Gogo and Spafax Partnership Brings Gogo Vision Into View
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Gogo announced today a new partnership with branded content solution provider Spafax to support Gogo’s wireless in-flight entertainment product – Gogo Vision.
Currently, Gogo Vision is available on 1700 commercial aircraft across six major airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways, all of whom offer in-seat power on select aircraft. The service is compatible with myriad personal devices including laptops, iPads, iPhones and most Android devices. Once logged-in, passengers currently have access to more than 200 movies and 200 TV shows. Though most content available is within the DVD release window, Gogo announced in January 2015 that they were the first to provide a limited amount of early window content through their Gogo Vision product. The partnership with Spafax promises to increase the amount of content Gogo Vision will be able to offer.
How it Works
Gogo Vision content is pre-loaded onto the aircraft’s server and can be offered to an airline with or without Gogo’s connectivity product. The amount of content loaded depends on the storage capacity of the server however, once loaded, passengers can enjoy video on demand.
The service is a cost-effective in-flight entertainment alternative to traditional seat-back solutions. Airlines can customize the content available to their passengers – allowing airlines to show their own promotional content and have the option of adding a flight tracker bar. “As we begin to roll out this product globally, having access to content tailored to fit the needs of different cultures and regions around the world will be an incredible asset,” says Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo’s chief commercial officer. The solution will have the flexibility to add new media in the future, such as eBooks, near real-time TV, podcasts, music and more.
Content installation is done through a USB transfer, with installation completed on any aircraft within eight hours. With Gogo Vision, airlines also have access to 24 hour passenger support, secure payment processing, billing and account management, digital rights management, marketing support, systems engineering and a central equipment installation and maintenance.
According to Gogo, their IFE solution provides airlines with the chance to open new revenue streams and creates new opportunities for ad sales. The Gogo Vision product initially debuted on American Airlines in 2011 as an IFE solution that let passengers wirelessly stream content to their devices during the flight. For American Airlines – the debut made them the first North American airline to offer an in-flight video-streaming product. The initial service allowed passengers to rent TV shows for 99 cents and movies for $3.99 each. Customers had 24 hours after the plane landed to watch rights-protected versions of the movies they paid to rent, and 72 hours to watch TV shows.
For Spafax, news of the partnership follows the announcement of plans to open a new, best-in-class HD post-production “Hub” lab in Hollywood this April. The Hub will operate out of two buildings on the Sunset Gower Studios lot – well positioned to have access to 23 stages, recording studios, viewing theaters and over 700,000 square feet of production support space – and will be home to content production and technical services teams.