Defining asset management
Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Eric DuFossé
Thomson's ContentShare2 media asset management and workflow solution manages and monitors facilities. A high-res spot check tool enables the user to check the broadcast media before it goes on-air.
While technologies have advanced dramatically since the TV business started 60 years ago, the fundamental workflows have not significantly changed. The transition from film to tape and eventually to file-based delivery over a shared storage network has made life easier, but it hasn't altered the basic operations used to create and distribute content. Business applications (billing and traffic) are still disconnected from content playout. And, the different operators' roles in a TV station have remained primarily the same, even though the required skills have evolved. The result is that many stations have rigid, inefficient and expensive workflows, despite new technology. These factors can greatly affect operating expenses (OPEX).
Fortunately, new IT commodity products, standards and technologies can be leveraged with asset management to provide flexible, efficient and affordable solutions. When IT is combined with asset management, content is produced faster, with higher quality, fewer errors and at lower cost. Let's look at some of the issues involved with implementing a digital asset management workflow.
The business issues
While asset management applies to most businesses, broadcasters face a unique limitation. They must sell commercial time, or spots, but there is a limited availability (24 hours) in each day to place those spots.
Consider the difference between a TV station's advertising slots and cans of paint for sale in a hardware store. Once a commercial time slot passes, that opportunity for revenue is gone. Yesterday's 10:16 a.m. commercial slot cannot be recovered. Yet, even if a can of paint doesn't sell on Tuesday, it's still available to sell on Wednesday. For broadcasters, time is everything.
In addition, spots often depend on the content itself. Some commercials may not be appropriate for children's programming. Or, sporting events may run long or short. What happens to scheduled or unscheduled spots? These factors make it difficult for MCR engineers to schedule commercials.
Finally, competition from the Internet, satellite, IPTV and portable/mobile video places tremendous pressure on stations to effectively manage both avails and content to maximize income. Unfortunately, if a station is locked into a tape-based workflow and old business practices, it becomes virtually impossible to maximize revenue or take advantage of new opportunities.
However, if a TV station can dynamically sell and manage advertising and content in response to short-term or changing events (i.e. weather or sporting events), new options are created.
For example, if it rains, there's an increased prospect of selling new advertising to basement repair and roofing companies. When the local football team wins, restaurant, fan and sports memorabilia stores may suddenly want to advertise.
If a football game goes into overtime, new ad slots open, but can they be filled at the last minute? It is seldom possible to take advantage of these last-minute opportunities with a tape-based or rigid workflow. The solution? TV stations must implement an effective digital asset management system that can support such time-sensitive events and new content streams.
Create more content
Figure 1. An effective asset management system will tightly integrate both the business and technical processes of the TV station. Templates are developed to direct workflow from ingest to output. This reduces human errors and recurring tasks.
Select image to enlarge
The development of new content is one area where TV stations have an advantage over all the competition. Broadcasters generate tons of content every day. That content can be sold once, or with proper management, it can be sold many times over many channels.
This is where asset management can really shine. A DAM system manages the essence, the video/audio and the descriptive metadata. For those of you older than 40, think of metadata as an electronic version of the library card catalog. If you are younger, consider metadata as tags, like those used to describe Web or blog content.
Once the essence is tagged with metadata, either at ingest or through the editing process, the content can be stored, tracked, repackaged, transcoded and distributed in many ways. One benefit of a modern asset management system is that many of the steps previously done manually can now be done automatically. Let's examine some of the important steps involved with implementing a media asset management (MAM) system.
Decision-making
Managing content, whether it's programs or commercials, across multiple channels is challenging, especially if it requires significant human intervention. These factors create a complex business environment and increase OPEX. The challenge is to improve workflow with the help of a systemwide infrastructure and workflow. The new workflow must effectively integrate the business system with the playout technology.
An example of an asset management system with a tightly integrated workflow is illustrated in Figure 1 on page 73. Note that the uppermost part of the system is the business application. This is the heart of every TV station and where decisions regarding content and commercials are made. The rules regarding programs, channels and commercials are all handled by the traffic and marketing departments. The illustrated system confines much of the previously manual and disparate processes into a tightly integrated workflow. Once content is ingested into the system, it can be transcoded, moved, logged and played out based on workflow templates. By integrating the business decisions with content, metadata and controlled playout, OPEX can be reduced while maintaining a high-quality output.
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