Whitepaper. MediaFUSE

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1 Whitepaper MediaFUSE Automating the Content Repurposing Process Scott Matics October 2008 The MediaFUSE automated content repurposing and multi-distribution system is a hardware and software combination designed to make a broadcaster s task of repurposing content for Web and mobile distribution a more efficient and profitable proposition through the use of a create once, publish everywhere workflow.

2 Multiple Distribution Channels MediaFUSE Automating the Content Repurposing Process The prospect of online and mobile distribution of content presents an exciting opportunity for broadcasters, but also considerable challenges. The world of content consumption has rapidly evolved into a time- and place-shifted viewing experience: consumers now expect, and demand, that content be available for consumption in a number of formats and locations. A significant challenge for traditional broadcasters in meeting these evolving demands is finding time- and resourceefficient solutions to repurpose existing content to the formats suited to the Internet and mobile devices. To date, taking the over-the-air content and distributing it to a Web site and to a mobile content distribution network has been a labor-intensive and linear post-production workflow. It often starts when a finished program of 30 minutes or more is sent entirely, via tape or file, to an editor, who spends significant time segmenting the content into file-based clips. In a process that can take hours, these individual files are then encoded into the types used on the Web (Flash, Windows Media, etc.) and the broadcaster s mobile delivery network (3GP, H.264, etc.). Broadcasters then must add critical metadata to each clip. Once the clips are segmented, encoded, and marked up, they are typically uploaded via FTP to a content delivery network (CDN) where they are stored and streamed to a viewer. Some broadcasters are able to automate certain aspects of this workflow. Select application service providers (ASPs) and content management system (CMS) providers can take complete shows and run them through a semiautomated post-production process that produces segmented clips in limited formats, and with very limited metadata. At best, a user taking this approach ends up with clips and limited metadata in an hour; at worst, it takes two or more hours to create, well after the original broadcast has aired. Neither of these workflows manual or semi-automated is particularly appealing, especially for time-sensitive news content. Acquistion/ Production Step 1 - Edit and Step 2 - Encode and Transcode Step 3 - Mark-Up/Add Metadata Step 4 - Upload WMV 512k WMV 1.5k Flash 3GP Newsroom Rundown Catagorization 60 Minutes to 2.5 Hours Live Production Figure 1 Prior to the development of the MediaFUSE system, taking the over-the-air content and distributing it to the Web and to mobile devices has required a labor-intensive, linear post-production workflow. Even semi-automated tools in use today can do little more than create clips in limited formats and with very limited metadata. 1

3 MediaFUSE Automating the Content Repurposing Process COPE Create Once, Publish Everywhere Anyone who creates content understands that it is a costly endeavor. The reward for this expense is having a repository of original and unique programming that can be freely distributed and associated with some form of advertising that will return a profit. For live broadcast, this was traditionally a one-shot opportunity, with advertising priced according to the potential audience size, with very broadly proportioned viewer demographics. Of course, most advertisers would rather work with actual audience views across highly targeted viewer groups. This is the appeal of online content, and that is why, since the beginning of 2007, promotional dollars spent online have eclipsed those spent in radio, and have begun to seriously challenge the expenditures for all traditional media outlets, including television. The goal for broadcasters is to have the ability to leverage their investment in locally produced content across all platforms utilizing their existing staff, and with little, or no additional time delay. This workflow is referred to as COPE, or create once, publish everywhere. In this ideal workflow, the emphasis is on the production phase, and the professionals who touch the content early on are given tools that allow them to easily make edit and mark-up decisions that will dictate how, and where this content will be repurposed. Until now, the COPE workflow has been undeniably hypothetical. TheMediaFUSE system is a platform consisting of both powerful software and hardware that is designed to make the process of repurposing content fast, easy, and economical and finally, enable a create once, publish everywhere workflow. COPE create once publish everywhere Another challenge for broadcasters wishing to build a successful online presence is having enough repurposed content to satisfy audience demand, and to effectively utilize their advertising avails. Getting Web and mobile visitors to come to your site once or twice is trivial getting them to regularly visit to your site (and consume your content) is the hard part and that requires an amount of content that will appeal to a broad range of potential visitors. Many will come for weather and sports information having additional content available, displayed, and linked will entice them to stay longer and view more of your content, and therefore ingest more advertising. The duration and regularity of site visits is what separates a successful Web operation from one that barely covers costs, and the delta between these can be significant. So, agreeing that more content is better, the quandary for broadcasters is how to increase the amount of content that is repurposed without also adding layers of overhead, which lessens the attractiveness of the Web business model. The MediaFUSE system operates in tandem with the Grass Valley Ignite control room automation system to allow broadcasters to repurpose all or as much of their content as they wish. You can repurpose extended-play content, as well as material that never makes it to air, such as full interviews, archived material, sports material, etc. And you can do all of this with your existing staff. In other words, the MediaFUSE system allows your existing staff to become up to five times more efficient, based on the time they spend on today s manual and semiautomated processes, all without making their jobs more difficult. MediaFUSE Benefits Repurpose all content including extended play Stream live with alternate content and breaks Produce content with rich metadata Beter content in less time with less touching *Borrell Associates: What Media Web Sites Earn May

