There have been many changes within content creation, post-production and content management over the last few years. As the adoption of cloud-based solutions becomes a common trend amongst media and entertainment companies, many are asking – what is the future of Media Asset Management (MAM)?
Despite the logistical challenges associated with migrating vast amounts of visual data, many large media organisations are already evolving efficiently with the help of next-generation infrastructure. During a time when remote access and global collaboration has proved vital, cloud-based solutions have streamlined workflows and enabled teams to connect instantly.
As more established broadcasters and media organisations expand into the OTT world, they are challenged with creating an extensive portfolio of fresh content to satisfy demand. This must be managed and stored in addition to historical archives, therefore the volume of content will only continue to grow exponentially. With the number of assets rising, it is becoming more important than ever to transition towards intuitive and integrated solutions.
New developments in MAM workflows provide solutions to quickly ingest, transcode, and distribute digital assets. In this blog, we’ll explore three key trends, as organisations continue to navigate the changing landscape of media technology.
There have been many MAM products built over the last 20 years, developed with the goal of enabling organisations to manage and process their media assets in a single on-premise system. Lately MAM has been moving into a new era of adaptability. Cloud-ready solutions allow for an ongoing evolution of workflows, with consistency, repeatability, and continuous updates at the core.
More and more providers are now introducing cloud-based solutions to overhaul media workflows. These web-based tools are better placed than their desktop predecessors for technological evolution, with updates completed behind the scenes with little to no disruption to the end-user. As customers continue to migrate their assets away from on-prem and as the demand for resource-saving workflows increases, we will start to see more MAM solutions optimised for the cloud.
Widespread use of video for communication over the last two decades has led to increased MAM usage across many industries, using standardised desktop post-production tools, from Adobe, Apple, Avid and others. As the media and entertainment sectors experience the long-term benefits of the cloud, we will see more of the big studios migrating in order to manage their archive and content production workflows from anywhere. As technology evolves and large amounts of data becomes quicker to process, there will be a huge uptake in browser-based tools for post-production workflows. MAM solutions will need to integrate seamlessly with an increasing number of components and touchpoints throughout the content supply chain.
Traditionally, any media stored on hard drives would have to be sent physically, meaning it would only be available in one location at once, adding huge amounts of time and cost to any project. With flexibility being crucial in the working landscape, cloud-ready and cloud native MAM solutions will enable teams to access their content from anywhere, regardless of location. Simultaneous access for multiple team members will also prevent multiple versioning of assets, as everyone connects in the cloud to work collaboratively throughout the post-production process from editing to Quality Control (QC) and content distribution.
As the need for instant, flexible access to content grows, so too does the demand for custom tools and products. Until recently, users were presented with an ‘off the shelf’ product which was expected to fit all users’ needs in one go. More recently, as customers and MAM providers have developed a deeper understanding of what is required within the industry, we are seeing the availability of more bespoke solutions. Media organisations are able to approach providers and say, ‘I want this, but I don’t need that’ and the solution can be tailored specifically with the required tools.
Moving forward, MAM solutions will only become more intuitive with an increased focus on User Experience (UX) and seamless workflows that connect multiple tools. Instead of the limitations experienced with traditional MAMs, that were anchored to on-premise workflows, there will be increasing integration with the wider media supply chain. We will also see a move towards more elegant User Interfaces (UI) that aim to create a visually engaging MAM workspace for media professionals, treating them more like consumers. Although workflows are becoming more complex, the industry is well prepared to address user needs, delivering solutions that ensure a future-proof environment with continuous updates.
The Cantemo Media Asset Management solution is cloud ready, with many users already running workflows in the cloud, while others are migrating their on-prem assets and workflows in phases. Whatever our customers’ needs, we work closely with them to provide a customisable and scalable media solution. Our vision for the future of media asset management along with deep knowledge of customers’ business needs, enables us to keep our solutions one step ahead of the game. To find out more, contact us at: hello@codemill.se
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