The 2019 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Finalists

We've counted all the votes in the 2019 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards, and today we're announcing the finalists—the top three vote-getters in each of our 28 categories.

This year’s awards brought in 220 nominees, which were then voted on by StreamingMedia.com readers. More than 2,700 readers cast more than 28,000 votes in 28 categories that reflect both the Streaming Media and Streaming Media Producer purviews. After discarding votes from obviously phony email addresses, as well as votes by employees casting ballots for their own companies’ products, we identified top three vote-getters in each category. Many of the names are familiar, even expected, but you’ll find more than a few surprises in the list that follows. And if you're surprised that a company isn't represented, well, all we can say is that it either wasn't nominated or didn't get enough votes.

The finalists are listed below in alphabetical order. The winners will be announced November 20 at Streaming Media West, which this year will be held at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles. This year's awards are sponsored by Amazon Web Services, Discover Video, Magewell, and PTZOptics. Winners will be featured in an article in Streaming Media magazine and StreamingMedia.com, as well as our Streaming Media Xtra newsletter.

If you'd like to see what companies took home the Streaming Media Readers' Choice Award in 2018, look to our list of winners.

Analytics/Quality of Experience Platform
Kaltura Advanced Analytics
Nice People at Work (NPAW) YOUBORA Suite
Mux Data

Analytics/Quality of Service Platform
Interra Systems ORION-OTT
Nanocosmos nanostream Cloud Analytics and Metrics
Telestream iQ Solutions Surveyor

Cellular Bonding Solution
LiveU LU300 HEVC
Mushroom Networks Streamer Pro
Teradek Link Pro Backpack

Closed Captioning Solution
Amazon Web Services Amazon Transcribe
IBM Watson Media Captioning
Telestream CaptionMaker

Cloud Encoding/Transcoding Service
Amazon Web Services Elemental MediaLive
Bitmovin Encoding
Telestream Cloud with Flip and QC

Content Delivery Network
Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform
Amazon Web Services Amazon CloudFront
Verizon Media Multi-CDN

DRM/Access Control Service Provider
BuyDRM KeyOS Multi-DRM Platform
castLabs DRMtoday
EZDRM Universal DRM

Education Video Platform
DaCast Online Video Platform
Discover Video DEVOS All-in-One Streaming Platform
Kaltura Video Platform

Encoding Software
Intel Corporation Media SDK
Mux Video
Telestream Vantage Transcode Pro

Enterprise Video Platform
Brightcove Enterprise Video Suite
Haivision Media Platform
Kaltura Video Platform

Hardware ABR Encoder
Amazon Web Services Elemental Live
Haivision KB Video Encoder Series
Wowza Media Systems ClearCaster

Hardware Input Devices for Live Production
LiveU LU300 HEVC
Magewell USB Capture 4K Plus
Teradek Ace 500

Live Streaming Software/Service
Red5 Pro
Telestream Wirecast
Wowza Media Systems Streaming Cloud

Media Server
Discover Video DEVOS All-in-One Streaming Platform
Red5 Pro Server
Wowza Media Systems Streaming Engine

OTT Video Platform
Akamai Media Services Live
Harmonic VOS360 SaaS
Kaltura TV Platform

Per-Title Encoding Platform
Amazon Web Services Elemental QVBR Encoding
Bitmovin Per-Title Encoding
Brightcove Context-Aware Encoding

Portable Multicam Streaming Solution (Less Than $1,500)
Sling Media Sling Studio
Telestream Wirecast Pro
vMix 4K

Portable Multicam Streaming Solution (More Than $1,500)
Discover Video Spider Encoder
Epiphan Video Pearl Mini
Telestream Wirecast Gear

PTZ or Network-Controlled Camera
Panasonic 30x Zoom PTZ Camera
PTZOptics PT20X-SDI
Sony BRC-X400

Quality Control/Monitoring Platform
Interra Systems BATON ABR & ORION-OTT
Telestream Aurora
ViCue Soft VQ Analyzer

Server-Side Ad Insertion Solution
Amazon Web Services Elemental MediaTailor
Brightcove SSAI
Verizon Media Smartplay

Single- or Dual-Stream Encoding Appliance
Amazon Web Services Elemental Live
Extron SMP 300 Series
Haivision Makito X4 Video Encoder

Small/Medium Business Platform
Clevercast Corporate Portal
DaCast Online Video Platform
Discover Video DV Express

Video Player Solution/SDK
Akamai Adaptive Media Player
THEO Technologies THEOplayer
Wowza Media Systems Player

Video Quality Metrics Solution
Elecard Video Quality Estimator
Telestream PRISM
Video Clarity ClearView

Video Switcher/Mixer
Blackmagic Design ATEM Constellation 8K
NewTek TriCaster TC1
Roland V-02 HD

Webcasting/Presentation Solution (Cloud)
Discover Video DEVOS Cloud All-in-One Streaming Platform
IBM Watson Media Video Streaming
Kaltura Webcasting

Webcasting/Presentation Solution (On-Prem)
Discover Video DV Express All-in-One Streaming Platform
Sonic Foundry Mediasite
Telestream Wirecast Pro