Catchplay boosts viewing time by 70% for its ad-supported streaming service on AWS

Catchplay wanted to launch a FAST service—an always-on, internet-delivered TV experience that is free for viewers and supported by advertising. FAST channels run like traditional TV, offering curated, continuous programming that supports everyday, lean-back viewing habits.

This move was driven by three major shifts in the entertainment market: rising subscription fatigue, the return to large-screen living-room viewing, and advertisers shifting budgets from traditional TV to connected TV and OTT platforms. Catchplay also wanted to offer a viewing experience that combined premium content, local curation, and live programming—catering both to users who want to choose a title and those who prefer something to “just play” in the background.

However, its existing media setup was optimized for Video-on-Demand (VOD), not for constantly changing, 24/7 linear channels. The legacy environment was not architected fornon-stop streaming, external live-feed ingestion, near real-time monitoring, and did not support server-side ad insertion (SSAI). FAST channel creation from the VOD library was largely manual, making the service difficult to scale. Technical Director Mark Teng at Catchplay says, “Creating a FAST channel from our existing library would have meant significant manual work, leading to a streaming service that was inefficient and hard to scale.”

To modernize its streaming pipeline and launch a FAST service that could scale with audience demand, Catchplay evaluated three approaches: building an in-house FAST system, adopting a SaaS solution, or implementing AWS Elemental. After comparing scalability, cost efficiency, long-term performance, domain expertise, and integration with its existing AWS environment, the company selected AWS Elemental as the best fit.

Together with AWS Solutions Architects, Catchplay began with a proof of concept that tested the full FAST workflow—including live-feed injection, near real-time transcoding, channel assembly, and SSAI. Catchplay collaborated closely with AWS to design the architecture through architecture setup, pipeline integration, Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption, and ad insertion flow design.

To bring the full workflow into production, Catchplay built an end-to-end media pipeline using AWS Elemental services. AWS Elemental MediaLive ingested live feeds and encoded both live events and pre-recorded assets into continuous streams. These streams were then processed through AWS Elemental MediaPackage, which prepared them for reliable multi-device playback and applied the necessary DRM protections. Finally, AWS Elemental MediaTailor assembled channels from Catchplay’s VOD library and delivered seamless server-side ad insertion tightly integrated with Google Ad Manager. Together, these services provided the robust, cloud-native foundation Catchplay needed to move from a VOD-only setup to a scalable FAST platform.

Catchplay also implemented 24/7 monitoring to maintain stability and optimise channel quality as it expanded. The strong collaboration between Catchplay and AWS—reinforced by years of collaboration and AWS’s deep domain expertise—enabled the team to design, test, refine, and launch Catchplay TV on schedule. “AWS gave us a stable, efficient, and scalable foundation that supports both VOD and FAST,” says Teng.

Catchplay now delivers a modern FAST experience that resonates strongly with viewers. Within three months of launch, monthly active users increased by over 50 percent, and total viewing time rose by around 70 percent. The channel lineup expanded rapidly from 20 at launch to over 90 today, including news, finance, entertainment, international sports, and live channels.

FAST has quickly become a core part of the company’s viewing ecosystem, driving deeper engagement and accelerating platform growth. Catchplay is now working with AWS to enhance channel performance, improve ad delivery efficiency, strengthen near real-time analytics, and explore AI-driven personalization and content discovery. The company is also planning to bring Catchplay TV to more audiences across Southeast Asia.

“We will continue working closely with AWS as a key innovation partner,” says Teng. “By leveraging AWS media and AI technologies, we aim to build a smarter, more scalable, and more personalized streaming experience for our audience.”