When content-related tasks involve manual processes and repetitive file conversion, an automated media asset management system can significantly streamline workflows, saving time and effort. Furthermore, limited file access and sharing can hamper collaboration and delay content creation, while the inability to track asset performance makes assessing content impact challenging.

Investing in a robust media asset management system addresses these challenges head-on, offering solutions that enhance content organization, collaboration, version control, compliance, and overall efficiency. By implementing a media asset management software, organizations can maximize the value of their media assets, improve productivity, and unlock the full potential of their creative endeavors. In the dynamic world of digital media, embracing media asset management is the key to unleashing boundless possibilities and ensuring a successful and thriving content management journey.

Overwhelmed by your growing media library and complex content workflows? Step into the future of media asset management with Dalet Flex. Sign up for a free consultation now and experience a seamless, scalable MAM platform tailored to your needs.

How to choose the best Media Asset Management software for your business

Choosing the optimal media asset management software is a pivotal decision with far-reaching implications for an organization’s content management and workflow efficiency. The selection process demands thoughtful consideration of essential factors that align with the organization’s unique requirements and aspirations. Amidst the array of options, focusing on these key considerations ensures a well-informed choice that sets the stage for seamless content organization, collaboration, and optimized productivity.

Foremost, scalability emerges as a fundamental element that should not be overlooked. As organizations evolve and their media libraries expand, a MAM solution’s ability to accommodate growing content volumes without compromising performance becomes indispensable. A scalable MAM empowers businesses to adapt effortlessly to changing needs, fostering a content management environment that thrives in the face of growth and innovation. Moreover, user-friendliness assumes a central role in the selection process, offering an intuitive interface and streamlined functionalities that facilitate swift adoption and mastery. 

An accessible and user-friendly MAM solution empowers team members to navigate the system with ease, maximizing their creative potential and reducing the learning curve for seamless integration into content workflows. Organizations prioritizing scalability and user-friendliness lay the foundation for a transformative content management journey that embraces growth, collaboration, and content excellence.

As important as scalability and ease of use are, they are far from the only factors to consider when selecting the right MAM. Here are 10 further essential factors to consider when choosing the most suitable Media Asset Management software for your organization:

1- Define Your Requirements:

Before evaluating MAM options, clearly define your organization’s specific needs and requirements. Consider factors such as the size of your media library, the types of media assets you handle, the number of users who will access the system, integration needs with other software, and any specific workflows you want to streamline.

2- Metadata Management:

Robust metadata management capabilities are crucial for efficient content discovery and retrieval. Look for a MAM system that allows for comprehensive metadata tagging, custom metadata fields, and advanced search capabilities to improve asset organization.

3- User-Friendly Interface:

A user-friendly interface is essential for quick adoption and ease of use among team members. Conduct user trials or demos to gauge the platform’s intuitiveness and usability for both technical and non-technical users.

4- Integration Capabilities:

Ensure that the MAM solution can seamlessly integrate with your existing software ecosystem, such as video editing tools, content management systems, or cloud storage platforms. Integration reduces manual processes and enhances workflow efficiency.

5- Format Support:

Verify that the MAM solution can handle a wide range of media formats and codecs. It should support common file types as well as emerging industry standards to accommodate various media asset types.

6- Security and Access Control:

Media assets can be sensitive, so robust security features are essential. Look for encryption, user authentication, role-based access control, and audit trails to protect your valuable media content.

7- Support and Training:

Consider the level of customer support provided by the MAM vendor. Ensure that they offer responsive technical support and resources to assist with implementation and training.

8- Analytics and Reporting:

Advanced analytics and reporting features help track asset performance, content engagement, and user activity. This data-driven insight can guide content strategy and decision-making.

9- Cost and Pricing Model:

Evaluate the total cost of ownership, including licensing fees, implementation costs, maintenance, and any additional charges for storage or user licenses. Consider if the pricing model aligns with your organization’s budget and requirements.

10- Vendor Reputation:

Research the reputation and track record of the MAM vendor. Look for customer reviews, case studies, and testimonials to gauge the scale of customers they deal with and satisfaction levels of existing users. 

Selecting the best media asset management solution requires careful consideration of your organization’s specific requirements, scalability, user-friendliness, integration capabilities, security, and support. By choosing the right media asset management software, you can optimize content management, enhance collaboration, and leverage the full potential of your media assets, ultimately driving success, delivering a high return on investment and reducing the total cost of ownership of your media content.

For a comprehensive understanding of each factor to consider when selecting a Media Asset Management system, delve into our detailed Step-by-Step Guide to Media Asset Management.

12 steps to Media Asset Management success

Once you have a media asset management software, or even if you’ve had one for some time but are looking for even more ROI, implementing some simple best practices for media asset management is essential. These 12 tips will help to ensure a streamlined and efficient workflow, maximize the value of digital media assets, and improve collaboration across the organization. 

1. Metadata Enrichment: Metadata plays a crucial role in media asset management. Ensure that all media assets are tagged with relevant and descriptive metadata, including titles, descriptions, keywords, categories, creation date, copyright information, and any other pertinent details. Consistent and comprehensive metadata facilitates quick and accurate asset search and retrieval.

2. Standardize Naming Conventions: Establish and enforce standardized naming conventions for media assets to maintain consistency and avoid confusion. A consistent naming structure makes it easier to identify and organize files logically.

3. Categorization and Tagging: Organize media assets into meaningful categories and use descriptive tags to classify them. Categorization and tagging help in creating intuitive asset structures and improve searchability.

4. Backup and Disaster Recovery: Regularly backup media assets to protect against data loss due to hardware failures, system crashes, or other unforeseen incidents. Implement a robust disaster recovery plan to ensure business continuity in case of data loss.

5. Version Control: Implement version control to keep track of changes made to media assets. This ensures that users always access and work with the latest versions of files, preventing data discrepancies.

6. User Permissions and Access Control: Implement role-based access control to restrict access to media assets based on user roles and responsibilities. This helps protect sensitive content and ensures that only authorized users can modify or distribute assets.

7. Automation: Utilize automation features to streamline repetitive tasks, such as file transcoding, format conversion, and content delivery. Automation saves time, reduces errors, and enhances overall workflow efficiency.

8. Integration with Existing Systems: Integrate the media asset management system with other tools and software used in the organization, such as video editing software, content management systems, and project management platforms. Seamless integration enhances workflow efficiency and data flow.

9. Asset Lifecycle Management: Manage the entire lifecycle of media assets, from ingestion to archival. Implement practices to review and update asset metadata regularly, retire assets when no longer needed, and ensure proper archiving for historical or regulatory purposes.

10. Regular Audits and Maintenance: Conduct regular audits to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and relevance of metadata. Periodic maintenance of the media asset management system helps optimize performance and ensures it meets evolving organizational needs.

11. Training and User Adoption: Provide comprehensive training to users on how to effectively use the media asset management system. Encourage user adoption through education, support, and showcasing the benefits of the MAM system.

