There’s some pretty smart cookies that work here at Paramount (there’s also a talking Sponge and a pack of rescue pups, but that’s another story).
This week, we speak to one of the cleverest in the bunch, Albie Abiog. Albie is a Senior Product Manager who was part of the team that recently launched the 10 Play App on Microsoft Xbox platforms. Part genius, part greyhound owner, Albie sat down with The Water Cooler and told us all about it.
What is your role and what does it entail?
I’m the Senior Product Manager for 10 Play Apps and Connected TV platforms for the past five-and-a-bit years!
It’s a long and convoluted title, but it’s basically someone who acts as the glue between different operational groups in the organisation (such as Sales, Marketing, and Commercial) to ensure that various required product features (including design and user experience UX), are implemented by working closely with our technical groups.
Tell us about the process of launching the 10 Play App on Microsoft Xbox platforms?
The long and short of it is that we start by looking at possible user and audience figures for the platform to build out a business case.
Once we have compiled the business case and submitted said case for review, there are a few commercial activities which need to be completed (such as various signoff on agreements etc).
When that stuff is out of the way, we kick off ‘discovery’ which means we determine the core requirements and features that need to be included. We work with design, create mock ups of how the app will look and feel, and then kick off development of the app and agreed upon features.
With development complete, we then go through a Q&A process internally and externally (which can involve OzTAM and other relevant platform certification).
Once a bulk of the certification has been completed, we engage with Commercial Partnership, Marketing, and PR to assist with any launch and post-launch activities (plus agree upon a launch date).
Then, we launch the app!
It’s a very long and involved process with various moving parts of the business to ensure we have a successful launch and a great app for our users.
Thankfully, it’s much easier these days since we now use a Unified App Platform (UAP) framework. This means that all the way from the CMS, to the API backend, to the app UX, the same development framework is used which helps us do things in a ‘build once, deploy many’ approach. The UAP allows us to focus on delivering features that our viewers want in our 10 Play apps.
You said this was a passion project of yours, what did you love about this particular project?
It’s been a passion project because in my spare time I play video games and I’ve always wanted able to watch 10 Play content without having to switch from my X-box console to another device in order to do that.
What I love about it is how dedicated and involved the team has been. We actually started the entire Unified App Platform project journey in the early days of COVID with the launch of the 10 Play UAP app for Telstra TV in 2020.
Since then, we’ve launched the new app on iPhone, Android Mobile, Google TV, and also Apple TV OS.
This year, 10 Play has launched on other connected TV platforms such as Samsung, LG, and Foxtel IQ.
We also updated our 10 Play Freeview app presence this year with a major app update as well.
That said, 10 Play on Xbox has been a culmination of everything of we’ve learned in the past couple of years developing on the UAP framework.
The UAP team during COVID really smashed it out of the park, especially with everyone working remotely from one another – but communication has never been a barrier between our team members. We wouldn’t have an amazing set of apps without these amazing devs (developers)!
What excites you about the year ahead with Paramount?
10 Play rolling out more FAST channels (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV).
We saw one example of what FAST channels will look like with the Melbourne Cup Carnival channel, but this will let us showcase our extensive content catalogue to our audience – including something that some people have been asking for – a 24/7 Judge Judy channel! That is pretty crazy and I say would be an Australian first!
What do you love to do outside of work?
I love spending time with my dog-baby, Ace, an ex-racing greyhound who now loves chicken nuggies and couches!
Other than that, I also have many hobbies which range from collecting cars and watches, to heading up to Queensland a few times a year to enjoy the warmer weather with friends and family, to playing Gelsoft (which is a very similar activity to playing paintball)!
