deluxetechnologies whitepaper final 031319€¦ · content recommendation engine for end-users. 6....

LIGHTS, CAMERA,DATA!

With the rise of a more connected digital world, content’s journey from the camera lens to viewers’ screens has experienced rapid transformation. The media and entertainment industry is going through a complete reimagination to build more complex systems and work�ows to meet the demands of audiences who expect instantaneous access to their favorite TV shows and �lms wherever they are around the world.

The cloud has become critical to ensuring studios, broadcasters and OTTs can meet these growing consumer demands. While many media and entertainment companies have begun to embrace the cloud, the industry is missing the opportunity to take advantage of the important bene�ts that data provides in a successful cloud platform:

1. When managed correctly, data can support content creators and distributors in delivering high- quality content to their audiences faster and more cost e�ectively.

2. Data provides greater insight into the performance of content across its entire lifecycle, shedding light on valuable market intelligence such as delivery costs, purchasing patterns and regional opportunities.

The cloud has become a central and consistent discussion in media and entertainment. Approaches to how data can be implemented should be the crux of any conversation related to the cloud. Let’s explore the integral role that data plays in powering the cloud and automating the f low of content throughout the digital supply chain to provide a consistent and personalized end-user experience.

Copyright ©2019 Deluxe. All rights reserved. 2

DATA IS THE NEW INFRASTRUCTURE(AND THAT’SA GOOD THING)

3Copyright ©2019 Deluxe. All rights reserved.

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All systems generate data. What’s unique about cloud systems is that they rely on data to operate, and the data stored in the system can be centralized, shared and made available for every task. As a result, data has e�ectively become the infrastructure for a successful cloud platform, and it can bene�t the industry in a number of ways (as we’ll see in Section III below).

Think of an existing supply chain as a digital media factory. However, instead of a traditional brick and mortar environment, there are multiple technologies that take in a raw asset and transform it into the digital format that’s needed. These formats can include home entertainment versions, subtitle and audio tracks for every supported language, marketing assets, 4K �les, tailored edits, redacted versions, and all the speci�c avails created for an order.

The data that's generated from each piece of technology that makes up this digital media factory will be what optimizes media and entertainment companies in the future. The key to unlocking it is through the use of clean, standardized data across the system.

DATA IS THE NEW INFRASTRUCTURE(AND THAT’S A GOOD THING) UNSILOING DATA

In the past, data was typically stored inconsistently across multiple systems, often managed by di�erent departments or multiple vendors. Data is generated at each stage of content creation and distribution, but because it’s often de-centralized is not e�ectively leveraged by people and teams across the supply chain.

For example, di�erent versions of content may be created due to time constraints, regional compliance versions for objectional content, various ratings and creative versioning (i.e. theatrical cut vs. extended director’s cut). Additionally, various foreign language subtitle and audio assets may be created at di�erent points in time against numerous versions. Having data that tracks version di�erentiation and assets created within each version can signi�cantly help accelerate the process of re-purposing the various audio and subtitle versions.

Data can be a valuable resource in creating and implementing decision trees to streamline the re-versioning process. For example, if the only di�erence between two versions is the music (for licensing reasons), then foreign language audio tracks may need to be revised, but subtitles can stay the same, as they are shared between the two versions.

Siloed data makes work more expensive and takes longer, and re-integrating those datasets and work�ows can be a costly and arduous task. Breaking down those silos builds on the existing intelligence within each data archive and allows teams to scale systems to quickly meet demand without creating unnecessary bottlenecks.


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METADATA IS THE VALUE OF WHAT YOU KNOW2

Metadata is essentially data about data. It’s the information used to label and organize other information.

In the media and entertainment industry, metadata comprises information about all the elements that make up a speci�c piece of video content, including audio-visual �les, image �les, text and subtitle �les and timecodes. When managed in a single system, this vast amount of information enables media companies to guide assets through production and delivery e�ciently, while automating the �ow of content throughout the entire content lifecycle.

Here are the various types of metadata that video producers work with across the content lifecycle:

TITLE METADATA: The descriptions and key information about a speci�c piece of content. This data includes information such as title, release year, actors, synopsis and runtime, and should be mostly universal.

TECHNICAL METADATA: The information about the actual file or container, such as the file’s resolution, bitrate, CODEC, or audio con�guration.

