Broadcast
File-based workflows underpinned by asset management systems are shaking up the supply and delivery of ads to UK broadcasters, reports Adrian Pennington.
The transition to file-based work flows is near universal in the creation and supply of video advertising to broadcasters.
With it has come a significant shift in the management and delivery of ads on a global scale. Cloud-based asset management services and faster fi le-transfer technology are enabling major international brands from McDonalds to P&G to achieve greater control over their production and supply chain.
“Dealing with physical tape was cumbersome and only a few post houses and specialist ad-serving companies in each local market could do it,” says Thomas Bremond, international vice-president of US ad giant DG. “In a fi le-based world, moving assets around has become much more of a commodity, so the focus is on who can provide those services quicker and cheaper.”
DG claims to serve 80% of the ads that air in North America and to deliver half the country’s syndicated long-form programming. When it launched into the UK late last year, it shook up a market dominated for a decade by IMD and Adstream.
“The traditional ad-serving business, ours included, is at risk,” says Bremond. “With connected TVs, brands can go direct to the consumer, and with the introduction of broadcasters’ own targeted advertising [such as Sky Adsmart], there is no value any more for agencies that simply deliver an ad. You have to deliver a media plan, a campaign, the data surrounding it and relevant analytics.” DG’s response was to acquire online ad-serving outfit MediaMind for £260m in 2011.
The division has just unveiled a second-screen ad-synchronisation technology with Audible Magic. IMD, Adstream, DG, Beam and other media logistics specialists already perform a variety of tasks including quality control on master copies, issuing copy rotation instructions, adding identifying clock numbers via clearance system Clearcast – which is run by UK broadcasters – and transcoding into the appropriate technical specifications for linear playout, VoD and online publishing.
“The last-mile delivery company risks disintermediation unless it brings more value to the supply chain,” says Jon Folland, co-founder of Nativ, whose Mio asset management platform is used by car firm Audi, among others.
“Brands can now integrate asset management platforms to empower them to automate many previously laborious tasks, and to manage the delivery of copy themselves rather than using a third party. “If brands outsource to another company, they are often penalised for storing their assets in more than one system. The current inefficient supply chain lends itself to digital cloud platforms, where brands have more control over their content and can drop overall operating costs.”
Beam has responded by moving its services upstream. According to director of operations Noreen Connolly, brands should be adopting an asset management system that begins at the concept stage and follows through to the final clock assignment. “Brands are looking to have one system that does everything for them to maintain brand message consistency and to make significant cost savings by avoiding duplication of work.”
As a subsidiary of The Mill, Beam receives the bulk of its work via the facility, but will face an uphill task to expand against competition from the production marketing system of Hogarth Worldwide.
The WPP-owned group has been working on browser-based MAM platform Zonza for 18 months, initially to manage the global distribution of TV commercials for WPP clients. Now it plans to “aggressively commercialise” the platform, according to Mark Keller, chief technology officer and founder.
“One of the huge frustrations of global brands is that after paying for a TV ad, they find it extremely difficult later on to find the source material for repurposing or transcreation,” he says.
“The video could be stored at a post house or third-party agency located anywhere in the world, and when a brand manager needs to review or reuse the assets, they have to interrogate multiple archives just to pull out the footage. Although the assets are their property, they are often charged to have the asset located and sent to them. This results in massive wasted effort, and unnecessary fees.”
Keller says such problems can be solved by switching to Zonza, which will host all of a brand’s assets centrally in the cloud and under one metadata schema for straightforward search, retrieval and transparent billing.
“Zonza enables clients like Nike and Unilever to upload, download, search and view video at master broadcast quality, faster than any competitive system, and without losing control of any asset,” he says.
“We will work with whatever distribution channels are available but brands are concerned to find a cheaper alternative so it does mean that existing distribution companies have to add more value.”
However, IMD, whose network is predominantly European, doesn’t see its business as under threat. “The infrastructure that integrates with the different playout systems of each broadcaster shouldn’t be underestimated,” says Shelby Akosa, managing director, UK TV and radio.
“You also have to be trusted by client brands and broadcasters to deliver all of the time. We guarantee a campaign gets delivered on time. Our clients have never paid late copy because of us.”
Updating Clearcast
Hogarth scored a coup in November when it landed the contract to build Clearcast’s new copy clearance and ad management system, beating incumbent Adstream.
A Clearcast spokeswoman said the decision to replace Adway follows significant growth in the number of scripts and ads held on the system, particularly with online video formats advancing at a rapid rate.
“Over the years, we’ve upgraded Adway to match the pace of change, and last year 32,000 scripts and 64,000 video files were uploaded to the system,” the spokeswoman said. “However, we’ve reached the point at which it cannot be upgraded further.”
Both Hogarth and Clearcast have been at pains to defuse alarm, led by other media agencies, that WPP clients might gain a competitive advantage by being able to access confidential campaign data.
“We are contracted to write and host a new copy-clearance system based on Zonza and Fido [Hogarth’s production workflow platform]. Clearcast will administer it and have full authority over it,” says Keller.
HD advertising transmission delayed
Brands spend a lot of money shooting glorious-looking commercials on 35mm using HD or 4K cameras, and most commercials are mastered in high definition, but no spots or sponsorship bumpers are being aired in HD on UK TV.
IMD reports a “massive increase” in HD deliverables around the globe, notably in Germany, France and the US, where more than a third of ads are transmitted in HD. But UK broadcasters will only accept SD versions.
Typically, these files are then uprezzed at the broadcaster on TX, but the quality will never be the same as native HD.
There’s no technical reason why HD copy can’t be delivered tomorrow from the likes of IMD or Beam. But on the broadcast side, there’s an apparent reluctance to invest in the necessary HD playout equipment and additional storage costs, especially while there is still disagreement over the technical specification.
“While SD has been a trusted format for years, one that’s very easy to move around a facility, for HD there is no common agreement on what the default video format should be, or what metadata should be included,” says Nativ co-founder Jon Folland, suggesting that the DPP’s HD delivery specs for programming could act as a guide.
Specs for loudness measurement/ management and audio characteristics – such as whether surround sound is supported and, if so, by which mechanisms – also need to be agreed, says Red Bee Media chief technology officer Steve Plunkett.
“Once cross-industry agreement has been reached on these issues, the implementation timescales could be relatively short, but demand for HD ad support has not been prioritised so far.”
Sky and ITV are reportedly keen to overcome the issues, with suggestions of a breakthrough in the Red Bee Media: awaiting agreement on loudness specs third quarter of this year.
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