Flowplayer
AcquiredFounded 2007 · 5 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
Flowplayer offers an HTML5 online video player and streaming platform for video-on-demand, live, and simulated live delivery, with adaptive bitrate playback up to 4K across web and mobile. It targets global brands and organizations needing a hosted or self-hosted video stack with customizable player plugins and content management tools.
Also known as Flowplayer Ltd · Wowza Flowplayer
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Flowplayer develops an HTML5 online video player and a full-stack online video platform covering hosting, encoding, delivery, monetization and analytics. The player, marketed as Flowplayer Native, is built on the native HTML5 video element and offers more than 36 plugins and configuration options, a skinning API, HTML5 API, Chromecast and AirPlay support, and iOS and Android SDKs. It can be self-hosted as a stand-alone player or used as part of the wider platform. Playback supports adaptive bitrate streaming with encoding profiles up to 1440p (4K) across web and mobile devices.
The platform side handles upload or live-source ingest, encoding into adaptive bitrate profiles, storage and global delivery through points of presence, with management via a web interface or APIs. Feature areas include video-on-demand, live streaming (including 24/7 streams, scheduled events, live clipping, live diagnostics and event logging, fallback streams and live scoreboard overlays) and simulated-live playlists for scheduled, linear-TV-style channels. Additional capabilities span playlisting, chaptering and subtitles, thumbnail scrubbing and animated previews, machine-learning-based recommendations, AI-based closed captioning, WCAG accessibility compliance, AMP support, geoblocking, DRM encryption, access control and a qualified user limiter aimed at preventing password sharing.
Monetization tooling covers client-side and server-side ad insertion, ad pods, ad scheduling, outstream ads, header bidding, fill-rate optimization and advertising analytics, alongside subscription and pay-per-view integrations. Analytics include real-time engagement, popularity and advertising metrics, an "Insights" quality-of-experience capability using machine learning (in beta), webhooks and integrations with third-party analytics such as Google Analytics and Comscore, plus OTT and CMS integrations.
Founding story
Flowplayer originated in 2004, when Tero Piirainen was asked to build a website for the Finnish stunt TV show Extreme Duudsonit and needed a way to play video on the web. Choosing Flash over QuickTime and finding no suitable open-source Flash video player on SourceForge, he asked his brother Anssi Piirainen to build one from scratch while he worked on the site. After the client project ended, Anssi continued developing the player as a hobby and published it on SourceForge, where it attracted several hundred followers within weeks and generated roughly $200 per month from Google ads shown on the fullscreen view. The brothers built a simple promotional website for the player and introduced a paid option: a $95 license to remove the Flowplayer logo from the free version, which brought in about $2,000 in the following 30 days and prompted them to leave their jobs and work on the player full time. The company's own about page describes the same origin as two brothers in a garage in 2004, before YouTube existed, with the first version released as an open-source project on SourceForge.
Business model
Flowplayer sells a commercial video player and online video platform to organizations, offered as a hosted platform with published pricing plans and tiers (including trial and "explorer" plans and enterprise trials sold through a sales team), or as a self-hosted stand-alone player. Historically the free player was monetized through a paid license that removed the Flowplayer branding, and through advertising shown in the player's fullscreen view.
Subscription plans for the online video platform, with plan upgrades and billing handled in-product, plus enterprise agreements arranged via sales contact; the platform also enables customers' own monetization through advertising, subscriptions and pay-per-view.
Traction
The company states its team has developed web video solutions since 2004 and has helped thousands of global brands with VOD, live and simulated-live streaming. The archived open-source Flowplayer 7 repository on GitHub has about 1,900 stars, 462 forks and 1,626 commits. Public customer testimonials come from L'Oréal, RTVS, JoVE, Syncbak, Maaseudun Tulevaisuus and doyogawithme.com.
Latest developments
Flowplayer's site states the company is now part of the Wowza Video live streaming and VOD platform, consistent with Nordic9's note that Flowplayer was acquired by Wowza in 2022. Product releases through 2022 included a 24/7 live cluster (September 2022), consent plugin and fallback live streams (June 2022), animated previews at multiple resolutions and improved keyboard shortcuts (April 2022), live scoreboard overlays (March 2022), and a November 2022 release adding real-time Simulive preview with tokenized share links, a multi-language subtitle and chapter editor, a transcription-completed webhook, and iOS/Android SDK updates, alongside player releases up to version 3.4.3.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Flowplayer describes itself as having developed web video solutions since 2004 and as having served thousands of global brands; Nordic9 describes it as one of the first online video players. In its Flash era the company says the market had two viable Flash-based options, Flowplayer and JW Player. Customer references cited on the company's site and in press coverage include L'Oréal, RTVS, JoVE, Syncbak, Maaseudun Tulevaisuus and doyogawithme.com, with Nordic9 additionally listing Mercedes-Benz, NASA, IBM, Disney, Universal, Bonnier, Schibsted, La Nación, Discovery and Yle.
