Media QA happens on the viewer's screen
A streaming product is dozens of apps in one: web, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Fire TV, consoles and smart TVs, each with its own player and quirks. A change that works in Chrome can break playback on a three-year-old TV.
We build a device matrix based on where your viewers actually watch, automate the flows that matter on each platform, and measure the experience itself: time to first frame, rebuffering and caption accuracy, not just whether a page loaded.
What we test
Video playback
HLS and DASH streams, adaptive bitrate, seek, resume and background play.
Rights & entitlements
Subscriptions, rentals, regional availability and concurrent-stream limits.
Ads & monetisation
SSAI and CSAI breaks, VAST/VMAP parsing, beacons and ad-free tiers.
Content & metadata
Catalogue ingest, artwork, search, recommendations and parental ratings.
Accessibility
Captions, audio description, focus order on TV remotes and screen readers.
Live & premiere scale
Load tests for sign-in storms, playback start and chat during live events.
How we approach it
- Viewer-weighted device matrix: Devices are prioritised by your analytics, so effort follows real audiences.
- Player-level assertions: Tests read player events, not just pixels, to measure start-up and stalls.
- Network shaping: Playback is tested on throttled and lossy connections, not just office Wi-Fi.
- Release-day load rehearsals: We replay expected concurrency before big drops and live events.
- Exploratory sessions on hardware: Real remotes and real TVs for the things automation can't feel.
Standards we design around
- WCAG 2.2: Accessible apps on web and mobile, and sensible focus handling on TV.
- CVAA and FCC captioning rules: Caption availability and quality for content shown in the US.
- COPPA and GDPR: Kids' profiles, consent and data handling for every region you serve.
- IAB VAST / VMAP: Ad responses and tracking that match the industry spec.
How we work with these teams
Media engagements usually combine QA automation for each app platform, API testing for the content and entitlement services, and performance testing ahead of major releases and live events. See our QA automation, API testing and performance testing services.