By Shaun Lim
To help broadcasters and media operators address the fundamental business questions they are faced with today, IABM has released the latest edition of its Technology and Trends Roadmap, which examines the major current and unfolding technologies and trends.
APB+ caught up with Stan Moote, CTO of IABM, for an exclusive chat on the key learning points from this year’s roadmap. Here’s what he had to say.
What are some of the key findings from this year’s roadmap that are particularly relevant for broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region?
Stan Moote: I believe it is important to point out the profound changes that have occurred from our industry’s typical technology acceptance and use. In some cases, such as cloud and remote production, sweeping changes occurred; yet others have been ignored, at least for the time being. Certainly the COVID diversion in the industry forced these profound changes with not only technology itself being affected, but also on trends, resulting in changes in skills, career changes and work location adaptations. With the situation now calmer after a series of confusing and even panic fixes/events within APAC, IABM research clearly shows that 39% of media companies are switching their strategy to hybrid cloud.
Before elaborating, I would like to highlight security. The IABM Roadmap working group clearly noted that in almost all areas, the focus on security is still taking a back seat. Frameworks and standards (such as Zero Trust) exist but are not broadly adopted in the broadcast domain despite being a mature technology. This is the result of risk-management/budgeting disputes within many organisations and I urge everyone to focus on security workflows.
Getting back to cloud and more specifically “why hybrid?”, the vision of running everything in an off-prem cloud, whether public or private, still has limitations and these are typically overcome by using hybrid solutions or dedicated hardware.
The trend towards object storage is clear, which means this scalable solution is quickly becoming a commodity.
Conversely, object storage is not understood well and has mid-size companies hesitant due to cost models and lack of fully scalable storage across various platforms. This is leading directly into a different type of public cloud security.
While public cloud characteristically has great security against theft and hacking, do users have the know-how to configure security they need and more importantly, “Is the content instantly available when I need it?”
As these issues are being addressed, it is apparent that about 50% of the companies within APAC indicated they are investing in data analytics, and cloud computing, which ultimately means APAC must continue to grow more local data centre capacity.
Initially, cloud computing was mainly based on “lift and shift” models, and not adjusting workflows. Cloud-native takes full advantage of cloud computing and is surpassing lift and shift, and uses less power, making it cheaper and greener than lift and shift.
You will continue to hear more about microservices-based architectures. With more open and defined APIs, these would be a huge advantage within our industry, especially in APAC as localisation is distinctive in so many different regions.
Packages such as Terraform, Kubernetes (K8), or similar, are becoming a must to assist with managing Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
Looking at the adoption curve on the IABM Technology and Trends graphic under Manage, media asset management is becoming more and more mature, whereas orchestration and having common microservices is not.
COVID forced everyone to re-think many aspects of remote production. Remote collaboration and IP intercomms are prime examples of the enormous improvements. We have been using backhaul over the Internet for some time now and when used properly, it is quite resilient. Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) is ideal for 5G localised systems at sports venues — and setting up CBRS is perfect for geographically sizable venues, such as road cycling, for camera feeds, on-board personal cams, Interruptible foldbacks (IFBs) and general comms.
Doing this opens the door for many new niche business opportunities in covering events in a low-cost manner.
- Newer outside broadcast (OB) trucks that can handle both remote and local.
- Productions are also being built. Basically, they are control rooms on wheels that can be located anywhere there is good connectivity.
- Mixed reality using studio LED walls makes remote productions appear seamless – more often than not; the viewer has no idea where the talent actually is. Especially in APAC, news operations are constantly updating to new forms of XR (Mixed reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality) to keep viewers engaged with their content.
In a previous interview with APB+, you spoke about a new consumer paradigm. How has this evolved since and what do you think are some of the technologies that will shape this consumer paradigm in 2024?
Moote: Since we spoke about this topic in 2022, look how AI has caught the attention and interest of the general consumer. When we discussed customer churn then, it was all about keeping consumers interested in the content distributor’s service.
It is clear, not only in APAC but other areas too, that inflation is stimulating churn with the backstop of being able to use computers and devices at home to “play” and experiment with AI.
Indeed, AI is also taking over some of the dreary day-to-day tasks, often by using Internet of Things (IoT) devices and reminding us of future events based on current data. AI is not creative – it basically just stimulates ideas.
