Lightcast

OTT Streaming Platformlightcast.com

Lightcast is a Charlotte, NC-based provider of an end-to-end OTT streaming platform — proprietary CDN, MediaCloud CMS, branded TV/mobile apps, live streaming, and AVOD/SVOD/PPV monetization — serving 2,000+ clients across government, education, broadcast, church, creator, and enterprise verticals since 2010.

Company typePrivate
Founded2010
HeadquartersCharlotte, United States
Headcount11–50
GTM typeB2B
OfferingSoftware

What Lightcast does

Lightcast (legal entity Cross Media Corporation) is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based provider of an end-to-end OTT (over-the-top) streaming platform, founded in 2010 and operating as a privately held, bootstrapped company with 11-50 employees and a secondary office in Vienna, Austria. The platform's centerpiece is MediaCloud, a content management system that handles video/audio upload, transcoding, scheduling, distribution, and monetization, sitting on top of a proprietary multi-layered CDN with 70,000+ streaming servers that the company emphasizes is built independently of hyperscalers like AWS and Azure. Around this core, Lightcast bundles custom-branded TV and mobile app publishing (Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, iOS, Android), live streaming, 24/7 linear scheduling for FAST distribution, AVOD/SVOD/PPV monetization, LightcastDRM content protection, EasyPay payment processing, and the LightcasterXD encoder hardware — sold as a unified suite rather than à la carte point tools. The company claims to have launched 12,000+ apps and published 10,000+ apps serving 2,000+ clients, reaching a cumulative 2 billion+ devices.

The business targets seven primary verticals — Government, Church & Non-Profit, Business & Marketing, Creators & Producers, Universities & Education, Broadcast & Radio, and Events — with named customers including Elon University, World Tour Golf (Graham Enterprises), The American Dream, and Rick Warren's ministry. Go-to-market combines an enterprise sales motion (outside and inside sales teams in Charlotte, "Request a Demo" CTA) with a self-serve website channel, marketplace presence across all major app stores, and a 7% recurring commission affiliate/referral program. Revenue is generated through multi-tier subscriptions (Video Starter through Video Power XL, monthly billing with auto-renewal), usage-based video-minute consumption (SD/HD/4K tiers), professional services on time-and-materials, hardware leasing, and transaction fees of 20-30% on subscription payments and 4-8% on donations via EasyPay. The company has won multiple industry awards including the GOLD Stevie Award for its CMS, American Business Awards "Best Content Management System," and Top 50 Streaming Companies, and recently received JumpCloud's 2026 Customer Award for IT management innovation.

Lightcast firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Lightcast
Legal name: Cross Media Corporation
Website: https://lightcast.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 2010
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 11–50 employees
Short description: Lightcast is a Charlotte, NC-based provider of an end-to-end OTT streaming platform — proprietary CDN, MediaCloud CMS, branded TV/mobile apps, live streaming, and AVOD/SVOD/PPV monetization — serving 2,000+ clients across government, education, broadcast, church, creator, and enterprise verticals since 2010.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Lightcast industry classification

Industry

Product category: OTT Streaming Platform
NAICS: Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (5162)
SIC: Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)
akta.pro primary industry: Enterprise/Creator Video Hosting & OTT SaaS Platforms (MPACAAAL)
akta.pro secondary industries: Ad Tech for OTT (SSAI/CSAI, Ad Decisioning, Measurement) (MPAHAJAG), Customer Support, CRM & Retention Tooling (Helpdesk, Churn, Messaging) (MPAHAJAM), Partner Integrations & Distribution (App Stores, Channels, OEM/Carrier Bundles) (MPAHAJAO)

Keywords

OTT streaming platform
Video content management
Live streaming services
Video monetization platform
Branded TV apps

Where Lightcast is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Charlotte
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

Lightcast business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B
Offering type: Software
Cost components: Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

Subscription Services: Recurring subscription fees with multiple service tiers (Video Starter, Video Smart, Video Growth, Video Power, Video Power X, Video Power XL) offering different levels of features, video minutes, and functionality. Subscriptions auto-renew for additional 12-month periods.
Video Minutes/Usage-Based: Bandwidth consumption measured in video minutes - 1 VM for standard definition, 3 VMs for high definition, higher ratios for 4K. Some subscription packages include bundled minutes while others are pure usage.
Professional Services: Custom development services, implementation, configuration, and training. Development hours purchased on time-and-materials basis. Website, app, and feature development.
Monetization Services (AVOD/SVOD/TVOD): Platform enables customers to earn revenue through advertising (AVOD), subscriptions (SVOD), and pay-per-view (PPV) with transaction processing fees of 20-30% for subscription payments and 4-8% for donations.
Hardware Sales: LightcasterXD encoder hardware leasing with included phone support for setup and configuration.

Pricing tiers

Model	Billing	Price
Subscription	Monthly	Multi-tier subscription model from entry to enterprise
Usage-based	Pay-as-you-go	Video minutes charged based on consumption
Other	Pay-as-you-go	Custom development hours at time-and-materials rates

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Lightcast product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Lightcast provides a full-stack OTT streaming platform that enables businesses, broadcasters, universities, government entities, churches, non-profits, and content creators to launch custom-branded TV and mobile apps, distribute video and audio content globally, and monetize through AVOD, SVOD, and PPV/TVOD models. The platform combines Media Cloud CMS, live streaming, 24/7 linear scheduling, AI-powered workflow automation, multi-layered CDN delivery, DRM, payment processing, and APIs/SDKs into a unified solution reaching over 2 billion devices.

