How Accedo is Pioneering Sustainability in the OTT Industry

Sustainability in the OTT industry

In recent years, the OTT industry has witnessed a significant shift in focus towards sustainability awareness. As consumer consciousness about environmental issues and sustainable practices has grown, so has the demand for eco-friendly and socially responsible services.

The growing consumer awareness of environmental issues in media has been apparent:

• Netflix’s “Don’t look up” was the second most popular Netflix film ever, with 62% of Netflix viewers wanting more content on climate change. 
• The brief segment about plastics in the BBC’s “Blue planet II” is widely credited with sparking action against plastic use and its negative effect on the environment. 
• In a recent Bitmovin survey, 60% of respondents indicated that they would prioritize a sustainable streaming platform over “non-sustainable alternatives”, with this percentage rising to 90% for those aged 35-44. Knowledge of the current actual carbon footprint of video streaming was low. 

With this trend prompting OTT industry players to increasingly reevaluate their operations, integrate sustainable practices and reduce their carbon footprint - sustainability is set to become a key aspect of services’ growth strategy. Partnering with eco-conscious vendors and content creators will become essential for these companies in building a more sustainable ecosystem. 

At Accedo, we have already observed this emerging trend through the uptick of sustainability requirements from prospective customers: companies want to gain an understanding of a potential supplier’s environment policy, code of ethics, energy management and corporate responsibility status before making their final decision. 

Compared to other industries, media is in a privileged position to affect global behavior in consumption, well-being and community building. As such, we have a unique responsibility to take leadership in that transformation. 

Accedo’s sustainability journey 

In September 2022, Accedo officially made the commitment to become one of the forerunners of the sustainability movement in the OTT space, and to contribute to the transformation towards a sustainable future. 

Since then, work at Accedo has been ongoing to transform into a sustainable business. We have ambitious sustainability goals and have been striving to learn, evolve and make consistent improvements: not only to our internal work processes - such as powering our offices through 100% renewable energy, halve our carbon emissions by 2030, and increasing employee diversity and well-being; but also to our products and services in order to enable our customers in making sustainable choices. 

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Accedo One: the sustainable OTT platform  

Accedo’s flagship product Accedo One, the no-code platform for video service providers, is in a unique position with its multi-tenant architecture powering multiple customers. Reducing the product’s carbon footprint is not only crucial to our own commitment to sustainability, but also holds significance for our customers as they embark on their own sustainability journey. 

We are therefore placing particular focus on two areas within the product: 

• Reducing carbon emissions linked to our office and cloud operations
• Enabling customers’ sustainability journey with Accedo One’s marketplace 

1. Reduction to carbon emissions 

Our carbon reduction strategy centers around collaborations with AWS (Amazon Web Services) and the pioneering sustainability-driven analytics platform, Humans Not Robots. 

AWS

Accedo leverages AWS through hosting a multi-tenant SaaS environment for Accedo One, utilizing a variety of services and following the AWS Well-Architected Framework. Using AWS’ tools and services, we have been able to make various improvements to optimize energy usage and reduce the carbon emissions linked to Accedo One.  

In addition to this, AWS provides selected carbon data in three-month installments, which has formed the baseline of our carbon reporting.

Accedo’s aspiration is to elevate carbon reporting standards to an even higher level, seeking to attain intricately detailed and consistently updated data for a more comprehensive overview and giving us the ability to quickly learn from and act on data. 

This is where Humans Not Robots comes in. 

Humans Not Robots  

Humans Not Robots helps data-heavy businesses operate more sustainably and efficiently through its workflow observability and analytics platform, “HNR to ZERO”. 

The solution ingests, analyzes and provides metrics on AWS cost and usage data for the Accedo One service. A dashboard for continuous management, reporting and analysis, provides actionable insights that Accedo can use to set sustainability targets and help customers understand their environmental impact.

Climate investments 

Additionally, Accedo has made a commitment to make yearly climate investments corresponding to our carbon footprint, investing in selected carbon removal initiatives voted for by our employees. 

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2. Enabling customers with Accedo One’s sustainable marketplace

Accedo One is in a pivotal position to drive meaningful change in the OTT industry.  

As such, we are committed to enabling the customer to make sustainable choices for their own services, as well as helping partners and vendors to surface their own sustainability status and become “the sustainable choice”. 

Therefore we are pleased to offer the following upcoming features in the Accedo One Marketplace:

• View the level of sustainability commitments of Accedo One vendors. 
• See sustainable products highlighted in the Marketplace. 
• Easily filter available integrations to surface the most sustainable options. 
• Book a consultation with Accedo to help you on your sustainability journey. 

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At Accedo, we believe in creating a more sustainable future for the OTT industry and beyond, where innovation and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. 

Are you interested in joining our journey? Contact the Accedo One team to learn more.