From the IABM research, we see the rise of digital content giving distribution platforms the opportunity to collect real-time data. The big question is: Can broadcasters use AI to correlate this data and influence how AI is taking over these day-to-day tasks by encouraging consumers to be consistent viewers of their content?
This is not like AI hack-bots trying to break into your bank account or steal your personal information, this is reminding viewers of the good times they had viewing your programming.
Many consumers are using media to be stimulated, learn and also just relax and enjoy the programme or the sporting match. I would often love it if a bot could tell me to start watching when a match was live while I was buried in the middle of writing a report and frankly could use a break.
As the IABM roadmap highlighted, profitable growth will continue to be a priority in 2024. What do you see as the key factors that can help achieve optimal media monetisation?
Moote: Monetisation to some means saving money, to others it means profitable growth, and yet some are happy to assure their bottom line is not red.
Looking at the technology of storage for example, the long-established use of hard drives and LTOs is most prevalent in the archive storage landscape. LTO density continues to improve, which is both good and bad due to the risk of data loss because of higher density and cost of upgrading to new drives and tape replication.
The industry is recognising that media storage continues to be expensive. AI techniques are available to assist storage de-duplication and large-scale content management. This ultimately saves money, yet has little if no workflow impact.
Quality of Service and Experience (QoS and QoE) must become a concentrated effort to reduce churn. This is accomplished by having complete end-to-end data gathering, whether it is hybrid on-premise or cloud video delivery architecture, to assure accurate delivery.
Solutions for real-time notifications of potential issues along with “drill down troubleshooting” tools are available and maturing quickly. Spending money on these and redundancy for operations appears to be not needed … until it is too late!
We are suffering in a world of unpredictable natural disasters — and planning for these is no longer a luxury.
Some media companies ask me why they cannot upsell; well, they can. Distributing more and more feeds from a single event can do this. An example is having several camera feeds so the final delivery operator or even the end viewer can select the feeds they wish to view and hear.
When you experiment with this, be sure to collect the usage data, as these analytics will help you understand what your audience wants on a personalised content basis.
Sustainability has also been added to the IABM roadmap, highlighting its status from “nice-to-have” to a requirement. Can you explain why sustainability should be a priority for broadcasters today and what they can do to achieve this goal?
Moote: Broadcasters are now requesting vendors to provide details such as power consumption, materials used, weight (for portable applications), cooling required, and carbon footprint, not only for on-prem but also cloud-based solutions.
Generally, the use of data in the cloud and its carbon footprint is not clearly defined. The old adages that just because it is in the cloud it is green and just because it is on-prem means it is not green are outdated.
Larger domestic screen sizes and more powerful TV sets are increasing the environmental impact of consumption. IABM is involved in working groups that are measuring impacts such as Ultra HD (UHD) vs HD, with and without high dynamic range (HDR). We look into questions like — Is it more efficient to augment mainstream broadcasting services with over-the-top (OTT) hybrid TV?
As for other specifics, advancements in battery-operated generators offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional diesel generators, reducing emissions and noise pollution during remotes.
Virtual production techniques cut down on travel impact. Switching to LED lightings contributes to energy conservation and waste reduction, as LED lights consume less energy and have a longer lifespan over legacy ones.
Specifically for APAC, the 60th ABU General Assembly, taking place later this year in Seoul, is themed “What Comes Next? Original Question of Sustainability” to specifically explore critically the matters of sustainability within the broadcasting industry and collaboratively shape the future of the broadcasting sector in the region.
Are there any closing, future-looking thoughts that you would like to share?
Moote: Beyond sports and live entertainment programming we still have a divide between streaming audiences and linear viewers. Many linear viewers now have a clear understanding of on-demand, yet rarely have any interest in interacting with the media directly.
The Metaverse and Web 3.0 is not just another go at 3DTV, it is real, yet far from being understood and profitable. However, this is exactly the task to confront, taking the various technologies and trends, collaborating with partners and taking them to the next level within your distinct professions to grow both your business and your personal careers too.
As a final note for 2023/4, it does not matter what your role is within our industry, I urge you to have a clear plan for both security and sustainability.