• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 30, 2012

Positioning itself as a major force for TV Everywhere, Adobe Systems said it authenticated more than 88 million video streams to U.S. viewers during the London Games.
 
That represents “the highest number recorded for a single event in TV Everywhere history,” according to Campbell Foster, marketing director for Adobe Media & Ad Solutions.
 
This summer, Adobe powered two apps for NBC Sports, which streamed the Olympics live via consumer mobile devices. One was a live-streaming app for the more than 3,500 hours of content that NBC promised viewers; the other was a companion app loaded with additional content. Both let fans record footage for playback, as well as share their viewing experiences via social media channels.
 
More broadly, Campbell boasted a 10-fold increase in authenticated streams for Adobe Pass during the first six months of the year, which he attributed to its participation in the Olympics, along with NCAA March Madness, UEFA Euro 2012 soccer, and the NBA playoffs.
 
Adobe debuted its Pass product late last year as a tool to authenticate pay TV subscribers across screens so that only the right customers get access to the content.
 
With Pass, Adobe was addressing widely held concerns among TV cable and satellite providers -- as well as individual content makers -- that new media meant lost ad revenue.
 
Adobe Pass promises a secure authentication system that uses Flash and HTML5 to provide access to content on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS BlackBerry and Google TV platforms. Adobe says the system works via a single user sign-in and doesn’t require additional downloads or other complex authentication procedures.
 
Beyond NBC Universal, Adobe Pass is now integrated with more than 150 pay TV providers and supports over 40 sites and mobile apps from 25 networks, including Fox, ESPN, CNN, TNT, MTV and Disney.
 
“Approximately 98% of pay TV households in the U.S. are now able to view TV content via the Adobe Pass service,” according to Campbell.
 
Domestically, desktop consumption accounted for 70% of authenticated streams, while smartphones and tablets combined for the remaining 30 percent -- with iOS leading by 81%, and Android serving 19% of the streams, Adobe reports.
 
A total of roughly 7 million TV subscriber households accessed authenticated streams online from roughly 10 million authenticated devices.
 
This week, Adobe also rolled out several improvements to its Pass service, including auto-authentications, free content previews for consumers, and a more available API for developers.