Broadcasters See Revenue Opportunity with New Distribution Channels, Survey Shows

Research by Avid has unveiled international broadcasters and media producers are capitalizing on new opportunities to monetize content by making a strategic shift to deliver personalized experiences to their viewers across multiple platforms and devices. The independent survey, conducted in association with Ovum, found that:
• Two-thirds of media organizations are confident about their future, believing that new distribution platforms offer an unprecedented opportunity for business growth.
• Content itself, not just content services, will become increasingly customized, based on profile attributes of the individual viewer and viewing context.
• New business models and the need for operational effectiveness are increasing the demands placed on media asset management and production infrastructure.
"Media organizations worldwide are moving from addressing homogenous audiences to delivering personalized experiences," said Gary Greenfield, CEO and chairman of Avid. "This change in the relationship between broadcasters and their audiences also forces a change in business models, and places new demands on how compelling, high-quality content is created, managed and delivered. At the forefront of this shift, Avid is delivering solutions today that let our customers capitalize on these new emerging opportunities."
From Communal Audience to Individual Viewer
For the past 25 years, Avid has been a guiding force in the media industry, leading the development of digital video and audio editing with landmark creative tools like Media Composer and Pro Tools. Today, Avid continues to shape the future of the media industry with a new generation of solutions that facilitate the transformation from monolithic, communal experiences to a series of highly individualized experiences particular to each viewer. This evolutionary advance means that in addition to creating stunning programming, media producers need to become just as proficient in managing and distributing content across an unprecedented array of rapidly evolving platforms.
Key Survey Findings
• Two-thirds of executives believe that the industry will grow over the next five years, with the top three drivers identified as increased audiences, multi-platform distribution, and growth in advertising revenues.
• 78% of respondents say that within the next 10 years most content will be customized based on the profile attributes of the individual viewers.
• Over three-quarters of executives believe the Internet will actually drive audiences to watch more broadcast/cable/satellite television.
• Two-thirds of respondents say that asset-based workflows will enable new business models, and over 70% say they will result in OPEX savings.
• 85% of respondents feel that Multi-Platform Distribution is critical to capturing new growth opportunities.
• On average, media producers report that over a third of their archives could be profitably monetized but remain inaccessible and unavailable for such use.
• Even though only 23% of the respondents are using a cloud infrastructure today, over 75% are currently exploring cloud deployment for the future.
• Cloud is viewed as a mechanism for enabling new business and distribution models, as well as a means to reduce infrastructure costs and enable new collaborative workflows.
Crafting the Future of News and Media Production
"Our survey shows that media organizations are attempting to cross the rating divide," said Adrian Drury, practice leader, Ovum’s Consumer IT & Integrated Media, Ovum Research. "The availability of content across a range of different platforms puts the individual viewer increasingly in control of when, how, and through which platform they consume news and entertainment."
Avid is committed to providing the creative tools, media management, multi-platform distribution and universal connectivity needed for media producers to remain competitive by addressing these challenges.
New products and solutions announced at IBC include:
News: take your newsroom anywhere. Avid Interplay® Sphere provides journalists with the ability to acquire footage in the field, create complete stories from where they are happening with real-time access to workgroup assets and services, and automatically upload local content and finished stories. Now supporting 64-bit computing, iNEWS® 4.0 is well positioned for future enhancement to the newsroom management, news creation, and control capabilities of this venerated news hub, helping news organizations accelerate ratings, market share, and advertising revenues.
Asset-based workflow: conquer the complexity. Interplay Media Asset Management (MAM) allows our customers to enhance the value of their media assets by repurposing media, automating workflows, and linking business functions such as reporting and rights management.
Multiple platform distribution: shape a viewer experience. Avid Multi-Platform Distribution continues to evolve as a primary means of enabling media producers to build a multi-dimensional viewer experience for their audiences by delivering content created once to multiple channels in the right format for each platform.
Production workflow: lay the foundation for collaboration. Enhancing the ability of production groups to create better content within a fully integrated environment, Interplay Production 2.7 now supports Interplay Sphere, ISIS® 2000, Avid DNxHD® 85/100, and Media Composer 6.5/NewsCutter® 10.5. In addition, AirSpeed® 5000 release extends ingest and playout capabilities with an economical 2-channel model, multi-ISIS system support, and DNxHD 85/100 end-to-end workflow.
Creative tools: create quality content, and deliver stunning on-air imagery faster than ever. Media Composer advances its premium position as the go-to toolset for professional editing, featuring remote editorial workflows with Interplay Sphere and new file support for AS-02, Avid DNxHD 100, and JPEG 2000. Pro Tools|HD Native delivers the lowest latency and highest sound quality of any host-based workstation, and now comes with either a PCIe card or new HD Native Thunderbolt interface, which features a built in audiophile-grade headphone output for convenient monitoring. Additionally, the company’s next-generation graphics solution, Avid Motion Graphics (AMG), is now available. AMG 2.0 gives media producers a streamlined graphics workflow allowing them to deliver stunning visual imagery to air and build strong brand recognition more cost-effectively.
Media Asset Management (MAM) solution packages: essentials of media management. A pre-packaged MAM system that enables key archival workflows, the Interplay Active Archive solution package provides a focused and incremental approach to MAM that helps meet tight time, budget, and logistical challenges.
About the Broadcast Survey
The Avid broadcast survey was conducted from July through August, 2012 by Ovum Research. More than 200 executives and decision-makers from leading broadcast and post and professional organizations in Europe and North America where interviewed about their businesses, the future of their industry, technology decisions and investment choices, budget trends, and professional experience.
A summary of the findings can be found at www.avid.com/researchreport