STRENGTHS: “These are exciting times for media and entertainment companies as the entire production and distribution apparatus migrates to an on-demand, OTT delivery platform. Emerging digital asset management and supply chain solutions provide media companies with better control over their assets while enhancing security and reducing costs. Smart companies are taking advantage of these tools to increase efficiency and improve revenue streams.”
WEAKNESSES: “These are also challenging times for media companies. Market demand and global competition are forcing content owners to work smarter and faster. Yet, many companies continue to employ FTP-based, consumer-style platforms cobbled together to create ad hoc (but vulnerable) delivery solutions. They are relying on standalone tools for file transfers, delivery of marketing media and other functions. What they are missing is a holistic, integrated solution encompassing the full production, post production and distribution supply chain.”
OPPORTUNITIES: “The advent of a mature digital supply chain represents a tremendous growth opportunity for content owners. It is creating new markets for content and new life for legacy assets. It’s estimated that there will be 6.4 billion ‘things’ connected to the Internet by next year. That number will top 20 billion by 2020. A large percentage of those things will be phones, tablets and other devices owned by consumers hungry for engaging content.”
THREATS: “Media and entertainment companies face a variety of threats, including security risks that require more and more investment. Post houses and other service providers face the challenge of supplying relevant offerings to their clients, in the face of powerful, new on-demand, software-based media processing tools, some freely available. As business relationships become more liquid and new market models emerge, content suppliers must execute faster, more flexibly, with greater control over cost — and with the confidence that their digital assets are being properly stored, managed and protected.”
Ken Yas is the Managing Director/Americas for WCPMedia Services. WCP Media Services (http://www.wcpmediaservices.com) is a Swiss company that has developed a cloud-based content management and distribution system for media and entertainment companies. This PaaS (platform as a service) provides a fast, direct and affordable way to upload, manage, transcode and deliver assets securely to producers, editors and broadcasters internationally. These assets range from camera original footage and dailies to finished feature films and television series. WCP incorporates best-of-breed technologies to create a virtual post production facility in the cloud, accessible anytime and anywhere.