4 MediaFUSE Automating the Content Repurposing Process Improve Repuposing Efficiency By Up To 5X Starting in the pre-production process, in the news room, the MediaFUSE system provides a tool, called FusePRODUCE, that is an ActiveX plug-in for the newsroom computer system (either Avid inews or AP ENPS). This plug-in is offered on a per-seat basis, and provides a template-driven interface that allows the people who know the most about the content (journalists and producers) to quickly mark up the stories with rich metadata that will be carried forward automatically, and used to dictate how the stories will be repurposed during a live stream or as on-demand clips on the Web and mobile delivery network. It should be stated that there are additional opportunities to mark the content up with metadata later in the process, should that be necessary, or desirable. For an example of how content can be thought of as multi-purpose from the beginning, let s consider a local interview segment. A reporter and videographer record a 20-minute interview with the local professional football coach. Returning to the station, the reporter prepares the segment for use on the evening newscast. Typically only a 30 to 60 second extraction will be used during the live telecast. The remaining 19 minutes of the interview is likely to be appealing content for a person who closely follows this team. While the journalist or producer is marking the rundown for the shortform segment for use during the telecast, they can use the MediaFUSE system to quickly drag the entire interview media file into a watch folder, mark that segment up separately, approve it, and within minutes the entire interview could be available for viewing on the Web site. Ultimately, the shortform version can also be made available for online viewing. The journalist can also link the full interview to the shortform version in FusePRODUCE, which can display a link to the viewer of the shortform version telling them that there is a longer version available. This progressive linking of content serves to increase the Web site viewer s length of stay at the site, and increase the amount of content they consume per visit. Additionally, linking and association can be used to link archived material that may be relevant to a viewer of current, related material. Using the rich metadata that is part of MediaFUSE-produced content, the MediaFUSE system can generate metadata that can be used by the content management provider to target ads to viewers based on the type of content they are consuming. Targeted ads are more valuable, and are more tolerated by viewers. Pre-Production Production Post Production Clips, graphics, and scripts are ingested, identified, and tagged as usual, but MediaFUSE adds special content metadata plus the association and linking of extendedplay segments, data windows, and URL links MediaFUSE High-Level Workflow Clips and graphics in transition macro events are tagged by the Ignite director with Web Objects to distinguish contentrepurposing commands The Ignite system can either automatically deliver the repurposed content to the MediaFUSE encoding/transcoding station or, optionally, enable an operator to preview the content and make minor edits prior to approving and sending to the transcoder. Live streaming content is sent directly to deployment; breaks and content can be altered as dictated during the pre-production process FuseENCODE FusePRODUCE Ignite FuseXCODE MediaFUSE DATABASE FuseAPPROVE FuseFLOW MediaFUSE DATABASE ASP/CDN Viewer Deployment Distribution Consumption Content flow and maintenance of metadata is controlled by the FuseFLOW system, which runs an SQL database. Finished content distributed via basic FTP with XML metadata The custom interface from Thomson and WorldNow that leverages the playout, distribution, and ad and content management network of WorldNow. This collaboration provides a seamless workflow outside of a station (WorldNow is not required to utilize MediaFUSE) Viewers enjoy the ability to watch streaming live/vod content with breaks customized to the target medium. More content drives more unique site visits and more consumed clips per visit and created more ad avails Figure 2 MediaFUSE, or MediaFUSE-produced metedata, touches all aspects of the production workflow. 3