12. Security Measures: Implement robust security measures to protect media assets from unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyber threats. This includes encryption, user authentication, and monitoring access logs.

By implementing these best practices, organizations can optimize their media asset management workflows, improve collaboration among team members, enhance content discovery and reuse, ensure compliance with copyright and licensing requirements, and ultimately maximize the value of their video content. A well-organized and efficiently managed media asset management system is a valuable asset for any organization dealing with digital media content.

Media Asset Management with Dalet Flex

Key amongst an industry-leading list of core features and benefits, Dalet Flex’s user-friendly workflow engine makes it a standout choice in the media asset management landscape. The unparalleled flexibility of the workflow engine allows it to cater to the unique needs and preferences of any organization, ensuring a seamless alignment with existing processes. This adaptability optimizes content creation and distribution like never before, empowering video teams to work more efficiently and effectively with their media assets.

Whether it’s customizing workflows, integrating with other tools, or tailoring the system to specific requirements, Dalet Flex provides the freedom for organizations to tailor their media asset management experience to suit their individual workflows and content strategies. This level of flexibility sets Dalet Flex apart as a truly versatile and adaptive solution in the ever-evolving world of media asset management.

With a proven track record and comprehensive solutions covering the entire content lifecycle, Dalet offers robust features like metadata management, version control, and advanced search capabilities. Its seamless integration with third-party tools, scalability, and customization options ensure a tailored fit for organizations. Dalet’s analytics, customer support, and industry expertise further cement its position as a trusted choice for optimizing media workflows and maximizing the value of digital media assets.

It’s not all about the software though. Dalet stands out in the industry as a top choice for media asset management because of our global, expert team of dedicated video workflow specialists and their wealth of knowledge that elevates our customers’ experience beyond the platform, there’s also;

1- A Proven Track Record:

Dalet has a strong reputation in the media industry, with numerous successful implementations worldwide. Its solutions have been adopted by major broadcasters, production companies, and content distributors, attesting to the effectiveness and reliability of Dalet’s MAM offerings.

2- Customer Support and Training:

Dalet offers excellent customer support and training resources to assist organizations during implementation and throughout their usage of the MAM system. Their responsive support team ensures a smooth onboarding experience and provides ongoing assistance when needed.

3- Industry Expertise:

With over 35 years of experience in the media technology industry, Dalet understands the unique challenges and requirements of media asset management. Our solutions are designed to address these specific needs, making them a trusted choice for media organizations.

Managing media assets with Dalet Flex provides organizations with a feature-rich, scalable, and user-friendly MAM solution. Our comprehensive suite of solutions, seamless integration capabilities, customization options, and excellent customer support make it the top choice for optimizing media workflows, enhancing collaboration, and maximizing the value of digital media assets. Get in touch with a Dalet specialist today.

The post Media Asset Management: 12 Proven Practices for success appeared first on Dalet.

The growth of video over the last few years has been an incredible journey, transforming the way we consume content and connect with the world. The exponential growth expected over the next five years promises to revolutionize the digital media landscape even further. Video will continue to shape our lives, entertainment, and business in ways we can only begin to imagine. As technology continues to evolve, video’s power as a medium of expression, education, and entertainment will remain unparalleled, forging a captivating path into the future.

But we know it’s not that simple.

Quality video content doesn’t just appear on our screens by magic.

Managing this ocean of content can be an overwhelming task, often leading to disorganization, inefficiencies, and content chaos. It takes teams of skilled professionals, it takes time, and it takes the right tools.

Struggling to manage your content? Get expert guidance on how to choose the right MAM for your business. Secure a meeting right now!

What is Media Asset Management?

Media Asset Management, or MAM, is a transformative tool for managing vast amounts of content efficiently, that gives media-rich organizations the power to harness the true potential of their video content. MAM is pivotal in streamlining workflows, enhancing collaboration, and maximizing the value of media assets at scale.

This guide will provide an in-depth overview of the media asset management ecosystem, look at the challenges faced in managing media assets, explore best practices, and offer actionable tips to choose the right MAM for your business.

A Media Asset Management system such as Dalet Flex is a comprehensive system that revolves around the effective organization, storage, retrieval, and distribution of digital media assets.

Core Functions of Media Asset Management

At its core, a media asset management system aims to provide a centralized repository for all digital media files, offering easy access and management for users across an organization. The primary functions of MAM include:

a. Content Ingestion: The MAM system allows users to ingest or import media files into the system from various sources, including cameras, cloud storage, local drives, or other media storage devices. During ingestion, metadata is assigned to the assets, describing key information such as title, description, copyright, tags, and more.

b. Metadata Management: Metadata plays a pivotal role in efficient media asset management. It provides critical information about each media file, making it searchable, sortable, and easily discoverable. MAM solutions enable users to add, modify, or remove metadata, ensuring accurate and comprehensive asset descriptions.

c. Search and Retrieval: With a robust MAM system, users can quickly locate and retrieve specific media assets by using search filters, such as keywords, dates, file types, or even custom-defined tags. The ability to find assets swiftly enhances productivity and content reuse.

d. Workflow Automation: MAM solutions often incorporate automation features to streamline repetitive tasks, such as transcoding files into different formats or automatically distributing content to specific channels or platforms.

e. Collaboration and Access: Media asset management systems facilitate seamless collaboration among team members by allowing controlled access to files. Role-based access control ensures that only authorized users can view, edit, or distribute specific assets, protecting sensitive content.

f. Version Control: To maintain accuracy and consistency, MAM systems enable version control, allowing users to track changes made to media assets and revert to previous versions if necessary.

How a Media Asset Management System Increases Your ROI

Media asset management (MAM) serves as a fundamental cornerstone for modern, media-driven businesses, providing a comprehensive array of benefits that directly impact operational efficiency and productivity. Through its centralized platform, MAM efficiently helps with the storage and organizing media assets, significantly streamlining content management workflows. This streamlined approach not only reduces the time spent searching for files but also fosters enhanced collaboration among teams, breaking geographical barriers and facilitating seamless teamwork. As a result, creativity thrives, and overall output and content quality see a remarkable improvement.

In addition to its efficiency gains, MAM also plays a crucial role in maintaining brand consistency across all media assets. By implementing proper version control and enabling centralized access, organizations can ensure that the latest, approved versions of assets are consistently utilized, strengthening their brand identity across various channels.

One of the most significant challenges in the digital age is ensuring compliance with copyright laws and licensing agreements. MAM systems come to the rescue by providing a systematic approach to managing rights and usage permissions for media assets. This meticulous approach not only mitigates legal risks but also empowers organizations to responsibly and ethically manage their media content.

As businesses grow and their media libraries expand, a MAM’s scalability becomes essential. The ability to effortlessly accommodate the ever-increasing volume of content without sacrificing performance ensures that organizations can adapt to changing needs and market demands with utmost ease.

Additionally, some advanced MAM systems offer valuable analytics and insights on asset usage, content performance, and audience engagement. Armed with this data-driven information, organizations can make informed decisions, optimize their content strategies, and identify trends that resonate most with their audiences.

