Yes, Mam

Business models for broadcasters are not what they used to be.

- Bindu Gopal Rao

Yesteryear’s broadcasters are today’s media companies or content owners, and their success depends on uncovering new opportunities and outlets for programming and maximising distribution. However, supporting these new outlets using technologies like media asset management (MAM) can be labour intensive and expensive. Over the years, MAM systems witnessed a great learning curve based on key broadcast technology landmarks and customer feedback.

Contrary to the one-shoe-that-fits-all theory, the system has evolved to become customisable to suit the needs of individual users. “It is adept in resolving contemporary challenges faced by broadcasters, since at the very core, MAM offers flexibility, controlled collaborative organisation of content along with faster, easy and accessible productive workflows that integrate with third party systems. This enables media management from one source for a distributive network of other linked platforms,” explained Kulvinder Singh, VP, sales, SAARC, Aveco.

The industry, on the whole, has evolved following changes in viewership choices, preferences and viewing patterns. Today, the audience has, and demands, a multitude of variety, innovation and multitude of content across platforms. Therefore, a major concern that broadcasters had was whether their MAM systems could adhere to strict security protocols, a challenge that contemporary solutions have risen to.

“For decades, industry standards committees have been focused on developing a functional interoperability platform. SMPTE’s Interoperable Master Format (IMF) now provides a tried and tested media format, which allows media and entertainment companies to offer end-to-end IMF workflows that leverage IMF specifications without overloading processes with internal conversions or limitations in the content management structure,” added David Abel, sales director, Tedial.

OVERCOMING HURDLES