iMedia Brands’ Float Left Interactive Partners with 24i to Deliver Leading OTT Solutions for Roku

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- iMedia Brands, Inc. (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: IMBI) announces its subsidiary, Float Left Interactive (Float Left) and streaming video experience specialists 24i will partner to leverage the power of Float Left OTT technology to offer advanced applications on Roku, one of the leading connected TV devices.

Float Left has over a decade of experience in the OTT space, having served as Roku's first development partner and as a Roku Preferred Developer today. Over the years, Float Left’s native codebase has evolved immensely with the growing industry. What started out as a simple OTT solution in 2009 has progressed into a sophisticated and flexible framework that is used for world-renowned brands. Today, Float Left's Roku framework supports high-end "Netflix-level" features such as favoriting, watch-lists, cross-platform resume, and an intuitive interface designed to keep users engaged and simplify content discovery. In addition, the flexibility of the framework allows for seamless integration with third parties for subscription management, advertising, video platforms, and analytics, giving VOD providers a customized solution tailored to their business model.

With this new partnership, 24i and Float Left are paving the way for revolutionary OTT technology by delivering innovative Roku solutions that will continue to adapt and expand year after year. 24i has developed successful applications for Roku devices for several years, and integrating Float Left's Roku framework into their Smart Apps product will bring their products enhanced efficiency and scale. The integration will enable 24i's product team to focus on the added value they can bring to streaming services by simplifying the development of a single user experience across multiple platforms, particularly through the use of 24i's intuitive Backstage interface for content and application management. Together, Smart Apps and Backstage provide a turn-key video application development platform to allow content owners and broadcasters to provide consumers with an intuitive and engaging user interface for enjoying live and on demand video content. This platform facilitates a consistent user experience across all devices, as well as the flexibility to easily expand and customize functionality.

“We are pleased to partner with 24i to further advance and deploy our OTT technological capabilities on Roku,” said Tim Peterman, CEO of iMedia Brands. “By collaborating with the 24i team, Float Left can offer Roku viewers a streamlined and optimized user experience, which will allow us to continue improving our content delivery and customer engagement across the platform.”

Tom Schaeffer, CEO of Float Left, commented: "Our in-depth knowledge and years of expertise building custom Roku applications have enabled us to develop a codebase that will help companies like 24i accelerate in this rapidly growing market. 24i has a fantastic OTT product, and we look forward to seeing them integrate with our Roku framework to enhance their product even more. This partnership represents an expanding line of business for Float Left in 2021 and beyond."

Martijn van Horssen, Founder and Co-CEO of 24i, added: "Smart Apps provides content owners with the ability to reach viewers on any platform and ensure their user experience is seamless across any device. Roku continues to be an important target device for us, and its specific underlying technology needs to have a solid foundation. Float Left's Roku framework provides that fast, reliable, and maintainable foundation. Using it means we can build on Float Left's expertise and focus on adding our product features on top of their framework, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel."

About Float Left
Float Left is an OTT technology provider, giving Broadcasters and Media Distributors the tools they need to deliver seamless, video experiences to their audiences across all OTT platforms.

As a pioneer of OTT Technology, Float Left learned to evolve as the industry grew. Since inception, Float Left has launched hundreds of OTT services, developed innovative technology solutions, and has had the privilege of working closely with some of the most prolific media brands in the world. Some of their noteworthy innovations include Flicast and Flicast Analytics, AMP (Application Management Portal for content management), and Convert+ (AWS transcoding solution). Float Left is consistently upgrading its solutions and developing new tools, staying on the forefront of the OTT industry.

About 24i
24i offers a fast, cost-effective route to video streaming success on all consumer devices. Their expertise and end-to-end solutions enable pay TV operators, broadcasters, and content providers to manage and deliver elegant OTT user experiences and grow their business. 24i's flexible products for preparing streaming content and publishing front-end applications bring SVOD, TVOD and AVOD services to life on smart TVs, streaming devices, STBs, mobiles, and web browsers. Headquartered in Amsterdam, 24i has offices in Madrid, Brno, California, Helsinki and Buenos Aires and is a group company of Amino Technologies plc.

About iMedia Brands, Inc.
iMedia Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMBI) is a leading interactive media company that owns a growing portfolio of lifestyle television networks, consumer brands and media commerce services. Its brand portfolio spans multiple business models and product categories. Its television brands are ShopHQ, ShopBulldogTV, ShopHQHealth and LaVenta. Its media commerce services brands are Float Left Interactive and i3PL. Its consumer brands include J.W. Hulme, Live Fit and Indigo Thread. Please visit www.imediabrands.com for more investor information.

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