Cloud Playout as a Service

Cloud playout enables file-based content into linear TV channel at your own end, thus removing redundancies and automating content instructions. Cloud playout as a service from GAIATV 3.0 is a marketplace offering, bringing program scheduling, dynamic and personalized ad-insertion, formatting to any broadcast TV channel over OTT platform. This integrates content in a structured manner, giving control and monitoring for scheduling at the hands of broadcasters thus increasing revenues.

What is Cloud Playout?

Cloud Playout automates and schedules content, ad, playlists and shared files, by integrating them over cloud. With internet and OTT provider, the consumption of video is restricting media companies from serving the growing business demands. Cloud playout in the world of ATSC 3.0 will enable a range of opportunities for broadcasters to run their own linear TV channel and evolve operational aspects by transforming and transporting content over and above geographical boundaries. This will enhance the nature of relationship with content distributors, content curators, advertisers and affiliates. It will convert smaller markets into valuable propositions via cost effective cloud delivery.

Features of GAIATV 3.0’s Cloud Playout as a Service

Cloud playout as a service is GAIATV 3.0’s full-featured service, offering entire channel staging capability as a service. Offered as a pay as you use model, management and control layer is available as a self-care portal. This reduces upfront capex investments, lowering the barriers of entry for content owners to operate their own niche broadcast TV channel and is therefore targeted towards tail/ niche content owners.

By operating all infrastructure required to operate a TV channel in the cloud, be it storage, encoders, graphic generators, video servers and other necessary software systems, instances can be spun up or down based on demand and channel operators need, to pay-only for resources utilized in a pay as you go costing model. This brings TCO of the channel to a level that is expected to find a bigger market for content owners who want to operate their own OTA TV channel.

Cloud playout is a comprehensive offering from cloud solution, as a part of bigger strategy to grow the broadcast market in the world of ATSC 3.0. This can only be achieved by merging OTA and OTT delivery, thus enhancing the value proposition for the clients as well as content owners, and enabling immersive and richer consumption experiences. Cloud playout from GAIATV 3.0 as a platform helps realize this vision with the advent of ATSC 3.0.

This will help broadcasters not to sweat on the operational aspects of running a TV channel but focus on other core areas like; content acquisition and monetization. An intuitive control dashboard from GAIATV 3.0’s allows broadcasters to operate the whole TV channel from a web interface. They can also select geographical markets to operate the broadcast and apply any localization policies to a market. The self-care advertising section allows broadcasters to directly specify commercial spots or give access to partner advertising agencies to fill ad inventories. Additionally, without spending resources on channel’s technical operations, broadcasters are free to focus on more strategic aspects of growing the content business.

USP’s of GAIATV 3.0’s Cloud playout service

• Integrated ad exchange – Cloud playout comes integrated with ad-exchange that enables personalized ads for viewers thus increased monetization for broadcasters
• Local/ national program switching – Produce high yield from available spectrum by seamlessly switching between local and national programs to exploit newer opportunities
• Simpler and faster scheduling – Full-featured cloud playout service offering entire channel staging capability as a service offered as virtual cloud functions.
• Bulk content management – Cloud playout console helps to easily manage large volume of content. Out of the box tools help in easy and quick batch processing of jobs
• UHD/ HD media – All-inclusive cloud playout solution that supports both 4K UHD and HD media. A few steps can help create a channel line up with content resolution of your choice
• Broadcast grade graphics – Out of the box tools give professional and broadcast grade look to the channel. Management and control layer is available through an easy to use self-care portal.

Benefits of GAIATV 3.0’s Cloud Playout service

Cloud Playout creates and manages highly relevant content that helps in increasing monetization, providing an immersive experience for users. Localized content helps in more engagement and interest for end users. Due to its regionalized content, it reduces costs and increases revenue from local/ regional advertisers. Social media integration feature helps in adding interactivity to content streams.

It simplifies creation and management of channels, increasing brand extension and awareness in new geographic niche markets and thus increasing revenues.

Pay as you go platform helps lower the cost and time challenges of the traditional methods of channel establishment. Thus, cloud playout redefines technology required to create, store, manage, control, deliver, and monetize content. This also enables quick channel creation even for a specified season or event, for a niche market.

Challenges in the existing system

• Highly variable content assets leave media companies struggling to optimize their ad placements and revenues from them
• Infrastructural challenges adding upto cost and delaying or degrading the signal quality
• Also redundancy of equipment across broadcast chain and incompatibility issues may add further to expenses for broadcasters
• Cost of operating a TV channel over OTA serves as a barrier
• On-premise infrastructure and complex studio facility are not needed for all genres of TV channels
• Channel playout duplication for multiple geographical location services is not very efficient

How To Get On-Board The GAIATV 3.0’s cloud playout service?

As a marketplace service, GAIATV 3.0 brings cloud playout, tried and tested for the US broadcasters, available ready-to-deploy. It offers constructs and capabilities for broadcasters and advertisers to align and bring-forth value-added benefits for all stakeholders. It provides an opportunity to collaborate with retailers, service providers, content providers, and ad agencies to monetize content delivered to consumers at any time, on any device, on any platform. The completely new concept cloud playout benefits from niche market classification, personalized content creation, big data store, data mining, data population, and analytics. It ensures smart, targeted, personalized, interactive, and revenue generating content channel streams, thus enabling targeted advertising propositions as a valuable offering for broadcasters, advertisers, as well as end users.

The Road Ahead