Infinitive was excited to join AWS and other premier media companies on October 25th at AWS’s offices in Hudson Yards, New York City. We had a fantastic time at the event, collaborating with AWS experts and partners in engaging workshops and thought-provoking discussions in the areas of Content Monetization and Broadcast Production.
With Infinitive’s key focus on Monetization and Ad Technology Transformation, we were excited to engage in the presentations and discussions within the Content Monetization track. Plus, the valuable the industry insights and new connections that were made did not disappoint.
The days discussions focused across the steps of migrating media archives to AWS, extracting metadata, and distributing the content via FAST channels. Not surprisingly, Generative AI was a key topic as it is quickly becoming a key component across the full media supply chain.
Ian McPherson, AWS Global M&E Strategy Leader, kicked off the event focusing on the growth and power of using AI/ML cloud capabilities across the media supply chain. Noting that the cloud-based media archive is no longer just the backup, it is now the primary source where transformation workflows are taking place.
Peter Ticali, AWS Principal Solutions Architect, discussed how many content creators are implementing new ways to make money by using new tech capabilities – but one thing remains the same… Content is Still King! Apparently, even if it is old content. The rise of Fast Channels is bringing monetization opportunities to content that was previously un-discovered. A recent study showed that 57% of consumers watching Fast Channels are being drawn to older content from the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s, with that audience growing at an impressive rate of 10% per year.
Rising trends like this creates the need for new AI based solutions that can automate previously manual steps like: Content Categorization and creation of metadata (lots of it), video quality improvement of old episodes, ad break identification, closed captioning, automated video editing and clipping, and even large video summarization. Though Content may still be King, it is the Metadata that governs the kingdom! – and AI is critical to making it all work.
NOMAD Media is an innovative AWS partner solution that integrates essential AWS services, brining these capabilities into an easy-to-use platform. During the discussion, Branko Lepan, NOMAD Co-Founder and EVP, provided a deep discussion on the new capabilities that media companies have at their fingertips, enabling them to transform raw media files, regardless of their format, into immersive ‘Netflix-like’ video inventory experiences. This includes features such as deep metadata search, categorization, recommendations, and smart auto-playlist solutions. Infinitive’s Personalized Premium Content Solution further builds on top of the NOMAD capabilities to provide a consumer facing personalized mobile app experience with all of your long-form and short-form video content – and the ability to monetize it too.
One of the most exciting discussions of the day was with Aaron Tunnell, AWS Principal Business Development Manager and Americas GTM Leader. Though we were sworn to secrecy and no pictures were allowed, Aaron gave an overview and a brief demo of the upcoming AWS ‘Amazon Shoppable Content’ features utilizing the Amazon Anywhere API. It certainly was exciting to see and to begin brainstorming about its potential applications. We are eager to explore how media clients, especially those in entertainment and sports, could leverage this technology for monetization and revenue growth. We are excited to learn more at AWS re:invent later this month and start initiating pilots with our media clients and partners.
Our Content Monetization day ended with a great round table panel, “Solving for Challenges of a Multi-Platform World in Local Broadcast” with industry leading veterans Brad Epperson, Nexstar Media Group EVP of Platform Technology and Operations, and Preman Narayanan, Hearst VP Advertising Operations. Convergence, convergence, convergence… we have been discussing it for years, but it is finally here, though not without its challenges. When asked if the transformation issues are cultural or technical the answer was… Both! “It’s like figuring out how to change out the pipes in your house while you are living in it.” Absolutely, there is a lot happening with new technologies, data solutions, and AI, but still a lot of work to be done.
If any of these topics around using AI and cloud capabilities for your media content workflows is interesting, please reach out to us – it would be great to speak with you. We believe there are large monetization opportunities for companies that embrace these new solutions.
It was a great event at AWS Media Day and we hope to see you in Vegas for AWS re:Invent on November 27th.