CONTEXTUAL METADATA: The catalogue of actors, products, objects and actions in a scene. The rise of arti�cial intelligence makes pulling desirable contextual metadata out of content more e�cient, helping to identify, catalogue and quickly �nd content for later use.

AVAILS METADATA: All the data within the rights and licensing arm of content delivery, including available regions, time periods and business terms. This is important to content owners, broadcasters or other exhibitors because it is integral to planning content releases.



As media companies strive to keep up with audiences’ ever-changing consumption habits, and consequently the explosion of content and viewing platforms, metadata has begun to play a critical role in helping content producers and distributors better manage all of their assets. From content creation to consumption, metadata enables faster turnaround time to market.

Shifting data can prove challenging to manage. As the number of content creators continues to grow, there’s less consistency with regards to how content and all of its data are represented and shared.

As companies try to de�ne and promote their own standards, metadata points can change dramatically from organization to organization. That separation threatens to recreate the very silos that metadata has the ability to evolve beyond. To address this, the correct schema must be de�ned. When working with di�erent collaborators on the same piece of content – such as in-house production teams or third-party vendors – having a consistent or standardized metadata schema becomes vitally important.

Traditionally, when multiple companies need custom metadata, there’s a great deal of custom work that must be completed at every stage of the process and at each hando�. Once metadata is standardized, companies can connect those disjointed work�ows and expedite the �ow of content through the supply chain.

KNOW & OWNYOUR OWN DATAIt’s absolutely vital that you become familiar with each data point and set before migrating to the cloud.

A familiar data set can be put into a formal structure and then normalized, reducing data redundancy and improving data integrity to ensure it’s being uni�ed to be better used in the cloud. Determining how often or how quickly data needs to be accessed over time can prove to be helpful in constructing where to best store it in the cloud.

Beyond simply understanding data, it’s helpful to have a clear sense of the source. For example, real-time data from the supply chain is on a centralized platform, meaning it’s available all of the time, whenever needed and with limitless access. Suddenly, compiling the history of all orders in a month, organized by location is simple, and an aggregate of the costs associated with creating international versioning is at your �ngertips.

Contrast this with the standard practice today: going to companies that provide these services and asking them to manually generate reports, and compile them.

The bene�ts are clear: the cloud allows users to quickly review data and have the ability to easily capture and evaluate it; thus allowing them to make more accurate �nancial projections based on the information that’s been gathered.

It’s important to note, however, that data of this kind is available in a centralized, open cloud solution, but not all cloud systems are open or centralized. Continue reading to learn more about how solutions like Deluxe One can easily provide real-time access to this type of data.




10 BENEFITSOF DATA3

Metadata helps content producers and distributors alike stay connected to video throughout its entire lifecycle, speeding up work�ows and ultimately maximizing monetization. Once harnessed and centralized, metadata simplifies the presentation of content to the world while ensuring it’s accepted by all platforms and providing a consistent user experience.

HERE ARE 10 OF THE MOST TANGIBLE BENEFITS OF HAVING THIS DATA AT YOUR FINGERTIPS:

1. Tell content owners the number of distributable service-ready versions for licensing in various territories

Many content owners currently use logs or databases to inform them of the availability of various international versions, but those sources don’t mention how serviceable these versions are. Without this information, content owners are selling blindly, potentially losing money by selling di�cult- to-deliver content instead of content that could have easily been delivered to licensors.

2. Help address sourcing and quality issues with suppliers

Suppliers often mislead distributors regarding timelines, not taking into account the time it takes to successfully submit assets. With more visibility and data, licensors can better enforce their contracts and commitments from suppliers.

3. Provide additional insights into the content onscreen

By strategically looking at the data, distributors can easily view granular information, such as how much footage contains a particular actor. This helps studios quickly react when a breakthrough artist starts trending, allowing them to capitalize on the opportunity by instantly surfacing related content — for instance, by accessing footage that was previously cut from a speci�c version and repurposing it for sale and viewing.

4. Compliance management

Data can help identify content requiring additional editing to make it legally compliant in various territories. Compliance laws and standards constantly change, but arti�cial intelligence can be used to mark content, attach it to metadata and accelerate a compliance edit.

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5. Create more personalized user recommendations

With rich, easily available metadata coupled with fast processing, content featuring geographically or culturally relevant material can be marketed, featured and made available dynamically – adjusting to news, mindsets, social issues and regions of interest while also creating a robust content recommendation engine for end-users.

