iSport has a new home for video, podcasts and premium content. The new platform, developed by DEVIX Technologies, gives editorial podcast and video production a modern space on the web and makes access to premium content simpler for users. The investment gives Czech News Center the ability to build video portals and podcast platforms for other newsrooms and media projects.
Three, two, one, go
iSport already produces dozens of shows and podcasts, but their presentation was fragmented, and the original platform iSport.tv came with technical limitations. Czech News Center therefore set out this year to develop a new platform, which on the product side was led by Tereza Tišlerová. On the iSport editorial side, the main contributor was head of video and podcasts Zdeněk Tomášek. “Video content on the web often worked only as a supplement to articles, even though it is unique and increasingly popular. At the start of the year we therefore opened a product discussion about the new iSport.tv. Thanks to cooperation with the software company DEVIX Technologies, we went from first sketches to a working platform in four months. It has excellent UX, many new features and, above all, it radically simplifies further development,” Tišlerová describes the process.
The project was carried out by a compact team that delivered a working platform with a strong UX in a short time. David Žák led the user experience, while Lubomír Jirků and Marian Bulla oversaw the technical side at Czech News Center. The solution itself was built at DEVIX Technologies, where Petr Konůpek, Jakub Honig, Jaroslav Dušek, Karel Kopřiva and Petr Medek worked on development. It is precisely the combination of a small, well-coordinated team that explains why the platform works quickly, reliably and naturally for users.
A place for premium content
On iSport.tv, sports fans can find their favourite shows, such as Liga naruby or Zimák, in one place. It includes new features such as automatic video previews on hover, a floating player that lets fans keep browsing the site while watching a video in a window, a vertical video format and playlists for watching related content.
The new platform clarifies how locked and unlocked content works, so users know exactly what they have access to within their subscription. It supports different subscription models. In future, iSport is considering adding a separate paywall for individual shows as well.
Investing in scalability
DEVIX Technologies designed a solution built on a combination of React, Next.js and a serverless architecture. The front end uses Next.js with server-side rendering, which supports SEO and overall performance. The UI is built on Material UI, and components are managed in Storybook. The emphasis on serverless architecture allows automatic scaling according to the current load and greatly simplifies deploying new versions, so the platform can be iterated quickly and extended with new features on an ongoing basis. The whole solution is modular and ready for integrating various players, paywalls and tracking scripts without major changes to the architecture. Managing brand assets in Storybook also makes the platform easier to customise. The solution is therefore easy to reuse and can be deployed within a matter of weeks. Czech News Center plans to use it to build video portals and podcast platforms for other newsrooms and media projects.
“The platform gives us a good foundation for developing video content further and gradually improving the user experience. I look forward to the new features we are working on right now,” concludes Lubor Zoufal, Chief Digital Officer of Czech News Center and Active Radio.
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