Media asset management is an indispensable tool for modern businesses, enabling improved efficiency, enhanced collaboration, brand consistency, copyright compliance, scalability, and data-driven decision-making. By embracing MAM solutions, businesses can unlock the full potential of their media assets and position themselves for growth and success in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

As technology continues to evolve, the future of media asset management holds exciting possibilities. AI-driven MAM solutions are expected to play a more significant role in automating tasks, improving metadata tagging, and enhancing content discoverability. Additionally, integration with cloud-based storage will further enhance accessibility and flexibility.

Media Asset Management is an indispensable tool for organizations dealing with digital media content. By offering a centralized repository, powerful metadata management, automation features, and streamlined workflows, MAM solutions empower businesses to harness the true potential of their media assets. As the media landscape continues to evolve, MAM systems will play a crucial role in maximizing productivity, collaboration, and content effectiveness across industries.

Who needs Media Asset Management?

A Media Asset Management system is a dynamic force that drives efficiency and creativity across a wide spectrum of industries and organizations. Picture yourself at the helm of a content creation powerhouse, where the management, organization, and distribution of digital media assets take center stage; The magic of MAM spans far and wide, transforming the landscapes of the following sectors and leaving an indelible mark of innovation and success:

1. Media and Entertainment:

Broadcasters: TV channels, radio stations, and streaming platforms need MAM to manage their extensive libraries of videos, audio clips, graphics, and other content.

Production Houses: Media production companies require MAM to handle assets throughout the content creation process, from pre-production to post-production.

Content Distributors: Companies distributing content to various platforms and territories benefit from MAM to streamline delivery workflows.

2. Sports & Live Events:

Sports Organizations: Sports teams, leagues, federations, and broadcasters utilize MAM to organize, produce, and distribute sports and events-related content, including match footage, highlights, magazines, interviews, fan-based content, and more.

3. Marketing and Advertising:

Marketing Agencies: Agencies dealing with multimedia campaigns and branding initiatives rely on MAM to manage a diverse range of creative assets, such as advertisements, images, videos, and marketing materials.

Brands and Corporations: Large organizations use MAM to manage their branding assets, including logos, product images, and promotional videos, ensuring brand consistency across all channels.

4. Corporate Communications:

Enterprises: Large corporations employ MAM to manage internal communications, training videos, corporate presentations, and other multimedia assets shared among employees globally.

Human Resources: MAM can be used by HR departments to store and distribute training materials, employee onboarding videos, and policy documents.

5. Museums and Archives:

Cultural Institutions: Museums, libraries, and archives utilize MAM to digitize, catalog, and preserve historical assets, such as art collections, photographs, and audio recordings.

6. Government and Public Services:

Government Agencies: Government departments and institutions use MAM to securely store and manage multimedia content related to public services, information campaigns, and official communications.

7. E-commerce and Retail:

E-commerce Platforms: Online retailers manage product images, videos, and marketing content using MAM to enhance product presentation and sales.

Retail Chains: Large retail chains use MAM to manage in-store digital signage, advertising content, and promotional materials.

8. Education:

Educational Institutions: Schools, colleges, and universities leverage MAM to organize and disseminate educational content, lecture videos, e-learning materials, and research data.

9. Non-Profit and Charitable Organizations:

Non-profit Organizations: NGOs and charitable organizations utilize MAM to handle multimedia assets for fundraising, awareness campaigns, and humanitarian efforts.

In reality, any organization dealing with large amounts of digital media content, irrespective of its size or industry, can benefit from Media Asset Management software. By implementing an efficient media asset management system, these organizations can optimize their content workflows, enhance collaboration, maintain brand consistency, comply with copyright and licensing requirements, and deliver compelling media experiences to their target audiences.

Challenges of managing media assets at scale (without a MAM system )

Managing media assets presents various challenges, particularly in organizations that deal with large volumes of digital content. These can hinder productivity, lead to inefficiencies, and result in increased costs. And nobody wants that.

After helping thousands of media-rich organizations for over 33 years, here are the top 10 challenges we hear from those needing MAM every day:

1. Content Chaos: As the volume of media assets grows, keeping track of all files becomes increasingly difficult. Without a proper media asset management system, files may be scattered across various storage devices, folders, and cloud services, leading to disorganization and difficulty in finding specific assets when needed.

2. Consuming Search and Retrieval: Disorganized content leads to time-consuming search and retrieval processes. Content creators and other users spend valuable time searching for the right files among thousands or even millions of assets, affecting overall productivity.

3. Collaboration and Version Control: When multiple team members are working on the same project, keeping track of changes and ensuring everyone is using the most up-to-date version of a media asset can be challenging. Without version control, this can result in duplicated efforts, inconsistencies in content, and potential data loss.

4. Rights Management and Compliance: Media assets often come with copyright and usage restrictions. Managing rights and permissions, ensuring compliance with licensing agreements, and keeping track of content usage rights can be complex, particularly in large organizations with a vast array of assets.

5. Inefficient Workflows: Without an optimized media asset management system, content workflows can become cumbersome and manual. This can lead to inefficient content creation, production, and distribution processes, causing delays and hampering overall efficiency.

6. Storage and Backup: Managing storage space and backups for large media libraries can be challenging. High-resolution video files, images, and audio files can consume significant storage resources, necessitating a reliable backup and archiving strategy to prevent data loss.

7. Integration with Existing Systems: In many organizations, media asset management needs to integrate with other systems like content management platforms, video editing tools, transcoding software, and more. Ensuring seamless integration can be complex, especially when dealing with legacy systems.

8. Security Concerns: Media assets can contain sensitive information, and protecting them from unauthorized access, leaks, or cyberattacks is crucial. Robust security measures need to be in place to safeguard valuable media content.

9. Scalability: As media libraries expand, the media asset management solution must be scalable to accommodate the growing volume of assets and increasing user demands.

10. Training and Adoption: Introducing a new media asset management system to an organization requires training for users to maximize its benefits fully. Ensuring widespread adoption across the organization may take time and effort.

Managing media assets presents significant challenges that can impact productivity, efficiency, and content quality. Implementing a comprehensive media asset management system addresses these challenges by providing a centralized repository, efficient search and retrieval capabilities, version control, rights management, security, and automation features. By facing these challenges head-on with a professional, modern MAM platform like Dalet Flex, organizations can optimize their media workflows, enhance collaboration, and leverage the full potential of their media assets.

Overcome these challenges and streamline your media asset management by following our 12 Proven Practices for Success in Media Asset Management.

Unlock the power of your digital content

Media Asset Management is a critical component for any organization dealing with digital media content. By centralizing, organizing, and automating media workflows, MAM solutions streamline content management and distribution, leading to increased productivity and efficiency. 

Choosing the right MAM solution, like Dalet Flex, the market-leading Media Asset Management system, empowers organizations to overcome the challenges of effectively managing media assets and unlock the full potential of their digital content.

