StreamGuys now offers custom Alexa “skills” creation for broadcasters using any streaming host or CDN. Much like adding functionality to smartphones by installing apps, the custom Alexa skills add capabilities to Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Tap smart home speakers, enabling listeners to access stations’ live and on-demand content through intuitive voice commands.
Alexa skills allow broadcasters to choose the words that users speak to launch the station’s programming, as well as defining the interactive experience surrounding their content. In addition to live streams, the skills can provide intuitive, verbal access to podcasts and on-demand archives, with easy voice navigation between episodes. Like web domain names, Alexa invocation names — the words users speak to open a custom skill — must be unique, making it important for broadcasters to act swiftly to secure their preferred Alexa identity.
As integrated into StreamGuys’ CDN infrastructure, the company says the Alexa technology makes it easier for listeners to find a station, eliminating the challenges of searching by call letters or marketing brands that might comprise multiple stations. Broadcasters using custom Alexa skills creation through StreamGuys can instead quickly establish their presence online.
As well as complementing SGrecast, the Alexa skills can also integrate closely with StreamGuys’ SGmetadata push-based metadata delivery system, allowing live stream listeners to ask the station “what’s playing?” or “what song is this?”, with Alexa then speaking out the current song details.
IBC Stand: 14.L23
Information: www.streamguys.com
