Smart Content

Today, running a profitable media and entertainment (M&E) enterprise is more difficult than ever. The frequency and speed with which original content is being generated has been increasing at a rate never before seen in the industry, with more and more people working on content. Supply chains are sprawling, and the sheer number of touch points content passes through from start to end is spinning a web of complexity for the content creators, not to mention security concerns.

What’s more, with the growing complexities of multi-platform distribution, content creators can no longer rest on existing and independently functioning systems that result in ‘Islands of Automation’. To achieve faster time to market with increased efficiencies, they need automation not just within their silos but across the entire content supply chain. They need an innovative technology stack that offers CLEAR solutions, CLEAR outcomes, CLEAR value and CLEAR results.

In a bid to help M&E companies embrace automation, Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, will unveil several industry-first additions to its flagship product CLEAR Media ERP at NAB 2018 – the ultimate event for the media, entertainment & technology industry. PFT is all set to showcase new, transformational solutions built on the back of CLEAR’s powerful Work Order Management, pre-integrated with its Media Asset Management (MAM), Workflow Engine and Video Tools. Here’s a glimpse:

• Content Acquisition Portal: Automated Work Order to manage planning, acquiring, evaluating, cataloguing and scheduling content

CLEAR’s Content Acquisition Portal serves as a robust entry point for all media and ancillary files used in the creation of mezzanine format masters for the entire supply chain. Users can leverage it to automate content operations and securely fetch media from any geographical location, all without a VPN. With end-to-end Work Order Management, the portal enables users to assign tasks to resources/vendors, view QC reports, transcode content to create proxies, and perform a host of other critical content operations. It can seamlessly integrate with other IT systems like Rights, Ordering, MAM etc. and comes equipped with a dashboard to track the status of tasks across the supply chain conveniently.

Content Acquisition Portal automates task management powered by work order to usher in operational efficiencies like never before.

• CLEAR Distribution Cloud: Work order driven OTT Distribution – from Scheduling to Delivery

CLEAR Distribution cloud simplifies the complexities of OTT distribution through automated work orders – right from Scheduling to Delivery. Its powerful features include Schedule-driven work orders, a unified dashboard for tracking task status, and seamless integration with Scheduling and Rights Managements Systems. Most importantly, the solution leverages automation to detect missing inventory items and triggers the corresponding work orders. It also enables users to deliver packages in increments – e.g. delivering primary video and metadata immediately, and then the subtitle files later as they get produced.

The solution facilitates quicker fulfillment, and lowers Total Cost of Operations (TCOP) across the distribution process.

• Centralization: Today, running a profitable television channel is more difficult than ever and needless to say, the OTT phenomenon is keeping executives awake at night. This, coupled with the need to solve for revenue and cash flows is a major challenge. Never before has there been such a pressing need for speed and reducing operating cost across the industry.
What the companies should consider is what to scale and what not to. What modern day content enterprises can possibly learn from Netflix and such platforms, is that they BUILD ONCE — One infrastructure; one platform, one process. Avoid duplication & repetition. This enables them to build a lot faster, innovate a lot faster. And that is because they innovate on ONE platform, not on multiple silo’ed platforms. The philosophy is CREATE ONCE. Localize as need be. There is a need to adopt centralization in the modern day media & entertainment businesses.

Here are a few use cases to consider:

• CLEAR Ingest: ONE Cloud-based software to manage end-to-end workflows for US Satellite and Terrestrial distribution

CLEAR Ingest provides a single software to simplify end-to-end workflows for Satellite and Terrestrial distribution. It integrates and automates ingest, prep, QC and distribution workflows, while providing real time dashboards and notification alerts to operations teams. The solution enables users to review proxies of the content moving through the system, as well as manually transfer content to local affiliates via Signiant, Aspera or similar file transfer utilities.

Leveraging CLEAR’s built in Business Process Management (BPM) engine, it automates file processing and generates real time dashboards to drive underlying distributed workflows within a single user interface. CLEAR Ingest offers extensive interoperability and comes pre-integrated with systems like PitchBlue, CatchBlue, IDC-XD, CompuSat & Nexio.

With seamless integration with other file-based transfer solutions, the solution helps broadcasters leverage their existing infrastructure and achieve lowest TCOP. It also drives faster time-to-market, and provides greater creative control with transparency for operations across the supply chain.

Centralization of International Broadcast Operations: Powered by Hybrid Cloud technology, CLEAR enables broadcasters to automate their content supply chain, define standard business processes and orchestrate distributed workflows across locations, partners and roles.

CLEAR provides ONE MAM across all global sites, allowing broadcasters to centralize their storage repository of source media and archival, leverage a global super-set of metadata, work with a single downstream format and create collaborative edits. Moreover, CLEAR’s work order management helps them manage assets, resources and tasks across the entire global supply chain on ONE system. With native API integrations, and SOA-based architecture, the solution offers extreme supply chain flexibility to onboard any vendor, in any geography, seamlessly. Centralization has the potential to help broadcasters reduce their TCOP by as much as 30%.

Centralization of Promo Creation: By adopting centralization with CLEAR Media ERP, broadcasters can simply make ONE set of promos centrally and distribute these globally, rather than editing a fresh set of promos in each territory. These can then be localized as required. Alternately, they can consolidate promo creation in regional clusters which have similar cultural ethos.

Further, different promo versions based on duration, telecast date etc. can also be created centrally and distributed worldwide. This is made possible by CLEAR’s revolutionary Promo Operations Module, which offers end-to-end business process orchestration for promo creation including versioning automation. Imagine a solution that can take in the final promo creative and versioning elements (audio, text, graphics etc.) and stitch all those together to create ready to air versions!

• CLEAR Digital Lab: Your Media Universe for Production Supply Chain

Powered by Microsoft Azure, CLEAR Digital Lab automates the content supply chain, connects the production ecosystem, and acts as the Media Universe for secure content operations from content acquisition through distribution and archiving. It brings together the various stakeholders and suppliers engaged in the production and post production processes with supply chain vendors for various tasks, such as editorial, VFX, post production, sound, localization, mastering, and downstream distribution to connect the entire ecosystem.

Built around CLEAR Media ERP’s EMMY award winning DAX® Production Cloud software and Cloud MAM software modules, CLEAR Digital Lab is well equipped to handle scripted, unscripted, short form, and digital content genres. It has the capability to handle files of different resolutions, content types, help review and collaborate, track jobs and manage media logistics including distribution of varied content types across the production supply chain.

By leveraging the cloud infrastructure and centralizing the management of content including secure storage, processing and distribution, it empowers production houses and studios with greater creative control, faster decision making capabilities, more efficient workflows, supply chain freedom, and significant reductions in Total Cost of Production (TCOP).

• Cloud MAM: Automation across content supply chain powered by Work Order

With work order automation to manage tasks efficiently across the supply chain, CLEAR Cloud MAM offers much more than a traditional MAM system. It is a single MAM with media management capabilities across global sites, that integrates production, distribution, broadcasting and OTT related business activities.

Cloud MAM extends beyond the Technical Operations teams and is usable by creative, marketing, legal, operations, sales and senior executive leadership teams. It helps content enterprises digitize media management processes (Mastering, Compliance etc.), handle clip-based workflows, distribute screeners, manage & version On Air Promos and collaborate seamlessly across with multiple stakeholders. With many extreme digitization features, Cloud MAM is instrumental in not just reducing TCOP, but also increasing efficiencies and time to market.

It’s no surprise that CLEAR is fast becoming the product of choice for broadcasters, studios, brands and service providers across the globe. For a hands-on demo, visit PFT at NAB booth #SL9605.