To revolutionize your content management strategy, request a 1:1 consulting session and demo of Dalet Flex. Stay ahead in the competitive media landscape!

The post The Step-by-Step Guide to Media Asset Management appeared first on Dalet.

People frantically looking up ‘How to…’ video guides was one of the defining features of Covid lockdowns. Without easy access to plumbers or builders, it was up to the video tutorial to help guide our shaky hands through fitting a new shower head or fixing the fence.

For Robin Kirchhoffer, CMO at media solutions and service provider Dalet, the rush online was no surprise and it’s a trend that’s set to continue. That’s because, firstly, he says viewers on average retain a whopping 95% of a video message – much higher than written communication and vital if you’re taking a hammer to your house – and secondly because business marketing teams have been steadily growing the quantity and quality of corporate video content.

“People love watching video to help them understand, buy and enjoy things, and the pandemic just led to more proliferation,” Kirchhoffer explains. “Corporates have responded by creating more video content, both internally as well as externally on channels from YouTube to TikTok. Most industries were already doing this, but the need to have it properly wired as part of your marketing strategy has increased. It can help build a brand message, customer trust and contribute to a firm’s top and bottom line.”

Tutorials and product demonstrations are a great example. They are valuable because they help customers get the most out of their new products and services. One of Dalet’s clients, Audi UK, produces and distributes such video tutorials to its car dealers as well as training content and commercials to its sites and applications. Another client, American Family Insurance, manages all kinds of assets, including training and marketing content.

“As marketers, you need to make sure that video is there for customers and clients because this is how they want to access information,” Kirchhoffer explains. “The C-suite also sees the shift in usage and is asking for new initiatives to be launched more quickly. Marketers need to be fast on their feet with new and more video content.”

However, this growth has created several pain points for marketing teams in their media supply chains. This encompasses all parts of the video journey including content creation, commissioning, production, distribution to multiple platforms and storage.

“Most businesses using video content are not native media organizations,” Kirchhoffer explains. “They don’t have the toolsets and processes in place to manage and plan their video content and campaigns, document and categorize everything and understand how and why it is performing. There isn’t a single point of truth where everyone can work together.”

Instead, he adds, the content is very siloed, with some stored in cloud services, some offline on hard drives and some on a shared server. As a result, it is hard to leverage value and have true transparency and visibility. Many organizations also manage these tasks manually with filing, indexing and planning taking up valuable employee time.

“The question is: how do you control these video assets? A marketing team managing and creating different videos needs a level of automation and centralization to help manage the flows,” he says. “It helps drive the consistency of messaging, format, graphics and quality control throughout an organization, either with local or multi-national campaigns. It also frees up marketing minds to come up with new creative ideas and designs.”

The Dalet Flex software product, used by Audi UK, American Family Insurance and leading media organizations, provides these centralized toolsets and processes as a service. “Marketing groups and corporations want to unify their teams so that internal staff and outside agencies, remote video producers and freelancers can see content processes on one system,” says Kirchhoffer.

“With Dalet Flex, they can ensure that their assets are visible, properly indexed, centralized and documented much more efficiently. You can also use analytics to see how each video is performing, how it is helping the bottom line or whether it needs to be amended or repurposed and used on a different channel.”

Kirchhoffer expects demand for video content to continue growing both long and short duration films and more cinematic high-resolution campaigns for specific events or product launches. “Already there is a need for specific branding, logos and color schemes for different countries or channels,” he explains. “You need to manage it well to help grow your brand.”

For those of us soaked to the skin after a failed plumbing attempt – that can only be good news.

The post Shooting for the Stars: How to Boost Your Video Strategy appeared first on Dalet.

From incredible footage of mountain views and panoramic seascapes, video content as seen in shows like Moving Pictures and A World of Calm makes the booking of a trip happen. With this targeted content, trip brokers are now leveraging social video platforms, over-the-top (OTT) streaming services, over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts, and popular augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) channels in order to attract would-be globetrotters.

Viral Vacation Movies: Social Video Platforms

Travel videos are key during the “Dreaming Stage” of the traveler’s planning with so many of us having been stuck in that planning stage for the last several years. If the content is inspiring and delivered efficiently, the potential exists to reengage high-value customers whose passports have been gathering dust during the pandemic. Visual storytelling is a powerful way to build a relationship with potential travelers. A well-produced travel video is just about as close as potential clients can come to experience a travel organization’s packages firsthand, Untethered Media points out. Capturing footage of familiar, iconic cities like New York, Paris, or London entices people to travel. Many trip planners, excursion agents, and others in the travel industry actively solicit video footage from their previous clients, repurposing home movies as quick and polished promotional materials for destinations abroad. Not only will a travel broker’s marketing team have to manage all these videos fine-tuned for different social campaigns, but the associated metadata, too.

TikTok, a platform at one time reliant on dance videos, lip-syncing, and animal tricks for viewers, has evolved into to a tool with broader marketing power and the viewers to match. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of pet videos, but now there’s global interest in TikTok from the travel marketing community. Hashtags such as #travel and #tiktoktravel are seeing more than 50 billion views combined, Skift.com reports. TikTok’s algorithm, however, represents a challenge to content creators. The content needs to be app specific and not a reworking of content previously posted for it to be exposed to as many viewers as possible.

Then there is YouTube, still the place for long-form video online and a powerful solution for travel marketers. Averaging 14.3 billion visits a month, according to the Hootsuite blog, it only makes sense to cultivate a strong presence on the platform. Travel brokers are taking the opportunity to build on YouTube a relationship between themselves and potential tourists. Video optimization on these travel channels — keywords, video descriptions, assorted thumbnails, and relevant content associations — are essential, as ReelnReel points out. Dalet Flex can manage it all, whether it is producing a multitude of video shorts optimized for TikTok or managing longer-form content for YouTube, running seamless workflows enabling travel organizations to get media optimized and online faster and with greater frequency.

Over-the-Top TV (OTT) and Streaming Services and Over-the-Air (OTA) Broadcasts

About 76% of OTT television streamers watch on an ad-supported platform. Content here tends to be highly focused to specific audiences. The benefit here is that travel marketers are able to create advertisements, campaigns, and even full-on content that will reach viewers who want to visit specific destinations or use an advertised tourism organization to create their ideal adventure. Offerings such as the earlier mentioned Moving Art which, for several seasons, provided breathtaking footage of locations such as Thailand, New Zealand, and Canada; while A World of Calm, produced specifically for those feeling the walls close in during the pandemic, showcased beautiful vistas with soothing narration from Keanu Reeves, Oscar Isaac, Nicole Kidman, and others. For the travel marketing campaign, these sorts of shows are direct sales to destinations abroad. To accomplish this not only requires the content, but the data as well to make the linkage across searches, viewers, and channels. All of the content and associated dynamic metadata need to be organized in a meaningful and accessible way and benefit from AI-driven solutions like Dalet Flex.

