City of Helsinki
The City of Helsinki uses Icareus Video Cloud to power Helsinki-kanava, the city’s public and internal video portal that brings together live events, recordings, and podcasts into one accessible hub for citizens and employees.
Helsinki is Finland’s capital and a leader in digital public services. The city employs nearly 39,000 people and serves over 1.5 million residents in the metropolitan area. Its goal was to modernize how it uses online video for transparent communication, public engagement, and employee collaboration.
Challenge
By 2019, video had become a core part of Helsinki’s communication strategy, from city council meetings to concerts and webinars. However, the existing platform was becoming outdated and could no longer meet new requirements for scalability, security, accessibility, and integration.
Key needs included:
- Reliable and secure delivery for both internal and public audiences
- Brand-safe environment independent of social media algorithms
- Support for live streams, on-demand videos, and podcasts
- Scalability for major events with over 100,000 viewers
- Easy tools for more than 100 content editors across departments
- Integration with legacy systems such as council webcast data services
- Accessibility and multilingual support (Finnish, Swedish, English)
The City wanted a modern, flexible, and brand-aligned platform that could serve both citizens and staff under one roof.
Solution
Following a public tender, Icareus Video Cloud was selected as the new video platform for Helsinki-kanava.
The new solution provides:
- Custom-branded, responsive video portal aligned with the City of Helsinki’s visual identity
- High scalability, ensuring smooth delivery even during large events like the May Day concert, which reached over 100,000 viewers
- Secure internal communications, with content restricted to employees when needed
- Flexible content management, allowing each department to manage its own video section
- WCAG AA-level accessibility and multilingual user interface
- Open integrations to share content with news outlets, TV channels, and city websites
Results
The new Helsinki-kanava has become the city’s central hub for video communications. It enables Helsinki to:
- Communicate effectively with citizens, tourists, and employees
- Stream and archive live events, podcasts, and training videos
- Provide a brand-safe, accessible, and user-friendly experience
- Engage wider audiences, especially younger viewers who prefer video
With Icareus Video Cloud, Helsinki now manages all its online video communications from a single, scalable, and secure platform.
The City of Helsinki uses a tailored implementation of Icareus Video Cloud.
Learn more about our tailored solutions at Icareus.com!