Product overview

Lightcast is an all-in-one OTT (Over-The-Top) streaming platform that operates as a unified platform-plus-modules architecture. The core platform is the MediaCloud content management system, which powers the Full-Stack OTT Platform for video hosting, streaming, and distribution. Key integrated modules include TV & Mobile Apps (custom app development and publishing), Live Streaming (events, 24/7 scheduled, linear streams), and Monetization (AVOD, SVOD, PPV/TVOD). Additional services include Automation & AI for workflow optimization, 24/7 Scheduler & Playout for linear channels, Multi-Platform Delivery for syndication, CDN Services, OTT Advertising, PPV ticketing, LightcastDRM for content protection, and EasyPay for payment processing. The platform distributes to over 2 billion devices across Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, Smart TVs, iOS, Android, web, and social platforms. The company has launched over 12,000 apps and serves 2,000+ clients globally since 2010.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

Media Cloud: Award-winning content management system (CMS) and online video platform (OVP) for managing video & audio assets, channels, live events and 24/7 schedules.
LightcasterXD

Products and services

MediaCloud

Quantifiable outcome

Apps can be live in as little as 5 days across all major platforms
+2 more outcomes

Companies that use Lightcast

Customer profile

Named customers4 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles7 records

Lightcast technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API: Yes
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration17 records

AI capability5 records

Feature8 records

Lightcast partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Lightcast competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

Kaltura: Enterprise video platform offering OTT, CMS, live streaming, monetization, and TV app publishing across all major app stores. Closely comparable to Lightcast in target customers (universities, broadcasters, enterprises) and product architecture.
Brightcove: Publicly traded enterprise video hosting and OTT platform offering video cloud, live streaming, monetization, and app publishing. Direct competitor to Lightcast in the enterprise/creator OTT SaaS category with similar CMS, app builder, and monetization capabilities.
JW Player (now JWP): Video player and OTT platform serving broadcasters, publishers, and enterprises with streaming, monetization, and app publishing. Comparable to Lightcast's full-stack OTT offering with similar monetization models.
Mux: Developer-focused video infrastructure platform offering APIs for streaming, video-on-demand, and analytics. Comparable as OTT infrastructure peer though more developer-oriented than Lightcast's turnkey CMS approach.
Wowza Streaming Engine: Streaming infrastructure provider offering live and VOD streaming software with CDN services. Comparable to Lightcast's streaming and CDN capabilities, particularly for events and broadcasters.
Dacast: B2B video streaming platform offering live and VOD streaming, monetization, and white-label OTT apps. Closely comparable to Lightcast in tiered subscription pricing and SMB/mid-market target customer profile.
Vimeo OTT (Vimeo Streaming): Creator-focused OTT platform offering branded apps, SVOD/TVOD monetization, and multi-platform distribution. Directly comparable to Lightcast's creator-focused solution with overlapping app store distribution.
Uscreen: Creator-focused OTT platform with branded TV apps, SVOD/TVOD/AVOD monetization, and multi-platform distribution. Comparable to Lightcast's creator segment with similar app builder and monetization focus.

Emerging players

Panopto: Enterprise video platform focused on education, training, and internal communications. Overlaps with Lightcast's universities and business segments with comparable video CMS and distribution features.

Broad incumbents

IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream): Enterprise live streaming and video platform within IBM's broader portfolio. Competes with Lightcast in enterprise and broadcast segments but as part of a much larger technology stack rather than a specialized OTT provider.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Lightcast financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Lightcast leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Lightcast funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Lightcast M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lightcast

What does Lightcast do?

Is Lightcast a public or private company?

Lightcast is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.

When was Lightcast founded?

Lightcast was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.

Where is Lightcast based?

Lightcast is headquartered in Charlotte, United States, in the North America region.

How does Lightcast make money?

Five revenue lines are on record. Subscription Services are the primary driver. The others are video Minutes/Usage-Based, professional Services, monetization Services (AVOD/SVOD/TVOD) and hardware Sales.

Who are Lightcast's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are Kaltura, Brightcove, JW Player (now JWP), Mux, Wowza Streaming Engine, Dacast, Vimeo OTT (Vimeo Streaming) and Uscreen. Panopto is listed as an emerging player. IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream) is listed as a broad incumbent.

Does Lightcast have an API?

Yes. Lightcast offers Developer Tools including application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) that enable developers to build or operate Branded Apps or Customer Apps, or to publish Customer Media or Customer Apps through or connected to the Services. The platform supports LightcastAPI for integration purposes. APIs enable multi-platform publishing, content distribution to Third-Party Streaming Services (Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, iOS, Android), and social media platform publishing (Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Cross.TV). Developer documentation is at support.lightcast.com/621252-LightcastAPI.

What industry is Lightcast in?

Lightcast's product category is OTT Streaming Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAAAL, Enterprise/Creator Video Hosting & OTT SaaS Platforms, with a secondary code of MPAHAJAG, Ad Tech for OTT (SSAI/CSAI, Ad Decisioning, Measurement). Its NAICS code is 5162 and its SIC code is 7812.