5 Live Streaming Considerations MediaFUSE Automating the Content Repurposing Process Many broadcasters would like to stream their shows live, and technically, simply streaming a complete show is not that complicated of a process. However, there are some serious considerations that make it difficult for broadcasters to stream effective versions of their programs. Two On-Demand Clips Available One consideration has to do with license restrictions on some content, such as sports-league programming, that is approved for showing over-the-air, but not for alternate distribution. Another consideration is the suitability of content and ads in the on-line medium. A broadcaster may wish to produce special Internet-only ads, which automatically replace the over-the-air ads. The solution to these challenges is to repurpose a live stream while retaining the ability to alter the content, on-the-fly, with no human intervention. The MediaFUSE system makes this process possible. Using the MediaFUSE system, broadcasters can send one version of a show over-the-air as they normally would, but replace it with an online-specific version for distribution to the Web. Additionally, the MediaFUSE system can communicate with supported in-station advertising management tracking systems, via the BXF protocol, to replace over-the-air ads with specially produced, repurposed versions, and then reconcile the accounting back into a broadcaster s ad traffic-management system. In keeping with the COPE methodology, the MediaFUSE system performs these functions based on data specified in the preproduction phase, and does so in the background, automatically, during the live broadcast again, with absolutely no human intervention. 60 Second Coach Interview Viewer Profile 1: Pull in Ads A & B 20 Minute Coach Interview Viewer Profile 2: Pull in Ads B, C & D MediaFUSE Can Alter Live Stream Content Over-Air-Version Intro One Two Three Live Streamed Version Intro One Two- Story Four Three Four- Story 6:00 PM 6:30 PM Figure 4 Only MediaFUSE makes it easy to change live, streamed content on-the-fly, with no human intervention. 4

6 MediaFUSE Automating the Content Repurposing Process Content Distribution Considerations The MediaFUSE system is designed to implement a COPE workflow during the production process to greatly increase the amount of content that is repurposed, and to make the overall repurposing process much more efficient. Once the live broadcast is finished, the MediaFUSE system accesses a master show file that was automatically created which is a high-quality encoded file that contains all stories, as they went to air. This master show file also contains all of the metadata that has been created, both in the pre-production process, as well as during the live interaction between the MediaFUSE and Ignite systems. Following the live broadcast, this file is transferred to the MediaFUSE system post-production application, called FuseAPPROVE. This application allows an operator to very quickly change the automatically generated thumbnail, check and edit the associated metadata as required, perform light editing of the content (if necessary), and then approve the show and segments for transcoding into the formats and bit rates specified in the template (Flash, Windows Media, H.264, 3GP, etc.). The MediaFUSE system then distributes the transcoded material into a content delivery and content management system. FuseAPPROVE allows an operator to approve and perform light markup editing on a 30-minute show in no more than five minutes. The FuseAPPROVE process is optional segments can be pre-approved in the pre-production phase, to be immediately transcoded and sent for distribution after they air. The MediaFUSE system includes a process for transferring content and metadata out to the distribution networks (via FTP). In addition, Grass Valley is working with select ASPs, such as WorldNow, to develop rich interfaces to accommodate the multitude of metadata that the MediaFUSE system combines with content metadata that can be effectively used to customize the player, associate branding and advertising with certain targeted content and demographics, and to reconcile third-party advertising systems back into the station networks. Conclusion Implementing a COPE workflow is a process that will touch on all aspects of production. It is essential that content creation personnel begin to think of their content not just in terms of how it will be presented over-the-air, but also how it will be sent to multiple points of distribution, in many different formats, for viewing on a wide range of mediums. The key to bringing newsroom personnel on board with the COPE workflow is in not adding cumbersome tasks to their already full workloads. The MediaFUSE system is designed to simplify every aspect of human interaction that is required, and then to allow the software and hardware systems to do the bulk of the heavy lifting, operate in the background, and create as much content as a broadcaster desires to repurpose. National Ads Live Stream Local Ads MediaFUSE Content Delivery & Management Network On-Demand Clips Local Ads National Content Figure 5 The MediaFUSE system provides a link between the in-station ad traffic management systems and the content delivery system s on-line measuring tools. SALES Local and regional sales contacts can be found by visiting /sales SUPPORT Local and regional support contacts can be found by visiting /support Copyright 2009 Thomson. All rights reserved. MediaFUSE is a registered trademark and Grass Valley and Ignite are trademarks of Grass Valley, Inc. All other tradenames referenced are service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Specifications subject to change without notice. IPS-4052M-1