These kind of documentary-style, nature and environment productions appeal to audiences across demographics. Older audiences traveling through retirement, younger viewers collecting experiences after college — the reach of these channels is wide and varied. Until a time where viewers move entirely to streaming solutions, marketers must include these potential viewers as part of their campaign as well.

Seeing the World from Home: Virtual Tourism

Much like with YouTube, VR is used in the pre-trip “dreamer” stage in tourism, with people looking at where they might want to go. Kuoni’s, a tourism operator, offers potential customers the ability can take a 360-degree tour of the upmarket Sandy Lane luxury resort in Barbados, an article in the Guardian notes. It’s also important to mention that 360 and 180 VR content is available on YouTube.

As Immersion VR, creator of VR content for marketing accurately, states: one of the greatest strengths of VR is allowing the user to experience the feeling of “being there.” 360 VR content is one of the most common methods out there and is accessible not in just headsets but can also be accessed with mobile devices. Although VR projects take more time to produce and are typically more expensive, they provide a more immersive travel experience. These videos feature head tracking so the user can move their head to explore the surroundings in a realistic way, Immersion VR explains.

What better way to inspire someone to get their suitcases out of the attic then allowing them to stand on that sun-soaked beach in VR?

How Does the Travel Industry Make Sense of All this Content?

To run effective and sustainable video marketing operations, travel marketers and multimedia content producers should look at Dalet Flex when it comes to multiplatform distribution. Powering video campaigns with Dalet Flex offers businesses the ability to easily capitalize on social platforms, and then offer content for OTT advertising solutions utilized by streaming providers. Dalet Flex can also take your content into the broadcast television arena, and even further into Virtual Reality. Destination videos, testimonials, and 360 tours of locations, and more traditional advertisements all call for media asset management, metadata, and safe archiving, all of which Dalet Flex provides.

To effectively leverage these assets and create engaging campaigns, content must be indexed and tagged in meaningful ways and must be accessible to producers across systems and locales. AI-powered, cloud-based content management and supply chain platforms like Dalet Flex become invaluable in taking advantage of the large, diverse content libraries that are so commonplace in the travel and tourism industry and that will be only grow in years to come.

As for today, travel and tourism need that extra boost and a good video campaign will make the difference between someone choosing yet another stay-cation versus getting out of the house and seeing the world that’s been waiting the last several years.

The post Why the Travel Industry Needs Video Content to Stage Its Comeback appeared first on Dalet.

Lights out.

Now joining the roar of engines is a particular scent. You might think it’s “burning rubber” but to the spectators in the grandstands wearing the papaya of McLaren, the emerald of Aston Martin, or the tri-color combination of Alfa-Romeo, this is the cologne of competition. This is the thrill of the Grand Prix. This is Formula One. This is also MotoGP, NASCAR, and the Baja 1000. This is the essence of motorsports, and fans everywhere are celebrating the new season starting this month. That celebration is just a part of the raw desire fans of motorsports have for content. From the new season of Drive to Survive to updates from Twitter and Instagram, fans are hungry for the latest news, clips, and race updates.

But before you jump free from the opening crush with a media production schedule that will deliver to the fans what they want, you should first get your video engagement strategy together.

The Starting Grid: Building a Video Engagement Strategy for Your Franchise

When building your content strategy, the best starting position is not necessarily pole. Pole position, in this case, would be the launching point — you’ve got your goals and targets lined up and you are ready to take the lead; but in this analogy, the drivers in the back of the grid can be looked at as the strategy’s foundation. What stories do you have to tell? What broadcasting and social platforms do you want to occupy? And finally, what are the tools you need to bring this strategy to fruition?

Let’s take a closer look at that grid, waiting to start. What are the stories you want to tell in motorsports?

• The race. When it comes to the race itself, the story is omnipresent within the intensity of the start, the battles far from the lead where drivers battle for points, the fastest laps, and the most overtakes.

• The franchise. In the words of Lawrence Stroll, one of Team Aston Martin’s principal sponsors, “It’s the car of James Bond. Of course, they need to be in Formula One.” Every one of these franchises, from McLaren to Mercedes to Hass, has stories; and these are stories that are waiting to be told.

• Off-the-Track Tensions. To say there is a lot of drama in motorsports would be an understatement. Racing features competitors becoming teammates, and rivalries between drivers coming to the surface well after the race is done. When Dale Earnhardt ruled the NASCAR circuit, his nickname of “The Intimidator” didn’t just apply to his racing tactics. Soap Operas don’t have a thing against the behind-the-scenes stories of motorsports.

From the Grandstands to the Couch: Where Are Your Fans?

Once the race is underway, drivers focus on reaching the finish line, ahead of them miles on miles of movement, pit stops aside. The same can be said for the fans of motorsports. Consumption of media happens anywhere and everywhere now, and just as drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Kyle Larson, and Rahel Frey are off the line and on the go, so are the fans. With so many consumption platforms, though, where do you begin to lay down the groundwork?

Begin with the basics: Video. When cars are revealed and analysts come in to break down the race, YouTube tends to be a popular video engagement platform for motorsports. Here, production facilities can easily shoot, edit, and release breakdown videos. From these videos, clips can be repurposed for other popular platforms like Instagram and TikTok, bringing the best of the race to mobile devices around the world. Branching out from the basics, you can look at other platforms — including a franchise’s website or the motorsport’s website — that feature native formats exclusive to these other platforms.

Final Lap: Gathering the Tools for Your Video Engagement Strategy

Your stories are ready to be told. Your distribution platforms are targeted. Your strategy is taking shape.

Now, you need to make it all work.

Like a solid gearbox, good brakes, and tires ready to take on the track in its current conditions, you also need the right tools to create and deliver your videos whenever and wherever the story emerges. This is where and when Dalet offers you award-winning platforms that allow you to get your video engagement strategy underway.

When it comes to organizing all these assets — footage of drivers, of races, and hours behind-the-scenes and between-the-races — Dalet Flex can leverage AI solutions to index, catalog and manage your assets, archiving clips for later projects while organizing other assets for present projects, and prepare your content for a variety of social and digital platforms. Speaking of those numerous viewing platforms, what will you need to prep those clips, recaps, and moments from the Pit Crew for all these output options? Coming out of the chicane and passing on the inside is Dalet AmberFin, granting you the ability to transcode your media to numerous formats and codecs for best results on both mainstream media and mobile outlets. These solutions are ready to take your strategy to a higher level of efficiency.

But is there an up and coming driver to watch?

Around the turn comes Dalet Pyramid, our latest offering for news planning, production, and distribution optimized for on-location and mobile storytelling. This next-gen, storytelling-centric newsroom solution is ready to take your strategy to the cloud, giving you the ability to keep your motorsport community always informed and constantly connected through your media productions.

And That’s a Checkered Flag

Presently, other motorsports are looking for their own Drive to Survive sensation; but even without a popular Netflix series promoting their particular brand of automotive prowess, motorsports remain a popular pastime, its history reaching back to the end of the nineteenth century. Technology now grants everyone involved, from the sports organization themselves down to the individual drivers, to build or even rebuild their brand, create communities, and make connections through audio and video.

