WATERMARK BASED LONG FORM REPLACEMENT
The traditional broadcast engineers feel SCTE-35 triggers are common and it is the only way to trigger the events. They might be right in a very traditional sense of things. There are many parts of the world where due to many reasons the content owner/event publisher does not provide the SCTE triggers. It could be a clean feed from source or could be restrictions due to content rights. Digital Roundabout has a proprietary watermarking solution for these situations. For the replacement of the National / Zonal feed with a local content. The content to be inserted could be a content which is played out at a different time or directly sent to the EBox as a replacement file. The action to be taken is either sent in the watermark of the content or can be pre-determined time.
Localised Revenue Generation
AdDR series has been developed based on high level of AI processing both at the time of fingerprinting and also at the Edge Device. We run a 24 * 7 operation where in, any and all the advertisements which are being run on the network are identified through our intelligent AI servers. Once identified these Adverts / scenes are fingerprinted. this creates opportunities for the local content / advertisements to be inserted at the affiliate site. A content creator can create these monetization opportunities even during the content; triggered by specific events. The matching of the finger print is used as the trigger of initiation of the action to be taken.
Why - Localise
The broadcasters of the past use to make a program and then play it on air multiple times for the consumer to choose between the slots. Even today major broadcasters do not broadcast more than 6-8 hours of unique content on national/regional telecast every 24 hours. The viewer choice is becoming very specific. Today the viewer wants to see the content of their choice on the screen of their choice and at a time of their liking. This is forcing the broadcasters to change their business model. They must increase their on-air unique content per 24 hours. This content must be something of interest to the audience. To capture the audience the broadcasters are making their content interactive and localized. Similarly for attracting the Advertisement $$ the content has to be powerful to hold the attention of the viewer. Today the viewer is not just watching TV, but interacting with what they are viewing
Commerce
The broadcasters are also competing with the OTT services for the advertisement revenue. This is putting pressure on the broadcasters to localize both the content and the advertisements and make the advertisements more interactive. We at DRPL have been working with the linear TV (both Traditional and Digital First) to bring the capabilities of localisation and interactivity to the linear TV at a reasonable cost without forcing them to change their traditional workflows. With the launch of our AdDR Series we have introduced the combined functionality of (i) content replacement, (ii) local advisement insertion and (iii) contextual insertion in one box. With this completely affordable solution and pay as you grow Business Model DRPL has brought the strengths of OTT to TV. The broadcaster can start with a small number of stations/affiliates and grow the footprint. The cost of the ownership is based on per station/affiliate which makes the cost of growth related to the increase in revenue. There are many use cases of this flexible and interactive solution.
Our Content Processing Services
CONTENT PROCESSING
In the last 15 years the rate of change of the way the content is created, stored, and viewed has been very fast. Can one imagine that till the beginning of this century we all very comfortable getting the new content in a Digi Beta tapes? Most of us had large tape libraries and were so use to tape library management systems. As a service provider to the broadcasters, we use to run a large tape ingest department and the main discussion point in all large Broadcast Centre use to be backlog of tapes still to be ingested and QC done. Tapes with printed Que Sheets are now a thing of the past. In last 10 years we have shifted to 100% digital content. This clubbed with the good and reliable electronic transport of content over the Fiber. With higher bandwidth available the price of transporting the Digital Content between different locations became a viable option. This has opened many more possibilities. We are DRPL have developed a complete workflow to take the customer from any stage to the current stage. Whatever is YOUR starting point, we have a journey with you.
Tape Ingest
Tape Ingest to Metadata tagging – We take these as complete projects to ingest the complete Digi-Beta tape library into files and the run a QC process, generation of the ‘Q’ sheets. From there we use the AI process to index the content and generate a level of Metadata as required. We are geared up to provide the service starting from any point to any point of the value chain. We take the up the highly manual process of ingesting the tapes to the desired Digital format and then doing a 5 pt. QC of the content along with the creation of digital ‘Q’ sheets. We also have the tie-up with with the some of the leading content restoration talent to provide the content restoration where it is required.
Closed Caption Generation
Closed Caption Generation – We live in a world where there are version of the same language. This requires the content to carry same language subtitle eg Hindi - Hindi, Hindi - Roman Script, Hindi - Hinglish. We along with our partners have developed the complete workflow using the AI to generate the time-coded Meta data on near real time speed. The system generates ‘closed caption’ which is then checked by the human talent to deliver the final product in the quickest possible time. The AI reduces the time and effort of the manpower by generating the transcript. The system is designed to also learn from its mistakes and keep improving with the passage of time. The workflow developed is able to use the WFH manpower. This increases the manpower availability to ramp up the processing capacity in a very short time.
META DATA PROCESSING
DR use a smart mix of AI and manual correction in their product DRCP-series of Product & Services. We along with our partners have developed a smart system of "self learning" and "initiated learning". The AI system continuously mines the publicly available verifiable data. This data is then processed and stored in the Knowledge center of the system. We have developed a smart workflow, wherein for large volume customers the content does not have to leave the customer premises. We install the AI Engine 'on-prem'. This system has a web login through which the customer drops in the Content files. The system creates a workflow, the content is processed and a 'job' is created for the Editor with decision making matrix. At the same time a 'Job' is created DR Content processing staff for verifying the tagging done by the system.
SATELLITE BASED DISTRIBUTION
There is a lot of focus on the far end sites connected with the internet. There is a distinct requirement of the solution where the operators distribute their channels via Satellite and do not have to a robust internet connectivity to the Cable head-end. They are receiving the channel signal via the satellites. At these locations due to different reasons, the operator cannot have a reliable internet even to send the replacement content. In such a circumstance the advertisements and content which have to replace the original content have to be sent via the satellite. DR has worked on this and the solution allows the central site to send the advertisement/content through the satellite. In addition to the content, the playlist is also sent via the satellite. This drip feed is on the same satellite as the channel. For the purpose of distribution of content, the Remote sites can be grouped in specific groups. These groups can be complementary or overlapping as the need be. A single remote site can be part of multiple groups. This is managed from the central site.  The group can be done by geography or/and channel etc. The smallest group can be a single site and largest could be ALL sites. The box provided has the capacity to store up to 25 hours of content. Evergreen content can also be stored on the remote box, which can be updated periodically. This can work as a Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery. As-Run is generated and stored in these remote boxes. In the cases where the customer has opted from the return channel through ‘3G/4G’ network the EBOX+ are equipped with complete IoT sub-system. This enables the remote site to transmit a daily AsRun back to the central database in a secure manner for re-conciliation.
