Live and on-demand video integration

Even before the pandemic forced arts audiences to seek out cultural activities from their homes, Detroit Symphony Orchestra had an accessibility-first mission to bring world-class programming to audiences locally and around the world.

When Made took on the challenge to create a web experience worthy of that mission, integrating with their live and on-demand video programming was a key feature.

Prior to the launch of the new dso.org, the orchestra was switching to Vimeo OTT as a host for their DSO Live, DSO Replay, and DSO Classroom Edition channels. Some videos were to be open to the public, while others required viewers to make an annual donation before accessing them.

We built a viewing experience using the Vimeo OTT API, paired with the Tessitura API for user credentials and access. When a user goes to watch a DSO Replay video, they are prompted to login or make a donation to continue. Once identified as a donor, they have access to the full back catalogue of DSO Replay content.

For Vimeo OTT to grant direct video access, accounts need to be created on their platform based on the user’s email address. For Tessitura to grant video access, a specific constituency code must be active.

The first part of this implementation adds the constituency when someone makes a contribution online, allowing them to watch immediately through the DSO website. Additionally, an account is created in Vimeo OTT with the customer’s email address, so future visits directly to the hosted platform do not require a website login. These credentials also work for non-web deployments of Vimeo OTT, including TV apps.

For customers who donate in person, over the phone, or by mail, we worked with the Vimeo team and DSO’s technology team on a scheduled SQL job, creating credentialed accounts within the OTT platform for any new offline donors.

This creates a seamless integration with a third party OTT system, allowing donors to view videos either on the DSO site or on the hosted platform. Free versus paid access at the video level is controlled entirely in Vimeo, while the mechanism for which specific users can access paid content is controlled in Tessitura.