Dalet can help you nurture these communities, build these connections, with the content product, management and distribution solutions we have created so you can achieve your video engagement goals. Our solutions make it easier for you to create compelling content, reach audiences everywhere, and be ready to scale when the time comes.

The post Drive to Thrive: The Growing Market of Motorsports Video Engagement appeared first on Dalet.

Don’t Touch That Dial: Fitness on Television

In-home coached fitness can trace its origins back in 1952 with Jack LaLanne. He brought exercise into the living rooms of the world with his self-titled TV program. It was wildly popular and ran for a remarkable thirty-four years. His high energy and robust approach to life got the viewing public hooked on the privacy and convenience of working out and getting fit in their own homes.

Photo credit: Cliff Riddle, Hollywood, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The only sticking point was that the viewers had to be around at the precise time of the show. It would be several decades later with the arrival of home video that put everyday people in charge of when they worked out. Viewers could now see how they should be preforming the movements and connect with the energy of the instructor whenever they hit “play” on their VCR. Leading this movement was an unlikely and unexpected individual: Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda. Her videotape exercise program, Workout, set the stage for another step forward in home fitness. Fonda went on to produce many bestselling tapes, as well as made it acceptable (and yes, appealing) to be a woman with muscles.

For a period in the 80s and 90s, every level of celebrity had a video that promised to tone and firm various muscle groups. In 2001, as people yearned for fun in their workout, Zumba with Beto Perez appeared. His incredibly popular DVD meant users no longer had to fast forward or rewind a tape, breaking the flow of their exercise routine. Instead, they could pick sections of the workout from a menu and skip right to them.

Up until this point, asset management in fitness video content (including DVDs) was somewhat basic:

• Close-up shots on the Talent
• Music
• Camera angles and shots (Zumba, for example, had four or more cameras.)
• Credits
• Exclusive to DVDs, static menu items

I Feel Seen: Interactive Fitness on Mobile

Present day, production has shifted to a mobile world, and our fitness is following. Everyone is turning to their phones and tablets for workouts that will challenge and motivate them. Companies like Apple, Nike and ifit.com have developed interactive fitness video content that enhances their brand. Even national gym chains adapted to this demand. Lifetime Fitness now offers digital membership with live, and on-demand exercise programs.

From its beginnings, Peloton aimed to be game-changer in the world of fitness. The company provides a complete user experience from hardware, music, and the instructors themselves. In essence making themselves a true media company. The experience they’ve constructed dips in the world of Augmented Reality (AR) through their bikes and treadmills using their app and subscription service with thousands of classes. Their trainers also interact with people exercising, making Peloton’s routines more than just a static experience, by putting you in a class with other runners and bikers. Together, you cheer one another on while competing for top spots in leaderboards and shout-outs from your instructors.

Bro, Do You Even Quest?: The Rise (and Demands) of VR Fitness

Fitness video content is now flexing hard in the virtual environment. With sales in the Quest app store surging 150% year-over-year growth in the 2021 Christmas weekend. Virtual Reality is where I found myself seeking a way to keep moving and discover better health. Supernatural is my go-to app, placing you in breathtaking environments where you can smash balloons with a Flow or Boxing routine. The app also has meditations and stretches to take care of the mind, too. Judging from the user comments, Supernatural has improved both the physical and mental health of its community. Noting the popularity of VR fitness, Les Mills, a worldwide provider of fitness known for their impressive gyms and services, recently brought their popular BodyCombat program into the virtual realm.

These advances, though, have increased the complexity of fitness video content. It’s no longer a matter of getting a bunch of fit individuals in front of a camera and recording a routine. For example, Supernatural offered a behind-the-scenes look at production. It is a three-month process, spread across multi-functional teams, including coaches, music rights managers, VR filmmakers, developers, and choreographers. As a subscription-based app, they provide new content daily to keep their user base engaged, energized, and coming back.

While you still have the earlier-mentioned assets to contend with, AR and VR exercise programs now includes:

• Targets. These communicate to the user that they have successfully landed a hit and how hard.
• Bats or gloves. These show where the user’s hands are.
• Environment. Where the user works out no long has limits. You can be on mountain tops, beaches, or in an endless and sparkling-clean digital gym.
• Scores and leaderboards. Achieving a personal best, or challenging their friends, encourages users.
• The Menu. Users mark favorite workouts, add others to their leaderboard, and filter content.

With increasing complexities, managing these individual workouts demands reliable production, asset management and packaging, as well as distribution media workflows such as those supported by Dalet Flex.

Appreciating a Good Flex: How Dalet Flex Manages Home Fitness Assets

With home fitness now crossing into an interactive medium, imagine managing all these daily produced assets, knowing where to find the precise song, trying to catalog the thousands of hours of production material, and keeping an efficient archive. As a content business, it is vital to understand what’s been delivered when and what can be re-monetized. For example, producing specialized playlists for your users, such as collections of particular music or highlights, adds value to the content already produced. Keeping these fitness video content elements, which span a wide variety of media, in order is the kind of challenge that Dalet Flex can meet.

As this industry continues to expand, it will need robust solutions for rich media asset production, distribution and management.

User-friendly and highly customizable Dalet Flex grants editors and producers with adaptable tools for diverse teams in remote locations. Users can collaborate on managing the production workflow that these fitness packages demand through business-driven rules and customizable metadata definitions. The platform is well-positioned to help the in-home fitness industry manage its complex media workflows.

Many who have had their eyes opened to the joy of home fitness will stay online, or combine traditional gym workouts with what they have learned from apps. The business of fitness video content has certainly caught its second wind, but it needs agile and reliable tools to manage its growing volume of content and metadata moving into its future.

The post Fitness Video Content – More Assets than Meet the Eye appeared first on Dalet.

In the last several years, esports has evolved from a niche interest, popular largely among teenagers, into a market spanning the entire globe with big audiences and even bigger productions. 26.6 million monthly viewers tuned into esports events in 2021, up 11.4% from 2020, according Insider Intelligence. And as esports continues to grow, global investors, brands, and media outlets are all paying attention. Feeding this interest in esports are the numerous stories generated not only by the games themselves and the quests and rich mythos that come with them, but also in the individual players themselves. Metadata plays more than just a supporting role in esports and broadcasting at large. Today, modern broadcasting and content streaming illustrate that metadata is both powerful and invaluable. Metadata is like gold! Nowhere is this power better exemplified than in esports where live broadcasts utilize metadata-driven workflows along with hardware and software integrations to create unforgettable productions. And with the right tools, terabytes’ worth of quality content can be automatically tagged, distributed, archived, and indexed for use by global teams editing and creating content in platforms like Adobe Premiere Pro®.

