24 MANAGEMENT
June 2018
WHATS ’ ON anticipates the need for content- and viewer-centric media operations
BY JOHAN VANMARCKE
Johan Vanmarcke is managing director of MEDIAGENIX APAC .
Content may be king , but the viewer is definitely calling the shots , certainly now that the Internet giants have endowed them with even greater power . This has pushed media companies to start re-inventing themselves . Putting their compelling content on the viewer-preferred digital , on-demand or linear platforms , they are seeking to provide all means for the viewer to connect with their content and their brand . Amid all the complexities of rights , royalties , formats , changing cost models and internal workflows , the broadcast management system WHATS ’ ON by MEDIAGENIX delivers the supporting platform for media companies to do more with less .
Traditional players are diverging from their trusted linear delivery model towards TV Everywhere and time-shifted viewing . On the other side of the spectrum , new online players have entered the market . Having no connection with the traditional linear TV world , they come with new rules and business models . But the viewer forces these new players , too , to constantly revisit their workflows and look for new revenue streams .
New ways of distributing content are becoming key , such as delivering content directly to the consumer as over-the-top ( OTT ), on social media , or by selling content packages to third-party platforms . In fact , we see a strong shift in focus from scheduling content to content distribution . Linear TV playout has become just one of the many ways of releasing content , on par with reselling content to third parties .
A new view on content
These changes also have a huge impact on content itself . For one thing , traditional players have become more creative in how they package their content for viewers . They split content up into smaller parts that fit social and on-demand media , repackage seasons in different themes , or add bonus content for the true fan .
And then there is the phenomenon of binge viewing . This has disrupted the whole traditional
Amid all the complexities of rights , royalties , formats , changing cost models and internal workflows , the broadcast management system WHATS ’ ON by MEDIAGENIX delivers the supporting platform for media companies to do more with less .
WHATS ’ ON by MEDIAGENIX provides centralised content , media and rights management on a single system for both linear , on-demand and digital distribution .
production process , as entire seasons of a series are now being released at once . The market has responded with shorter seasons — even more miniseries — more consistent story lines and TV shows that are heavily marketed like movie premieres , with a huge build-up to the release date . All this means that media companies need to be able to slice and dice content for use on different platforms . They need to manage rights for new versions of content that are assembled from many existing content parts . They will also want to present existing content in new and different ways , and group titles into collections for selling , planning or re-packaging . This requires a flexible content-centric system and quick editorial decisions that rely on a powerful management of media and material workflows , and of complex rights and underlying rights and royalties .
WHATS ’ ON by MEDIAGENIX provides centralised content , media and rights management on a single system for both linear , on-demand and digital distribution . The system gives the users overviews that flag possible issues . Content information such as rights , scheduling and distribution data remain accessible along the content ’ s entire life cycle . This implies that everybody in every department , taking care of business in any model or any platform , is working on the same real-time data .
At Swiss public broadcaster RTS , WHATS ’ ON users open the frameaccurate player from their WHATS ’ ON screen and set markers segmenting the content . This facilitates its distribution on any platform while tracking the various rights on every individual segment of the content . The system informs users about rights problems and the additional costs for clearing the content . Among other things , this allows them to automatically create clips for fast publication online .
Global content management
In the meantime , international media groups are centralising their content in a global content management system so that it is ready to be shared by channels and platforms across the globe . Here again , WHATS ’ ON fits in perfectly . As the media assets management ( MAM ) function in WHATS ’ ON pilots all video , audio and subtitle flows , the content is ready to be shared by all channels in whichever region , platform , version or language the content is needed .
Single multi-platform workflow
Basically , the business management system ( BMS ) of today needs to offer an answer to the resounding question posed by media companies worldwide : help us streamline our back-office operations , but above all , give us a system that continuously supports our ( future ) business models . Product evolutions , configurability and easy integrations with the existing and ever-changing IT and business landscape are key .
When implementing new systems or replacing ( in-house ) systems , meeting the go-live deadline is a top priority . That was recently the case for the implementation at the BBC , as it was for all customers who are now live with WHATS ’ ON . Just recently , UR , a Swedish public service broadcasting company , swiftly changed to WHATS ’ ON without custom development , and it took care of integrations on its own with the open application programming interface ( API ).
The more complex reality gets , the stronger the need grows for solutions that make it possible to operate effectively across operational boundaries , locations , media and delivery platforms ( TV / digital / radio ). The content-centric set-up of WHATS ’ ON enables companies to streamline media operations and install one single workflow for both digital and linear usage .
Whether media companies want to broadcast their content on linear channels , publish it on video-ondemand ( VoD ) platforms or stream it online , WHATS ’ ON enables them to easily launch new channels , set up ondemand media services , and optimise content exploitation and distribution in a managed way .
MEDIAGENIX serves leading media companies in Europe , North and South America , the Middle East and Asia-Pacific . Together , these customers use the company ’ s software platform WHATS ’ ON to manage over 2,000 channels and on-demand services across more than 90 media networks . ❑