’ to viewing events to join the conversation or interview the participants.

The first 5G public showcase

The team at Sceenic had been talking to Digital Catapult for some time, and became the first company to demonstrate the value of 5G at a public showcase using the testbed in Brighton, Sceenic was able to show how connectivity would be hugely improved, removing the limitations on audience size and enhancing video quality.

This showcase resulted in Sceenic connecting with Ryot Studios (Verizon Media’s in-house branded content agency), and having conversations with Orange and Samsung, amongst others.

Now Sceenic can show, rather than tell

As well as using Digital Catapult to showcase its product, Sceenic team members took part in workshops focusing on business activities, such as preparing proposals and pricing. It has also installed a demonstration facility in the London Future Networks Lab.

“Digital Catapult provided us with valuable resources and were even more supportive than expected. They helped us to solve some technical issues and save a lot of time, so that we could maximise our efforts on the project. It has been a rewarding journey to work with the Digital Catapult team and being able to deploy our technology on 5G.

“Everything they do is for our benefit – they have an unselfish passion and enthusiasm for what they do! Thanks to their support, we can now show our clients and potential investors what we can do for them.”

Aharon Yechezkel
CTO, Sceenic
 

In November 2020, Sceenic was named in tech group Silicon Valley Comes to the UK’s (SVC2UK) 2020 Scale Up Club, a list of the 50 most promising high-growth tech firms in the UK.