MANAGEMENT
December 2017
21
awareness to
back for more
Aale Raza, director of systems
integrator Whiteway Systems: Pay more
attention to channel branding, because
it may be the only way to make viewers
aware of your brand.
ing process through data-driven
workflows that increase consist-
ency and eliminate the traditional
need for pre-production, saving
time and money.”
Have a clear idea of how to
execute each piece of channel
branding, suggests Imagine Com-
munications’ Senecal. Branding,
he notes, can occur in many dif-
ferent ways: from simple logo and
bugs on the content — to identify
the content provider and the ser-
vice — to slates and programme
advertising.
However, it is important to
never mix up branding, Senecal
cautions, explaining: “For exam-
ple, if you are making an HD/
SD simulcast, you don’t want to
include HD branding on the SD
service. You should always make
sure you have playout systems that
can uniquely brand the content
and have rules to make sure they
remain unique.”
Imagine Communications,
he adds, is well positioned to
support an end-to-end workflow
from channel origination to final
distribution for linear and multi-
screen, enabling content providers
to brand their content at various
points in their distribution chain,
depending on their needs.
Specifically, the Versio inte-
grated playout solution manages
branding for playout across simul
cast content for all resolutions
and formats. The Selenio One
compression platform also allows
operators with additional region-
alisation requirements to add in
bugs and logos for both linear and
multi-screen platforms.
Pay more attention to channel
branding, because it may be the
only way to make viewers aware
of your brand, advises Whiteway
Systems’ Raza. “Today’s viewer can
just watch what he wants, when-
ever he wants, for free. He also
does not care who produced the
content or where he is watching it.
Moreover, over-the-top (OTT) is
not even viable yet as an advertis-
ing platform, or at least not yet.”
Lamenting that broadcasters
are already getting “the worst end
Nexion+ Channelbrand is a mult-channel branding solution offered by Imagine
Communications. It combines integrated branding and video playback functions all
in a single, flexible platform.
❝ It is critical for
broadcasters to
appropriately brand their
services not only by core
channel branding but also
the type of service – HD,
4K/Ultra HD (UHD), on-
demand or streaming. ❞
— Mark Senecal,
VP Product Management, Networking and Playout,
Imagine Communications
of the deal” in terms of spending
substantial sums of money on
production and transmission costs
(including on OTT systems), Raza
questioned if they can afford not to
create a higher brand awareness
for their content: “Broadcasters
are so cau