Avid has released a great article covering their predictions for how the Media and Entertainment Industry will change due to Covid-19. Check out some highlights from that article, below.

As the media and entertainment industry gradually unlocks from months of quarantine, it’s preparing to reenter a world that’s been permanently changed. Above and beyond social distancing and sanitary measures, the film and TV business faces an uncertain future stretching from the foundations of production to the economics of consumption.

However, there are some navigational markers CEOs and CFOs can use to guide their strategic decisions. In the aftermath of the pandemic, Avid predicts that the future of media and entertainment is poised to see large changes:

• An acceleration of existing trends toward subscription models for production technology
• A changing mindset toward distributed workflows and cloud applications
• A growth in niche content from OTT providers

While challenging, the prognosis isn’t gloomy. In fact, the media and entertainment community has an opportunity to re imagine how it creates, produces, and delivers great content.

Check out the full article HERE.

Learn more about Avid HERE.

Burgos was able to create a remote production setup with NDI KVM. He used Skype integration of the TriCaster TC1 to bring on talent and used Zoom and Microsoft Teams as an intercom system for the production team. “With both of those video conferencing options I can offer directors and producers multiview access by sharing the NDI KVM output” says Burgos.

“This sounds simple, but that’s the beauty of it. I achieved this capability without any extra hardware or a reduction in quality. It was a swift and effective pivot that kept business going.”

Jose Burgos

Burgos utilizes NDI KVM to bring web feeds into productions. This allows him to reduce the number of mice, keyboards and monitors to juggle. NDI KVM has helped him get more creative.

“I’m happy to report there are more productions on the horizon for my business. And I can say with confidence the NewTek TriCaster line of switchers with native NDI KVM components are the reason.”

Jose Burgos

Check out the full article here!

Learn more about NewTek here!

“Interest in NewTek’s Network Device Interface (NDI) technology has ballooned in recent years. Australia’s BirdDog is a purveyor of AV solutions that use NDI, producing everything from PTZ cameras and keyboards to converters and remote production software.”

Epiphan Video

Watch the YouTube Video HERE

Learn more about BirdDog HERE

Learn more about Epiphan HERE

Companies like Levity Live, who work with shows on HGTV and Food Network, were prepared to keep work running during the lock down. Once they caught word of the virus they preordered huge hard drives that would make post-production possible from home.

John Bravakis, executive VP and chief operating officer at Triage Entertainment, a production company owned by Levity Live, says with proper preparing, he was able to keep the workflow and transfer the content to his editors and post coordinators. He believes that the technology that is available to help remote work is going to be getting easier and faster to use. According to Bravakis, emerging technologies that focus on speed, accessibility, remote team viewing, and security are going to help keep remote work more permanent.

James Voda, VP of post production at All3Media America was also prepared for the lock down. He worked with his vendors and producers to figure out what would work to efficiently have his employees work remotely. He prepared by storing all the data on hard drives so his team was ready to edit. Voda uses existing open broadcaster software OBS Studio to stream a video feed from AVID directly into videoconferencing apps like Webex Teams. This allows his team to work together and collaborate from a distance.

Both Voda and Bravakis agree that the pandemic has shifted opinions on remote work. Remote work has proved to be effective and open up career possibilities to people all around the globe. 

“There was a fear that activity would drop, but it’s been quite the opposite. The pandemic has proved that post work can be done anywhere in the world and has provided more opportunity for that to happen. We can have editors anywhere. This has really opened that up.”

James Voda

Check out the full article HERE

Check out this video from streamingmedia.com to learn how Covid-19 has changed Live Streaming.

As Covid-19 has mandated the virtualization of formerly in-person live events, streaming producers’ roles and workflows have changed, as Producer and Associate Director Liz Hart and 090 Media’s Alex Lindsay discuss in this clip from Streaming Media East Connect 2020.

streamingmedia.com

Check out the video on YouTube HERE.

Check out some highlights from this article from avidblogs.com to learn more.

Lower Costs

Technology is a massive cost center—absolutely necessary, but a cost center nevertheless. It’s also one of the hardest budget items to argue for in tough economic times: if the tech still works, can’t an upgrade wait? The SaaS model lets you mitigate some of those costs by incentivizing multiyear subscriptions, but even yearlong or month-to-month subscriptions can save money.

A subscription model will automatically upgrade as long as you’re subscribed. That circumvents any need to ask for more money to invest in the latest upgrades, or, in the worst-case scenario, missing out on some of the new features that your competition already uses to great effect.

Flexibility: Technology

The broadcast technology landscape tends to change rapidly, so predicting needs even a year out can be difficult. With that said, it might seem odd to recommend looking into multiyear software subscriptions. However, a SaaS model provides faster access to new releases and a much quicker activation process.

Flexibility: Scale

TV viewership is on the rise, according to Nielsen figures reported by Broadcasting & Cable. But this demand doesn’t always translate to a lift in bottom lines; you may need to be prepared to meet that demand with fewer resources.

A software subscription can maximize the use of licenses for colleagues, not just in-station but also for those working remotely. No more buying individual licenses that go unused if the team shrinks. The economics for this kind of scaling up—or down—makes a compelling case for our current times.

Compatibility across Organizations

A 2019 EY report says mergers and acquisitions are a key focus for executives in the media and entertainment industry this year, according to IBC. This comes after broadcast TV M&A hit $8 billion in 2018, according to FierceVideo. While the pandemic may affect priorities, M&A will remain a fact of industry life and come with their own set of operational hurdles, like getting everyone on the same system. For example, when Sinclair bought 21 regional sports networks in 2019, that meant integrating thousands of new employees into existing systems. This can be a particular challenge for broadcasters, who generally work across multiple departments with tech that may have been acquired ad hoc, without a cohesive strategy.

Check out the full article HERE.

Learn more about Avid HERE.

The folks at Avid put a great landing page together for creators working with remote production workflows. Loaded with links to guide you along the way to remote post production. We really like the success stories from real users, using Avid to edit and create during this time of COVID-19 and social distancing.

Kudos to Avid for once again stepping up and leading our industry. Remote post production is no longer a pipe-dream, it’ a reality and a necessity.

Check out the full landing page HERE.

Learn more about Avid HERE.