Exclusive licensing policies for different media-providers makes the Norwegian streaming marked scattered and difficult to navigate. This can be both time consuming and frustrating for users with several different media subscriptions looking for specific content.
Ring Media makes that a whole lot easier now and serves as a wrapper to gather all the content from different media providers into one application and interface. It is not only possible to stream video-content from e.g. Netflix but also music from services like Spotify all in same application.
Simply connect all your subscriptions to Ring Media and it will function as a personal media host. A global search function presents suggestions from all the supported media providers and gets you quick access without spending time on finding the right application or website to find the right content. Searching and browsing media content have never been easier.
Several solutions already exist that can search cross-services on the internet for users to find out where to watch desired content. Websites like Justwatch.com , Gowatchit.com, and Canistream.it are a few examples and even Lifehacker.com have made a guide on “What's the Best Way to Find a Movie I Want to Stream Online?”
These websites can search on US websites only, and cannot not stream directly from the site. Ring media’s focus point is to provide an improved service for the Norwegian market and let the user stream content directly from the application without being redirected to the source service provider.
Ring Media links several media content services, but does not provide any content or store any information registered in the different services. Sensitive information is stored in the content providers systems. Ring Media will on the other hand collect user data and analyze the user's behavior. This is to suggest content to provide a better service, and display ads based on the user’s behavior.
A premium Ring Media subscription gets you access to a VPN service who opens for viewing content that is exclusive in different parts of the world. Netflix e.g. is especially popular to access through VPN because their content catalogue is much larger than the content that is available in Europe. To use VPN, the user have to make a profile to log in to the VPN network. The application collect the device's IP address, which means that the application knows the identity and the approximate location of the user.
A Ring Media app is also available for smart devices like tablets, smartphones and smart TV’s. The application also supports navigation from wearables like Apple watch etc. where the user can do a voice search directly into the watch, while streaming the content to the TV. Due to the reason that Ring Media does not provide any content, the accessibility for disabled users are defined by the third party streaming services. Video services mostly provide subtitles and captions so hearing impaired can still enjoy content. Song lyrics on the other hand is only available for certain audio content.
