Maestro has rolled out a suite of new automation tools to help broadcasters incorporate interactivity into their streaming strategies, technology first put to use  during the 62nd Grammy Awards on the Red Carpet Livestream as part of a partnership with IBM and the Recording Academy. IBM Watson programmatically detected artists on the red carpet and generated relevant insights then used Maestro APIs with Lightstream integration to publish them into the stream in real-time.  

“Livestreaming experiences are continuing to differentiate from traditional TV broadcasts and data is the engine of change. New live interactive formats, personalized experiences, and automated workflows are three key areas we are focused on. Our goal is to make these tools incredibly easy to use so that customers of all sizes can improve metrics without added costs,” said Ari Evans, Founder and CEO. 

 The new toolset from Maestro empowers broadcasters to easily create custom overlays that are dynamically populated with live data and broadcast using a simple API. Maestro integrated Lightstream’s Cloud video production API directly into its platform so broadcasters can “burn in” interactive elements for redistribution to other platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook, completely in the cloud. 

In addition to Grammy, Maestro boasts the likes of Activision Blizzard, Epic, Microsoft, Sky Sports and Adobe as customers, spanning across multiple sectors including sports, esports and entertainment. 

“From the work we do with our growing customer base, we know that in-stream interactivity drives an average of 175% increase in watch time, 45% increase in retention, and 210% increase in revenue. We’re incredibly proud to activate these tools for the Grammy Awards, and to see the impact this had on the experience for viewers is fantastic,” said Evans.