6. Derive insights into language pairings for more viewership opportunities

If media companies are exploring ways to make more content available in new markets, certain language pairs are easier or more cost-e�ective to create than others and vary depending on global demand for translation and dubbing talent. Data can recommend localization based on global trends, then help inform and guide users to the most cost-e�ective upsell strategies.

7. SLA monitoring

Several vendors are often involved in the creation and distribution processes, and SLAs are commonly di�cult to measure when the process includes multiple hando�s between vendors. With the ability to view into the end-to-end supply chain, media

companies can quickly identify problematic vendors and adjust their process to resolve issues. A cloud platform assists in alerting content owners and distributors, enabling them to follow up with problematic or backlogged vendors and develop a more judicious selection processes.

8. Capacity planning

Metadata enables producers and distributors to have increased transparency into the complete content ecosystem and how content �ows between various vendors. Companies can use data to anticipate the timing of the sequence and better plan for capacity needs. This allows companies to provide aggregated regional or work�ow speci�c capacities and forecast bottlenecks.

10 BENEFITSOF DATA3


10. Prepopulate orders

Companies can build on data to anticipate the needs and demand during speci�c periods of time, unlocking the ability to prepopulate orders and expedite their rate of getting to market. Trends are derived from previous order histories and then used to predict future requests. OTT platforms have been successfully implementing this model for consumers by moving content to certain CDNs based on forecasted usage in order to accelerate the time from play button to screen.

10 BENEFITSOF DATA3

9. Improve cost e�ectiveness

Because each distribution point has its own requirements, knowing which assets can be reused and the unique needs of each distributor, companies can cost-e�ectively generate avails and focus on creating only new elements for a speci�c order. Tracking data on the di�erent formats and versions of assets can dramatically accelerate the decision making process for version re-use – and even automate it. By simply mapping the di�erences and sending those as instructions to a transcoder, the asset and be quickly transformed to meet the needs of a new distribution point.



MOVING TO THECLOUD AND A DATAINFRASTRUCTURE4

MOVING TO THE CLOUD AND A DATA INFRASTRUCTURE4

Data is the future of entertainment. It’s the bedrock of a system that delivers high-quality content to audiences at a much faster rate and in a more cost-e�ective way. Data enables the customization of content to create a truly di�erentiated customer experience. With access to the complete supply chain, companies can quickly determine challenges, identify ownership and immediately address them.

Cloud technologies will remain key to unlocking the incredible value data a�ords. Companies that simply look at the cloud as a place to store �les are missing the incredible bene�ts that metadata provides.

The �rst step to unlocking the bene�ts of a cloud system is ensuring that all data is clean, well-organized and normalized. While this can prove to be a considerable undertaking, it is a requirement for entry. After the initial process is completed, data can move seamlessly through many systems and generate valuable insights into every element of an operation.


To succeed in today’s complex media environment – where content creators are managing more markets, languages, formats and devices than ever before – companies need a content supply chain that is faster, more �exible and has the ability to evolve with changing consumer demands.

MAKING IT EASY WITHDELUXE ONE4

Deluxe One provides a solution to these needs. An intuitive cloud-based platform that uni�es every stage of the content supply chain — from creation to delivery — Deluxe One brings together the fragmented stages of the content lifecycle. Work�ows that have long existed separate from each other can now be streamlined and automated to reduce the number of vendors, steps and time it takes to deliver content to global audiences.

With the advent of data-driven video, media companies can now quickly source and manage valuable data through the cloud. Deluxe One enables companies to store and access their data all in one place. With media assets in a centralized location, the metadata is also in one place and can be surfaced and analyzed to make smarter decisions that better monetize content.


Advanced uses of data and cloud technology can signi�cantly transform businesses and how they operate. In the media and entertainment industry, harnessing metadata in addition to the elasticity of running environments in the cloud can enable content producers to see increased e�ciencies during the production stage. For distributors, that means being able to deliver high-quality content to audiences around the world at a faster pace than ever before.

Transitioning to the cloud requires a signi�cant, but necessary, shift in operations that will reap endless long-term bene�ts. This is a critical investment that enables companies to leverage data in order to make strategic decisions about streamlining and automating processes. Evolving the supply chain starts with an investment in a centralized media management platform that can seamlessly ingest, transform, analyze and export data.

Visit www.bydeluxe.com for more information on how to develop your own unique, data-�rst cloud strategy.


CONCLUSION5

deluxetechnologies whitepaper final 031319€¦ · content recommendation engine for end-users. 6....

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