In Broadcast - November 2017 - 44

44

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 7 - Issue 11 | November 2017

InUSA

Digital Domain 'Adapt Or Die'
Contributing Editor Michael Grotticelli considers the disruption in the media
and entertainment sector caused by the encroaching tide of digital technology...

A

ccording to Webster's online
dictionary, "digital disruption"
is the change that occurs when new
digital technologies and business
models affect the value proposition of
existing goods and services.
The one word that best describes
digital disruption in the professional
video production and broadcast
space is "automation." And I don't
mean that in a negative sense. From
studio operations to online editing,
from robotic camera systems to
software-based devices that were
once hardware centric, all have been
positively affected by the advent
of automating a previously manual
process and reaping significant
benefits because of it.
The handling and distribution of
content has also gone digital, meaning
TV programmes that were once stored
and shared on videotape now reside on
a server as a digital file, that is easier
to share and much more convenient
to handle and store. Today human
hands rarely physically touch content
anymore, and that's a good thing.
Increased Efficiency
Far from being disruptive, however,
the digitisation (and virtualisation)
of production tools and technology
has made media organisations more
efficient in how they produce content
and much more productive in their
output. Some estimates say it takes
about a tenth of the time to produce
and distribute a video than it did 10
years ago.
This increased productivity has
resulted in large multichannel
programme
distributors
(OTT
platforms) that can serve up thousands
of copies of the same programme
in seconds. This has created new
business opportunities that never
existed before.
It's meant post-production houses no
longer have to create multiple copies
of a master programme and that
they can collaborate with their peers

Within the Media & Entertainment space, most of the disruption will
come from inside the industry itself, more so than most other sectors

located in the next room or across
the globe - with the same speed and
efficiency.
It's meant a TV station no longer has
to employ staff to receive and load
programmes into the Programme
Playout server for air to the public,
but can instead let a Channel-In-A-Box
server do the work: that is, receive a
syndicated show at a certain time, add
station ID and commercial bumpers,
insert the right commercial spot at
the right time in the programme, and
then play the finished file, complete
with closed captions, to the viewing
audience, without a human ever
pressing a button.
Thanks to automation, that same TV
station can produce an entire newscast
with one person - where it previously
took three or four. One floor operator,
three robotic cameras and a single
director to make sure the automation
system does not fail. (Thank goodness
management hasn't seen fit to get
rid of that one person who needs to
oversee the automation process).
And speaking of editing, there's new
software that literally edits a video
for you. Indeed, it's called Automated
Video Editing and it allows you to
automate the whole video editing
process according to the content's

music beat and other rules you apply.
You import a bunch of video clips and
music, make some simple settings
and get a fully edited video synced to
the music that can be easily adjusted
if necessary. And the cost is less than
US$50.00.

channel in an afternoon, respectively.
That's a good thing for everyone
involved in our world. As video
consumption continues to increase at
a rapid rate, and competition among
video content platforms as tough as
ever, automation is the solution.

Disruption vs Revolution
So, why use the word "disruption"
at all when it comes to the digital
revolution? Because it has changed
the way people at television stations,
regional broadcasters and post houses
work. Many have learned new skills
to avoid losing their job, but others
have not been able to navigate a new
way of working. Even to the outside
world, automation is proving to be
both good and bad. Indeed, the same
technologies making many jobs safer,
easier, and more productive are also
reducing the demand for many types
of human workers. One could say that
technology is behind both the healthy
growth in productivity and the weak
growth in jobs.
Automating manual tasks in the
video industry will always be a driver
for new opportunity. Production
houses and broadcasters now have
less staff but can do twice the editing
work or launch a new IP-based TV

Evolving Skills
The key for professionals is to stay
one step ahead of the digital era
and learn skills that aren't easily
replicated by a computer. Or learn
to use the computer in new ways to
reinvent yourself. In many sectors of
society and especially in the broadcast
industry, automation will undoubtedly
lead to some unemployment and a
lot of personnel reassignment. There
are things you can do - education/
retraining and personal networking
- to re-invent yourself and avoid that
from happening.
"Adapt or Die" was a marketing
slogan that Snell & Wilcox used in the
Nineties to tell broadcasters that they
needed to transition from analogue to
digital operations sooner than later or
risk becoming obsolete. The company
passed out buttons with a dinosaur
wearing sunglasses (a reference to the
old trying to look new). Make sure that
isn't you!
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