Rakuten ShowTime, VisualOn expand mobile media to Android in Japan

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VisualOn Inc, a multimedia software company that enables high-quality video and audio across connected devices, and Rakuten ShowTime, the largest video content portal site in Japan, have announced an integration of VisualOn’s OnStream MediaPlayer+, a solution enabling high-quality playback across devices, with Rakuten ShowTime’s Android application.

This integration allows Rakuten ShowTime’s subscribers media content access on Android devices.

According to comScore, the numbers of Japanese smartphone users have grown dramatically over the past year, and two-thirds of the users have Android devices. However, the multitude of different types of Android phones presents a unique challenge to deliver media across all devices. VisualOn’s technology enables Rakuten ShowTime to offer high-quality audio and visual playback regardless of varying formats, streaming protocols or hardware capabilities.

With more than 100,000 files available for consumption, Rakuten ShowTime is now capable of using pre-existing file formats and meeting the device and performance requirements necessary to stream content. The app supports operating system versions 2.1 – 4.0 and WMV by MS-HTTP with PlayReady DRM.

“The international market continues to face growing device fragmentation – that’s where we come in,” said Yang Cai, CEO of VisualOn. “We’re experts in efficiently scaling media delivery across devices, enabling our customers like Rakuten ShowTime to provide a rich and seamless viewing experience to its users.”

Executives at Rakuten ShowTime selected VisualOn based on the success it demonstrated in bringing WMV codec to a wide assortment of devices. In addition, they found the performance of OnStream MediaPlayer+ to be excellent compared to alternative solutions and were pleased to bring their content to a variety of users once barred because of device fragmentation.

Rakuten ShowTime is currently available in the Google Play app store. To download the app, visit https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.showtime.android.Abbacchio