Decided by data
Rules applied to customer data choose what each viewer sees; nothing is edited by hand per recipient.
Glossary · Programmable video
What is programmable video?
Programmable video is video that software can decide, assemble and measure. Scenes and rules are defined once; a system then generates the right video for each viewer and moment from data, on demand, at any volume.
The term is used in two ways. In telecom platforms, "programmable video" has meant video-calling APIs: embedding live video chat inside an app. In enterprise communication, the sense that is gaining ground, it means treating video like software: what each viewer sees is decided by data and rules at the moment it's needed. This page defines that second sense.
The pattern is familiar from text. Messaging became programmable years ago: software decides who receives which message and when, and measures what happens next. Video never made that jump; it stayed a production artifact, filmed, edited, exported, identical for everyone. Programmable video closes the gap: scenes become building blocks, business rules decide which blocks each customer sees, and the video is assembled per viewer.
A programmable video layer is more than generation. It connects to the systems where customer data lives, applies the rules you set, assembles one video per recipient, delivers it in email, web or app, and reports how each segment was watched, skipped or acted on. Rendering is the commodity part; deciding, delivering and measuring are where the value sits. Lont is built as exactly this layer for enterprise communication.
Key points
What makes video programmable
Assembled at runtime
Modular scenes combine into one video per viewer, at the moment it's needed, at any volume.
Delivered where customers are
Email, web and in-app through a player and SDK, not a file attachment.
Measured end to end
Every view returns per-segment engagement, tied to outcomes like churn, NPS and conversion.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is programmable video the same as personalized video?
They're close relatives. Personalized video describes the output: each viewer gets a version about them. Programmable video describes the capability underneath: software deciding, assembling and measuring that output from data and rules. A programmable video layer is how personalization runs at enterprise scale.
How is this different from video-calling APIs?
Communications platforms have used the same term for embedding live video calls in an app, which is real-time conversation infrastructure. Programmable video in the communication sense is about messages at scale: renewals, onboarding, claims, billing, or any other communication an organization sends, generated per recipient from data and delivered as video.
Does programmable video actually work?
The strongest evidence is a randomized controlled trial: Allianz split 45,685 renewal customers between standard communication and personalized video generated by Lont, and churn fell 10.9%. Independent research points the same way; a 2025 Marketing Science field experiment found personalized video ads lifted engagement by six to nine percentage points.
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See programmable video on one of your journeys.
Tell us a message you send today and we'll show you what it becomes when it's programmable, with the numbers behind it.
- −10.9% churn
- 13 → 36 NPS
- 41–52% click-to-open
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