Better Production Tools Equals More Content

Digital production tools have been evolving in spectacular ways and, because esports already exists in the digital realm, there are no obstacles to entry. For example, no additional algorithms are required to convert on-screen/on-camera player actions into data. AI-powered scene capture and instant analysis of every action an athlete performs in esports is collected as metadata. This allows for dynamic visualizations of player stats, instantly generated and tagged highlight clips, and efficient remote production workflows. As production tools become more adept at utilizing metadata and workflows increase in sophistication, more assets will be generated. Cloud-based platforms like Dalet Flex use AI technology (such as Dalet Media Cortex) to truly harness metadata to create fully-indexed content libraries. These asset libraries can then be utilized by editing and production teams working remotely, from anywhere in the world.

Esports is All About Big Moments

The production value in a big esports event rivals that of American Football’s Superbowl, the FIFA World Cup, or even the ceremonies of the Olympics. These events often span multiple days and are a goldmine of assets and metadata.

The 2017 DOTA 2 tournament attracted a staggering 25 million viewers and 20,000 fans on site across four days. Electronic Sports League deployed their proprietary Echo platform—developed to leverage metadata in an effort to increase audience interaction and engagement—for this event. Evidence shows that metadata generated in real time when broadcasting the 2017 DOTA2 tournament had a profound impact on audience engagement and interaction. Graphics detailing player-performance stats effectively created a narrative around the competition experience and individual players, eliciting audience responses of surprise and anticipation through the four-day competition.

Two years later, the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, produced by Riot Games, showed just how far and hard the production envelope can be pushed and how innovation can pulverize the status quo. Riot pulled off a two-location remote production with the world feed being produced in LA, the English Language show produced at Riot’s European HQ in Berlin. Commentators across the globe had instant access to live stats and memorable gameplay moments thanks again to that humble metadata. Using the at the time new JPEG XS compression format, Riot games executed the first trans-Atlantic remote production in esports history. Astoundingly, the finals were produced and sent to 40 distribution partners around the world with just one OB truck onsite in Paris. It’s staggering to consider the volume of content and metadata that was generated just from this single event.

Literally thousands of hours of compelling video come out of these events with a mountain of metadata to match. And like with professional sports, the stories in esports don’t end when the confetti settles and viewers logoff. In fact, to be able to retell these stories in inventive ways is critical in maintaining interest in a digital world where attention spans can be fleeting and memories just as short.

Assets Worth Managing

With the array of software and user roles required to pull off a successful esports event, content may end up being stored on different servers and in different locations. Assets may have multiple permissions and there could be any number of file formats floating around as well. According to an article on FeedMagazine.TV, ad hoc in-house solutions can become fragmented. If editors, for example, are to execute tasks efficiently and across teams, assets need to be unified and available from a single source. This is where Dalet Flex can reduce these fragmentations, centralizing all this fresh esports content into a single, unified view. Integration with AI indexing tools, including Dalet’s own Media Cortex, help in the categorizing, indexing, and archiving of media. This not only creates meaningful interpretations of the pre-existing metadata, but also builds a layer of metadata that makes indexing and subsequent searches more intuitive and efficient.

Metadata excels in the way it enables us to consolidate assets, categorize information, and create robust content libraries. The Council on Library and Information Resources states “without metadata, a thousand-hour digital video archive is reduced to a terabyte or greater jumble of bits; with metadata, those thousand hours can become a valuable information resource.” Imagine that now, not only can a live clip of a player slaying a dragon for the big esports tournament win be displayed as an instant highlight, but video from multiple angles provided by in-game observer cameras can be tagged, saved, and indexed in an asset library to be later edited and sent out on social media or other distribution channels. What’s so important here is that the manpower requirements are greatly reduced, and more time can be using these memorable moments for post-event fan-engagement, branding, and promotion.

The scope of work required by esports can on be accomplished in the cloud. Cloud-based infrastructures and services are becoming not just more practical, but necessary for content access, storage and asset management as more and more employees across the globe are working remotely. The flexibility of multi-cloud platforms allows for optimal levels of security, performance and reliability, as well as business continuity and system redundancy. Given volume of content and metadata generated from an esports event, a platform with these characteristics is needed to not only sustain but to also scale operations as esports popularity continues to surge and productions get bigger and more complex.

Esports Will Only Continue to Grow

The growing global popularity of esports has brought about some remarkable innovation, in particular, the use of metadata to create highlights, stats, and enhance storytelling as well as pump out a mountain of content. AI-powered, cloud-based content management and supply chain platforms like Dalet Flex will undoubtedly see broader adoption in esports as this already large volume of esports assets increase. Associated access requirements, along with a need for seamless project hand-offs across time zones, require metadata-driven solutions in the cloud. Esports is forecast to gain more traction in years to come, and with that the demand for tools that can manage this content in a scalable and flexible fashion will increase as a result.

Curious as to how Dalet can help you in your esports video asset management and storytelling goals for 2022. No better time to level up than now.

The post Esports and Metadata: Unlimited Storytelling Possibilities appeared first on Dalet.

With the growing demand for multimedia content, changes are needed in the way video is produced, managed and distributed. Video Asset Management makes media production and distribution more efficient and more adaptable to meet the evolving demands of the global marketplace. Here’s how to get started!

Chapter 1: Analyzing the Industry
Chapter 2: Organizing Content & Streamlining Workflows
Chapter 3: Importance of Metadata
Chapter 4: Creating a Collaborative Operations
Chapter 5: Tools to help you master Video Asset Management

Analyzing the Industry

It is a well-known axiom in the media industry that content is king; and to those offering the best content will retain the keys to the castle. Those creating the best content will continuously and consistently attract audiences, and therefore have the best chance at long-term success. Simply look at HBO who began this trend with The Sopranos and continued to do so with such offerings as Game of Thrones and Westworld. With the video landscape now extending across digital platforms raging from wide screen LCD TVs to handheld devices, the need for content has become even more imperative as it is everywhere — on every screen, around the world, at every minute of the day.

If there is any question if new, original content is worth the investment, consider that annually, Netflix now spends $8 billion on original and acquired content, HBO spends $2 billion, and Facebook and Apple both spend around $1 billion. This demand for original content is hardly reserved for the entertainment industry. Take Red Bull as an example: an energy drink company that has achieved incredible success with their own media productions, elevating the brand well beyond “energy drink production” to a symbol of living life on the edge. The same could be said for Patagonia, a store known for clothing but turning their success as a business into a platform for environmental action and advocacy through film. Then there is NASA, their content archive a treasure trove of flight and space exploration. Truly, the media amassed over seventy years of science is stellar, and the public never tire of consuming the content coming from Mission Control.

While billions are being spent on creating original content, most content providers don’t have multi-billion-dollar budgets to produce or acquire a level of programming needed to attract and keep audiences. Productions need to be more strategic, and creators must manage their content in order to make the most of their video investments and stay in the game. In this dynamic content environment, Video Asset Management is vital to survival.

Video Asset Management: Organizing Content & Streamlining Workflows

Exactly what is VAM, or Video Asset Management? When you create multimedia content of any kind, you need assets — video files, audio files, support graphics, and other elements that support your production. In order to keep everything organized, you need Video Asset Management, a comprehensive strategy providing storage, organization, distribution and archiving. Reliable Video Asset Management goes even further, offering advanced metadata and workflow management for all your multimedia projects.

