Beyond UI: Wiztivi’s CEO on turning UX into revenue

Two months into his new role as CEO of Wiztivi, David Justin has already begun to shape the company’s next chapter. With more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of telecom, media, and entertainment, David brings a unique perspective on how user experience (UX) is no longer just about how an app looks. It’s about performance, monetization and a real impact on the business bottom line.

In this blog, David shares his vision for Wiztivi and the evolving role of UX in today’s connected entertainment landscape:

1. Why Wiztivi?
2. From custom builds to scalable products
3. UX that pays its way
4. Gaming and video: converging worlds
5. Meeting clients where they are
6. Strength through scale
7. Looking ahead

1. Why Wiztivi?

When asked what attracted him to the CEO role at Wiztivi, David points to the company’s unique position in the industry. “Wiztivi sits exactly at the intersection of media and technology, where I’ve spent most of my career,” he explains. “As a Frenchman who’s lived outside of France for many years, it was the perfect opportunity to bring my international experience back to a French company that’s already doing exceptional things in UX, video, and cloud gaming.”

David has held leadership positions across continents: from founding the strategic consultancy One Six International, to overseeing growth at Globecast America and Globecast Asia, to launching a satellite into orbit. But for him, what matters most now is building a future-focused business that combines innovation with execution.

2. From custom builds to scalable products

David’s first strategic focus at Wiztivi is to accelerate the company’s evolution from a primarily bespoke services provider into a product-driven business. “Wiztivi has a tremendous track record of over 300 deployments worldwide across all screens,” he says. “But sometime ago, the company reached a point where our internal tools and framework became so robust, they were ready to stand on their own as products. We’ll be doing more in the next few months to highlight the benefits of these products, including Timeless, our easy-to-customize, off-the-shelf video app solution for all screens.”

Another central part of this productization strategy is the DANA Framework, Wiztivi’s proprietary cross-platform development framework. Originally used internally to deliver apps for clients, DANA enables developers to create a single codebase that powers high-performance apps on Android TV, Smart TVs, set-top boxes, Apple TV, Roku, and mobile devices.

“It’s the first framework purpose-built for TV screens,” David explains. “Developers are familiar with React and Flutter, but those come from a web and mobile-first world. DANA was built for the complexity of TV (large screens, remote control navigation, platform fragmentation) while also supporting web and mobile. That’s powerful. And we want more companies to enjoy the benefits of DANA for their own development teams. So you’ll be hearing a lot more about that in the run-up to IBC 2025!”

3. UX that pays its way

While Wiztivi is well known for its beautifully designed user interfaces, David wants the industry to think bigger. “A great UI isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s a business lever,” he says. “UX can help you reduce churn, improve content discovery, enable monetization, and even lower acquisition costs. That’s what we mean when we say UX is a revenue driver.”

He cites several trends that are reshaping how video services engage their audiences:

• Pay-Per-View is resurging, especially around live events,
• Shoppable TV is moving from concept to execution but needs to be as easy on a Smart TV video app as it is on a social media platform,
• Ad-supported streaming is growing fast but requires careful UX design to avoid frustrating users.

“In each of these cases, UX plays a critical role. For example, with pay-per-view, it’s not just about finding the content, it’s about how intuitive it is to buy once you’ve made the decision, how quickly the stream loads, and how easy it is to return to it later. All of that affects conversion. And video services need UX experts to help them get it right from the start.”

4. Gaming and video: converging worlds

Another key focus for David is the strategic connection between video and gaming. Wiztivi’s proven Streamava Cloud Gaming platform has already positioned the company as a leader in the cloud gaming space, and David sees significant opportunity to build on this foundation. “Gaming is a larger market by revenue than video streaming and it speaks to a younger, highly engaged audience,” he explains. “Our clients, especially telcos and media companies, are increasingly looking to capture a share of that market. It’s all entertainment, at the end of the day.”

But integrating gaming into a video-centric experience presents its own challenges. “It introduces new UX complexity. How do you seamlessly navigate from gaming to video and back again on the same device? That’s where we come in.” Wiztivi’s design and engineering teams are adept at building unified experiences that serve both video and gaming in one.

“Many telcos tried gaming before, and some of them struggled,” David admits. “But the timing is better now. Cloud costs are coming down, the technology is more mature, and user expectations have shifted. There’s a real window of opportunity here.”

5. Meeting clients where they are

David is also clear-eyed about the reality many clients face: not everyone is ready to leap into the future overnight. Smart TV adoption is growing rapidly but set-top boxes remain critical for many operators. “Smart TV-only strategies are rising, and we’re actively working on designing and developing STB-less services for several customers,” David says. “But STBs won’t disappear tomorrow. Operators need to make the most of their existing hardware and investments - and they need partners who can help them do that.”

That’s where Wiztivi’s cross-platform capability really shines. Whether a client is deploying to a ten-year-old Linux-based box or the latest Samsung Smart TV, Wiztivi can deliver a consistent, branded experience.

6. Strength through scale

David also brings a new lens to Wiztivi’s scale and capabilities: “We’re not a boutique web agency. We have over 100 specialists in UI, UX, video, and cloud gaming. That depth means we can take on complex challenges and deliver.”

While the company was founded in France and still has strong roots there, its reach is increasingly international. Wiztivi now works with clients across Western Europe and the Middle East and plans to grow its partner ecosystem globally. “We’re investing in partnerships because some clients want end-to-end solutions,” David notes. “Our strength is the front-end, but we’re open to teaming up with best-in-class partners across the value chain to deliver more complete offerings.”

7. Looking ahead

Two months in, David Justin’s message is clear: Wiztivi is ready to lead the next phase of UX innovation, where user experience is more than just beautiful, it’s strategic. From productizing core technologies like DANA to bridging gaming and video, and from supporting legacy systems to enabling monetization in new ways, the focus is on delivering measurable value to clients and their users.

“Entertainment is evolving. UX must evolve with it,” David says. “At Wiztivi, we’re not just following those changes, we’re building the tools and experiences to shape what comes next.”

Want to know how Wiztivi’s solutions and UX expertise can be a revenue driver for your business? Book a meeting with our experts to learn more.