Media — 17 December 2018

Content production and delivery: How the right tools can help you turn around better content, faster

Whether streaming the latest series of their favourite show at home or downloading old classics to watch on the commute, the way audiences consume content has changed. In order to keep up, content producers need to implement new workflows and invest in the right technologies to keep audiences engaged and speed up the content creation process.

To find out the full extent these changing audience expectations are having on the production industry, we spoke to Mark Harrison, Managing Director of the DPP (Digital Production Partnership) – an organisation dedicated to helping content creators like the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 maximise the benefits of digital production techniques.

Having held both Head of Arts and Director of Transformation roles at the BBC’s Design and Engineering group, Mark says, “What characterises new content creators is they’re very, very responsive to what their audiences want and how they’re creating content. That means they are constantly re-versioning content to find the right cut for the right audience.”

Having the right tools available to enable them to share new cuts with their colleagues, get them reviewed and approved rapidly, is becoming a key differentiator. Mark continues, “Content creators are dividing into those who realise collaborative tools can make them more effective and those that still haven’t got it. But the gap is widening between those who are becoming more effective and more efficient and those that aren’t.”

To find out how your production company could use collaboration tools to speed up content production, delivery, and save money, watch our full video with Mark above or read the transcript below.

For more stories about how technology is changing the shape of the media industry and helping content producers meet rising consumer expectations, check out the media section on the blog.

 

Transcript:

“What characterises new content creators is they’re very very responsive to their audience. You know, they’re putting a piece of video online, they’re looking immediately at the way the audience is reacting to it. And that means, often having to change it. So you never have a finished version anymore, you’re versioning versioning versioning – and that’s where having tools where people can quickly reassess, collaborate, get input from others, review, approve and go again are really valuable.”

“Collaboration is an interesting word in media because actually, creative people they don’t want to collaborate with the whole wide world, they want to collaborate with their team. But, what it’s doing is making teams much more effective than they’ve ever been.”

“One of the greatest uses of collaborative tools now is actually in the pre-production process. You know, if you’re out on location, recceing taking test footage, taking photographs, you can share that material back at base, so easily. People can comment and set you in a new direction without you ever coming back to base. That saves real money.”

“So what the DPP has found from its research, actually, is the world of content creators is kind of dividing into those who now realise that collaborative tools are the way to be more effective and those that still haven’t got it. But the gap is widening between those who are becoming more effective and more efficient and those that aren’t.”

“One of the characteristics of new content creators is that they are so responsive and agile. They are actually far more creative than a traditional production company. Now they’ll turn their hand to anything and turn content around really really quickly and that is now what gets them work.”

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