Limecraft – Supply chains aren’t ‘broken’; they’ve never existed

At the most recent DPP Leader’s Briefing in November last year, we noted that broadcasters and streaming platforms are often managing relationships with more than 500 content producers. On the flipside, content producers can be supplying media to over 500 broadcasters and platforms. Add in the need for accurate metadata, subtitle files, language variants and consistent quality control standards, and it’s no wonder that things can go wrong with content delivery processes.

Producers and broadcasters have a common interest in standardizing and structuring the content delivery process to ensure quality, timely delivery, and to avoid rework. A more robust framework helps cut down on informal communication, including emails, phone calls and communication that are inherent in the traditional process.

While a typical Media Asset Management solution is suitable to handle the flow of content within a single company, there was no proper solution to manage the interaction between companies. Until now. In response to the increasing complexity and lack of structure of content delivery processes, Limecraft launched the Delivery Workspace – an innovative turn-key solution that provides real-time interaction between producers, broadcasters, and 3^rd parties, highly optimized for security, reliability, and efficiency.

What is a Delivery Workspace?

A Delivery Workspace is a repository of media assets, operated jointly by a producer and a broadcaster, for the purpose of reliable and timely delivery of programme material, metadata and collateral media.

The Delivery Workspace replaces FTP and other methods of file transfer on the lower level, creates a distributed ledger of metadata, and integrates quality control. It takes care of the dispatching of content, and reports back to the traffic management system. Throughout the process, it manages overall version control and communication between stakeholders.

The challenges of managing content delivery are numerous. Shipping a series of programmes is far more complex than delivering a single file. Apart from the actual assets, it also has to track marketing collateral like posters and trailers, or other deliverables like subtitle files. In addition, parties must exchange metadata, and, due to a lack of standards, agree on naming conventions.

Using a joint Delivery Workspace, producers and broadcasters stand to reap significant benefits. The platform’s control of conventions and seamless integration with the local MAM system, leads to improved operational efficiency and the flawless exchange of content. A standardized process fosters an environment of trust and collaboration, where parties can focus on producing compelling content as they entrust the technical intricacies to the underlying system.

The Delivery Workspace in Action

1. Before the process can be initiated, a content template is published. It manifests a Bill of Material for the entire project, including the content assets, marketing collateral, subtitle files, as well as the metadata model, delivery protocols, etc.
2. As a starting point, content managers use their scheduling system to create a ‘Delivery Request’ referring to a content template. The Delivery Request is processed by Limecraft (A), creating an empty workspace for uploading media and inputting complementary metadata.
3. The workspace is shared with the producer (B). They deliver media files, ancillary media, and metadata (C). All stakeholders are kept updated in real-time. Content is verified online; any feedback or comments exchanged instantly.
4. If necessary and as defined by the template, the asset are subsequently shared with a third party for post-production (E). This can be used for sourcing promo material or subtitle files. Said third parties will upload their contribution to the existing Bill of Material (F). The progress is visualized and notified to all involved stakeholders in real-time.
5. When the collection is delivered, quality-controlled and approved by the receiving broadcaster, in part or in whole, content managers of the broadcaster can instruct Limecraft to forward the collection to the play out systems or content delivery networks. Eventually the full transaction is committed to the scheduling system.

The business case

The primary business benefits of adopting a more formal content delivery framework can be summarized as follows:

1. More efficient collaboration – a more structured framework removes the need for ad hoc emails and phone calls, improving communication, taking away uncertainty, and cutting out costly and frustrating rework.
2. Improved security and peace of mind – understand exactly where your content is at each stage of the process and receive stakeholder notifications whenever changes are made.
3. Faster turnaround – as the majority of the content verification is automated, and as this QC step is executed sooner in the process, all involved parties will experience greater efficiency and shortens workflows.
4. Improved quality control – mandated QC standards remove uncertainty and ensure content is delivered to the correct standard every time.
5. A significant overall cost reduction of 80% per asset, due to automation of the content intake process as a whole.

Conclusion

As the content production and distribution landscape becomes increasingly intricate, with a multitude of sources and distribution windows, the delivery process has grown exponentially complex. The sheer diversity of file formats, metadata complications, and localization demands underscore the need for a decentralized yet integrated approach.

The use of a Delivery Workspace is critical in the dynamic realm of content production and distribution. A collaborative repository, jointly operated by producers and broadcasters, serves as a catalyst for consistent, reliable, and timely delivery of program material, metadata, and collateral media. The evolution from traditional file transfer methods to a distributed ledger of content ushers in a new era of efficiency, standardization, and seamless interaction.

The keys to the success are to standardize and improve collaboration, as well as to create efficiency by connecting platforms. Conventional methods of ad-hoc data transfer and disjointed metadata exchange are giving way to a shared platform that enforces conventions and streamlines communication. Such a platform not only optimizes efficiency, but in turn cultivates an environment of trust and cooperation, where creative output can flourish, and no time is lost on technical considerations.

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