Intelligent workflows can incorporate automated business logic and user-defined rules to determine how an asset is treated during production. Media Logistics platforms can automatically detect and validate files during this process and then orchestrate their formatting and delivery. An example of this would be if a syndication partner requests all the content a studio can provide, but only if it meets certain technical criteria and contains all mandatory metadata. If your Video Asset management system is manual, sorting out content meeting these criteria would be incredibly time-consuming.

For example, the Dalet Flex platform does this to avoid any potential issues and possible bottlenecks. Once a distributor’s packaging and managing profile is built, the syndication of assets including multiple audio tracks, subtitles, or images, and their corresponding data to multiple places is streamlined in a workflow that truly helps you create content — whether it is your own content or content for syndication — on demand and optimized for a variety of platforms. These workflows would be tedious and cumbersome unless metadata and other details determined by the user can be assigned during the media’s import into projects. Reliable Video Asset Management can automatically convert your content into required formats, assign assets with relevant metadata for both editing or archiving, or repackage them with the original elements. The best format for each distributor’s channel can be automatically generated, at the highest quality, lowest cost, and fastest delivery time.

Ultimately, this kind of strategy helps ensure tasks are completed successfully and video assets and their metadata end up where (and how) they need to be as quickly as possible. But what is it about metadata that makes it so important? When investing in Video Asset Management, why is automation of metadata so essential?

Metadata? Video Asset Management’s Ultimate Superpower!

You hear it mentioned often when it comes to building a library of media, creating an optimized Video Asset Management system, or when working remotely with a production team. What exactly is metadata, and why is it so important to the success of your VAM?

When putting together workflows best suited for you and your production team, it is essential to come up with a system and a strategy that takes the effort of organizing and cataloging your footage easily for everyone involved. This is where a Video Asset Management platform earns its place in your media production process. A VAM platform should offer advanced metadata capabilities in an easy-to-use interface. Reliable VAM platforms make integration into your workflows and sharing search terms between various media assets effortless.

Metadata is specific information embedded directly into a media asset or can be associated with assets as separate data files. This specific information pertains directly to the content of the media asset, ranging from specific keywords associated with the content, timestamps, closed captioning, audio languages, and other aspects of your project. Its creation, assignment, and management had once been regarded as one of those tasks that used to be manually driven, akin to managing budget spreadsheets, or re-entering metadata manually when sharing media between producers, or updating scripts in pre-production and pushing them into production systems. Video Asset Management platforms, like Dalet Flex, can now automate this, saving time, cost, and potential for human error.

Metadata is entered once and then carried across each asset, platform to platform. Depending on the ecosystem you can create, the metadata should carry across a variety of systems, whether the applications you have implemented are provided by the same vendor or not. Dalet Flex includes partner integrations where metadata can be shared, such as multimedia editing tools and with A.I.-driven cognitive service applications that tags various media through such details as facial recognition, object tagging, and audio transcription. Video Asset Management systems harness metadata to perform focused asset searches within applications and archives, and transform them into productive, targeted and monetizable content for engaged consumer audiences.

A good case study highlighting the importance of metadata in a reliable Video Asset Management strategy is the National Rugby League of Australia (NRL). The organization has been continuing its investment into content creation and media production, and their success is seen by how passionately their fans are demanding more of their content. As a result, they have established themselves as a leading sports media and digital technology business. The NRL now delivers engaging content to fans much faster across various platforms (Internet, mobile apps, and social media) while continuing to manage a complex network of asset sources including broadcasters, other rugby clubs, production partners, each with different rules and workflows. The NRL was looking for technology to manage workflows better and to automate production tasks so that its team could focus on creating and curating high-earning content. The NRL also wanted to eliminate duplication around metadata and user permissions, allowing each team member access, specifically and exclusively, to the information to which they are entitled.

NRL found their solution by building a reliable, efficient video asset management platform implementing media logistics that addresses all these challenges and automate asset ingest and distribution. The implementation of a VAM frees up the production team to work on creative and high-value tasks.

When content is published whether it is to a Video-On-Demand portal, a social media platform, or some other delivery service, specific metadata fields, ranging from celebrity names to special events to more general keywords or technical information associated with the content, are also leveraged. Along with aiding in search terms and “Other media you would be interested in…” suggestions, monetization opportunities are added in this automated chain by looking at metadata and creating tailored pre-roll ads based on metadata associated with the media. Dalet Flex sends media through an automated workflow from import through to distribution. Harnessing third-party services compatible with Dalet Flex, the media logistics platform analyzes a variety of metadata elements associated with cataloged assets in order to optimize the search process as well as monetize the media itself. All this information is then automatically logged as timecode-based metadata as part of the asset within the media logistics platform for future consumption.

Metadata, its management and implementation, is essential in building a successful Video Asset Management solution for you, your team, and the wider organization.

So Happy Together: Creating a Collaborative Operation!

When implementing your Video Asset Management platform, collaboration on projects immediately improves (as well as your productivity) based on how easy internal teams, external partners, and systems seamlessly integrate—whether separated by an office, a country, or — in the case of 2020 — a pandemic.

Finishing a single piece of content can require a vast number of elements and stages being tracked and managed by a variety of team members. As seen during the many COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, these workflows can be automated, starting at the earliest stages of content development, commissioning, and pre-production. During physical production and continuing through to post-production, reviews and approval processes managed by Dalet Flex can help in avoiding communication breakdowns, thereby helping to complete projects faster—even if they require input from various teams. Crew members can shift to higher-value activities such as developing new content, leaving software-defined tools to handle the rest. Companies can take advantage of this Video Asset Management strategy to complete more projects, scale their existing video investments, and adapt far more quickly to the inevitable changes to come in production processes and media partner requirements.

Taking the Next Steps Forward

As media-rich organizations move more towards cloud-based operations and virtual offices, the benefits of this Video Asset Management approach with Dalet Flex are enhanced. Our platform simplifies, streamlines, and connects the entire content supply chain to help teams:

• plan and manage
• produce and package
• curate and archive
• orchestrate and automate
• distribute and publish
• analyze and monetize

Dalet Flex supports companies and creative teams whether they work in one area or across all and can be customized to meet specific needs. With an integrated content supply chain ecosystem, content creators can now automate processes for metadata, cataloging, Video Asset Management, and other tasks that run within these operations to create and deliver the robust and targeted content that audiences actively look for.

The demand for multimedia content will only continue to expand. So will the demands for producing even more great content at the lowest possible cost and in the shortest time frame, whether it is for news broadcasters, media & entertainment companies, sports teams, leagues and federations, brands, corporations and any other media-rich organizations. Video Asset Management coupled to workflow and process automation, in whatever form it takes, promises to be a key factor in separating successful content providers from the rest, setting a higher standard for productivity.

The post How to Master Video Asset Management appeared first on Dalet.