According to Ari Bensimon, CEO of Wiztivi, TV has a bright future ahead of it. On condition of a few adaptations on which the Nantes startup has set its sights. According to a ranking carried out in 2017 by the specialized magazine Streaming media, Wiztivi would be one of the 101 global companies that must "illuminate" the online video industry in 2018. A nice track record for the Nantes startup founded in 2007 in Carquefou , near Nantes, taken over two years later by SFR, whose turnover has grown by 30% per year since 2014.

Simplicity and fluidity

In 2017, in a market contested by the Accedo, Nagra, Cisco groups... the company achieved a turnover of 9.8 million euros and generated a net profit of 1.7 million euros, in 50% growth. The secret of this enlightenment? “We are the only ones exclusively focused on this technology and we provide both design and development internally,” explains the CEO of Wiztivi, which developed from two interfaces.

One on the shelf, the Timeless, a standardized solution for boxes, tablets and mobiles where you can embed logos and certain specificities. The other "tailor-made", called Wiztiviframework, makes it possible to adapt to the more advanced requests of operators and television channels, whose content is constantly increasing (program guide, videos on demand, replay, catalogue... ).

--

["We don't just want developers, but to bring diversity into the teams, new cultures with people who have known how to challenge themselves to go down other paths. It's a state of mind that interests us ", explains Ari Bensimon, CEO of Wiztivi.]

--

Wiztivi at the Super Bowl

Coming onto the connected TV market ten years ago, with the development of apps for TV operators, Wiztivi, for lack of sufficient audiences, very quickly pivoted to go towards the design and development of interfaces and user experiences (UI and UEX) for historical web or media players such as Dailymotion or NRJ. The company has since convinced MyTF1, M6 Web, Viacom international, Orange, SFR, RMC Sport, the Turkish operator Digiturk, the Polish Polsat, Liberty Global in the Netherlands, Altice in the United States, Télécentro in South America or the British Vodafone which deploys the "WiztiviFramework" solution through its subsidiaries around the world, particularly in Italy, Greece, Spain, Romania...

In November 2017, the American Altice launched its new Altice One box, whose user interface is designed by Wiztivi. "A novelty in the USA accustomed until then to other systems", underlines Ari Bensimon. Undetectable for the uninitiated, the solution was projected into the limelight during an advertising campaign carried by Ronaldo, broadcast during the Super Bowl, the famous final of the NFL (National Football League).

Towards the end of remote controls

International markets alone account for 50% of turnover. "All operators are looking for innovative user experiences," said Ari Bensimon, returning from the IBC show for audiovisual professionals in Amsterdam, where the startup presented an interface that responds to voice, via Alexa (Amazon) or Ok. Google. “It's the market trend. Remote controls will eventually disappear”, he says, like Samsung which, in 2012, launched a TV without remote control, controllable by voice, but whose understanding left something to be desired...

Already in 2016, the acquisition of a Finnish company specializing in on-demand games enabled Wiztivi to expand its offer with 300 games. It employs around twenty people in Helsinki and generates 20% to 25% of turnover.

Bakers to the rescue

Thanks to the development of a compatible code that can be developed with all systems (IOS, Android, Box, Playstation, etc.), Wiztivi's solution would save operators valuable time during the launch (of box ) or for maintenance operations. But at five to ten years old, the real challenge concerns the multiplication of screens, the nature and quantity of information to be ingested.

For this, it approached the École centrale de Nantes with a view to carrying out a research program and car manufacturers to participate in prospective studies. Technologically inventive, the startup, whose workforce has grown to 140 people, must also be creative to deal with the labor shortage. For this, she developed an original script and cast. With the help of the Ecole centrale de Nantes and Pôle emploi, it set up a three-month training program for job seekers undergoing professional retraining. Objective: to train ten people from all walks of life to strengthen the teams of developers, engineers and sales and more broadly, its R&D center in Nantes.

"Some are bakers, others come from the hotel industry, chemicals...", explains Ari Bensimon.

“More broadly, we are looking to recruit thirty people by the end of the year to support our growth,” he adds.

___

By Frédéric Thual, correspondent for La Tribune in Pays de la Loire