Twin Galaxies Used Video Hosting to Build a Business

According to CEO Jace Hall, Twin Galaxies first began looking for a video hosting solution to store this content years ago. “We were looking for some sort of white-label video solution that would allow our user base to upload videos that we could hold onto forever as a form of evidence,” Hall says.

Twin Galaxies also had some specific technical needs, including the ability to:

   – Easily upload large quantities of content

   – Manage a massive library

   – Add interactive features and easily replace content

   – Advanced encoding to make optimized playback easy

   – Create a user-facing upload tool on their website

While there are many different platforms on the market, one quickly distinguished itself above the others. “I came across Dacast and encountered a company that took an interest in what we were trying to accomplish. It wasn’t just like ordering a pizza. Dacast took the time to talk to me and understand what we were trying to do. After that, they understood we’d need to store a lot of value.”

Once Twin Galaxies settled on Dacast, it was time to get up and running. Besides providing the features that TG needed for success, Dacast was also able to provide technical support assistance as TG built their new video upload system. Now, let’s review a few of the specific problems the company faced. In addition, we’ll discuss how Dacast helped TG to surmount these obstacles.

1. Building a custom user-facing video submissions system 

One of the key requirements for Twin Galaxies was the ability for users of their platform to be able to easily upload videos into the Twin Galaxies content management database. And they needed the ability to pair these “proof” videos with metadata from a submission form. That metadata includes the name of the video game, name of the user, date and time, and other metrics.

This presented a challenge, but Dacast was able to accommodate via API access and bulk video uploading. Through the API, Twin Galaxies could easily custom-code a submission form on their website that links to their Dacast account. And with no limits to simultaneous uploads, it easily scaled to their entire user base. And as Hall reminds us, their system is global. “We have people trying to upload content into our system from all over the world.”

2. Archival, searchable storage  

The ability to upload content is only half of the story. Twin Galaxies also required the tools to manage and maintain the library of content generated by their user uploads. And this library has grown to massive size, something that would be overwhelming to manage with many video services.

By providing tools for categories, sub-categories, and labels (or tags), the Dacast video management tools make it easy to maintain a library. This allows Twin Galaxies to categorize content by game, by person, by system, and more. This makes content easy to search. Additional tools of the Dacast platform allow Twin Galaxies to make videos interactive with CTAs. In addition, the company can easily replace videos without having to swap out embed codes. This is particularly useful for maintaining leaderboards and top-score websites without having to manually edit them regularly.

3. Technical Support 

Most of the functionality Twin Galaxies used to get their video system up and running is built-in with the Dacast video hosting and streaming solutions. But with API access, they had to do some custom coding and development. As part of this process, they began to work with our tech support team to solve their problems.

The Twin Galaxies team comments that : “The engineering team at Dacast stepped up and worked with us,”

Hall says. “It’s hard for me to imagine any other partner that I would want to work with. Dacast isn’t just a service, they’re an active partner. With every business challenge we’ve encountered along the way, Dacast as a partner has been accommodating and supportive and responsive. As we’ve worked with the API and identified problems, Dacast has improved as a service for everyone out there. It has felt symbiotic.”

As with all our clients here at Dacast, we pride ourselves on personal relationships and an exceptional level of service. That’s why we make technical support available 24/7 to all our users, and phone support for clients on our affordable, full-featured Premium plans.

In addition to providing the functionality TG needed to succeed, Dacast was also able to provide technical support while TG built its new video upload system. Dacast’s diversity and responsiveness enabled Twin Galaxies to get what it wanted from our technical support team.

Founded in 1981, Twin Galaxies is the world’s most preeminent professional organization, community and social platform that is solely dedicated to the recognition, promotion, support and elevation of all video game players throughout the world.