Positioning centers on a lightweight, minimalistic player built directly on the HTML5 video element with an open plugin architecture and extensive customization, the option to self-host the player or use the full platform, global delivery infrastructure, and integrated advertising and monetization tooling including CSAI/SSAI, header bidding and ad pods.
Technology
The current player is built on the native HTML5 video tag and extended from it, with an open plugin architecture, over 36 plugins and configuration options, a skinning API, HTML5 API, Chromecast and AirPlay support, and iOS and Android SDKs. Adaptive bitrate streaming uses advanced encoding profiles up to 1440p (4K), with HLS.js-based playback and automatic fallback to a secondary stream if a primary live feed fails. Platform components include a live cluster supporting 24/7 streams, a CDN log parser, REST APIs and webhooks, DRM encryption, geoblocking, tokenized preview and share links, machine-learning-based recommendations and AI closed captioning, and a machine-learning quality-of-experience insights product in beta. The earlier open-source Flowplayer 7 was a JavaScript player depending on jQuery, with a Flash component compiled using the Flex SDK, distributed under GPL v3 with an additional term per GPL Section 7.
Go-to-market
Flowplayer combines self-serve online sign-up and published pricing plans with direct enterprise sales ("contact sales", enterprise trials) and developer-oriented channels including documentation, demos, code sandboxes, SDKs and an NPM-distributed React player package. Its origins are in open-source distribution via SourceForge and later GitHub, where the archived Flowplayer 7 repository has roughly 1,900 stars and 462 forks, supplemented by content and community marketing.
Media companies, broadcasters, publishers, OTT services and enterprise brands that need a reliable, high-performance video stack, as well as developers building custom playback experiences and non-technical teams publishing video.
Geography
Flowplayer lists a Stockholm office at Sveavägen 34, 111 34 Stockholm, Sweden, with a Swedish VAT ID, and describes a team working remotely from 12 or more countries. Nordic9 reports offices in Stockholm, Helsinki, New York and London, and describes the company as Finnish in origin. Delivery is global via multiple points of presence.
History
After the 2004 open-source origin, Flowplayer grew from Flash-based player technology into a full-stack video solution for media companies. Founder Tero Piirainen also created the jQuery Tools UI library, hosted alongside the player on the Flowplayer website, after encountering jQuery in 2009. In 2011 the founders traveled to New York at the invitation of competitor JW Player and also met Sorenson Media; both approaches centered on acquiring or merging with Flowplayer, and the founders declined. Flowplayer 7, the open-source player, was later archived on GitHub, with the repository set to read-only on 30 September 2021. Nordic9 reports that Flowplayer, founded in 2007 by that account, merged operations with Swedish company Lemonwhale in 2017, and that Finnish in-app video advertising company Thirdpresence announced an acquisition of Flowplayer in February 2019 under which the combined company would keep the Flowplayer brand, be led by former Thirdpresence CEO Valtteri Pukander, and see Flowplayer CEO Emanuel Viklund become CTO; the same source notes that deal ultimately fell through and that Flowplayer was acquired by US-based Wowza in 2022. Flowplayer's website states the company is now part of the Wowza Video live streaming and VOD platform.
Risks & controversies
An acquisition of Flowplayer by Thirdpresence announced in February 2019 did not complete; Nordic9 reports the deal fell through. The legacy open-source Flowplayer 7 repository was archived and made read-only on 30 September 2021, ending public development of that codebase.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 8
launches, deals, and filingsRelease adding real-time preview for Simulive with tokenized share link, live source resolution conflict warnings, a multi-language subtitle and chapter editor, a transcription-completed webhook, and iOS/Android SDK updates.
Flowplayer launched a 24/7 live cluster with active/inactive settings for 24/7 streams.
Player consent plugin allowing configuration to disable content analytics and local storage, plus automatic fallback to a secondary live stream if the primary feed goes down.
Flowplayer released a scoreboard overlay feature for live streams across supported devices, along with tokenized previews in the platform UI and improved HLS fallback in the player.
Flowplayer was acquired by US-based Wowza and became part of the Wowza Video live streaming and VOD platform.
The flowplayer/flowplayer GitHub repository containing the legacy open-source Flowplayer 7 player was archived by the owner and made read-only.
Helsinki-based in-app video advertising company Thirdpresence announced the acquisition of Flowplayer; financial terms were undisclosed. The combined company was to operate under the Flowplayer brand, led by former Thirdpresence CEO Valtteri Pukander, with Flowplayer CEO Emanuel Viklund becoming CTO. Nordic9 later noted the deal fell through.
Flowplayer merged operations with Swedish company Lemonwhale to form a combined online video platform offering.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Flowplayerflowplayer.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Flowplayer do?
- Flowplayer is an HTML5 video player and online video platform for VOD, live and simulated-live streaming, now part of Wowza.
- Who are Flowplayer's investors?
- Flowplayer's investors include Superhero Capital.