Make More Money with

Your Content Archive and A.I.

“It was quicker for us to shoot the video again than try to find it in the archive.”
“I don’t even know what I have in my archive at this point.”
“I wish I could earn more from my videos.”
Any of these comments sound familiar? It’s a common refrain we hear at Ooyala:
content companies today are struggling to find, manage and monetize the vast
amounts of video assets that now exist in their archives. These are assets that
they spent a fortune to create or acquire, yet are no longer making them any
money at all. What good is good content when it’s lost in a labyrinth of formats,
files and systems accumulated over the years, never to be found again?

Not much.

“Lack of asset visibility” was among the key pain points listed when Ooyala
asked 180 global broadcast and media industry executives about the causes
of their media operations inefficiencies. Many of those same executives
are now realizing that automated and data-driven methods for managing and
enhancing archived media assets — including advanced metadata management
and artificial intelligence (A.I.) technologies — solve this problem and bring
rich rewards.
Data-driven tools can now be used to scan video archives Perhaps metadata was never correctly labeled or was
and identify every bit of that lost content. A.I. can be trained categorized differently by various team members doing
to scan for and recognize faces, themes, objects and even the work. Archives may only be accessible through slow,
positive or negative sentiments — and then add metadata manual searches based on a very basic knowledge of what
and subtitles to make all those things searchable. content is there, with vast amounts of valuable content left
unreachable. In other cases, a plethora of correct metadata
Suddenly, it’s possible to cost-effectively turn those may have been collected, but teams may not have known
archived assets into new revenue streams via clip shows, how best to utilize it.
syndication to new geographies and platforms, more
personalized advertising and more. Indeed, our experience In all of these scenarios, assets may be used for a single
shows that when content companies can find their assets production cycle, transferred to storage and archival
easily, they naturally use them more often and more systems, and then forgotten or essentially lost. The result:
efficiently to grow their business. an untapped goldmine waiting to be re-discovered.

Don’t let your valuable inventory get lost in a workflow system Companies dealing with the pressures of creating content
black hole or lie buried in a content archive graveyard. more quickly with fewer budget resources these days are
Read on to learn how producers, broadcasters and media realizing the power of digital tools that can reach into their
companies can harness cutting-edge media operations vast and idle archival reserves, and extract their riches. Ooyala
solutions in the cloud to re-invigorate content archives and Flex and Microsoft Video Indexer are two platforms, working
ultimately, video investments. These solutions include the together, that accomplish this. Microsoft Video Indexer
Ooyala Flex media logistics platform integrated with A.I.- analyzes and describes video content, and Ooyala Flex,
driven cognitive service solutions such as Microsoft Video deeply integrated with Microsoft Video Indexer, automates
Indexer, part of the Microsoft Cognitive Services portfolio. the indexing process of the archived assets, and manages
the mass amount of metadata that is created as a result —
transforming assets into productive, monetizable content.
REDISCOVER THE GOLD IN
YOUR ARCHIVE Such an integration takes the heavy lifting out the archive
discovery process by enabling creative teams to tackle
many tasks: review transcriptions, finalize subtitles, confirm
Too often, assets are missing rich or accurate metadata
and teach facial recognition, and more. Once indexed
attached to them (or possibly any metadata at all). This most
and reviewed, owning a deeply and instantly searchable
certainly will be the case for assets that were originally
archive means more commercial possibilities. Ooyala Flex’s
ingested incorrectly or by a legacy linear production system
metadata orchestrations enable teams to search archives
that captured at most a filename or title and airdate in the
and assets easily using keywords and Ooyala Flex Query
days before digital workflows.
Language to find clips and content rapidly. With Ooyala Flex
and Microsoft Video Indexer, content companies can turn
archives into gold.

Targeting
Metadata

DASHBOARD MAM REVIEWER

Monetization
Archive Analytics and
Recommendations

Video Indexer Azure Media Services

Video Files Enhanced Metadata • Transcoding Ooyala Player Website and Apps
and Metadata • Facial Recognition • Cloud Storage
• Captions • CDN Delivery
• Transcripts
• Ad Tags

COGNITIVE SERVICES CLOUD STORAGE CDN MEDIA SERVICES WEBSITE AND APPS SERVICES

To Buy or To Build Your Media Solution? 2

In practice, Ooyala Flex can connect to, say, a publisher’s MANAGE AND SEARCH
archive, and ingest assets into its system, automatically
capturing technical details about each one. The platform Media Asset Management: Search for archived assets
then passes the assets (or a bandwidth-saving proxy using all your existing metadata types, plus metadata
version) through to Microsoft Video Indexer for analysis. generated by Microsoft Video Indexer. Build collections,
Ooyala Flex then takes the metadata that is created by this make basic edits and launch workflows easily – all from
analysis and associates it accurately to each respective one user interface.
asset — merging it with any existing metadata for that asset.
At last, each asset can be properly identified and accessed Permissions: Assign different metadata sets and fields
for search, editing, repackaging, translations, audience to specific users and groups easily, so that they can view
content recommendations and much more. or edit only the information that is relevant to them. For
example, a well-known sports league in Australia uses
As new assets are being ingested, Ooyala Flex fully Ooyala Flex to expose different metadata sets to referees
automates activities including business rule application, (who are the only people allowed to see certain fields),
quality control, proxy and mezzanine creation, and storage production teams, league clubs (each club can see only
management. To ensure that new assets benefit in the their own metadata, not competitors) and fans (metadata
same way as existing archived content, the same Microsoft published to their VOD portal).
Video Indexer integrations can be used to analyze and
describe the growing library of content, managing the Review: Let authorized internal or external personnel
heavy work needed to create detailed metadata. review, comment and make decisions on archived assets
before they move on in a workflow. For instance, teams
Ooyala Flex can also seamlessly combine other third-party can confirm that an asset meets current client requirements
A.I. services, handling needs such as regional speech-to- before sending it to that client, saving valuable time
text translation, that can capture and extract key metadata and money in the process. They can also customize
automatically. With this enhanced information housed within the timelines being displayed to show the metadata
the metadata, it’s easier to find a video asset, determine occurrences through the video. For example, you can have
what it contains, and take rapid action on it. a ‘faces’ timeline.

These integrations allow companies to manage and work with Advanced Search with Thesaurus: Perform advanced
archived assets via attached metadata in several ways: searches which can return results that are associated with
what you typed. For example, it could be spellings of a
city in a different language (Köln versus Cologne). Ooyala
STRUCTURE AND DESIGN Flex lets you build your own thesaurus entries so you can
customize this to your specific archive.
Metadata Definitions Design: Choose your own customized
metadata definitions, including the metadata fields generated Subtitling: Save hours of work by turning transcribed text into
by Ooyala Flex and by Microsoft Video Indexer. subtitles that can be delivered as sidecar files to partners or
clients, or syndicated to digital platforms. With Ooyala Flex
Metadata Input: Reduce librarian manual logging workload, Reviewer, users can edit subtitle text to ensure accuracy.
and process much more content in less time so you can
monetize it faster. Metadata archive rules can be set up so that Packaging and Syndication: Automate the creation of
when assets contain, for instance, a specific topic, personality multiple file formats and associated metadata for specific
or location, an archive process is automatically triggered, customers who are buying re-packaged archive content.
including email notifications to the production team. The reporting and real-time analytics in Ooyala Flex let you
be confident that it has been sent and arrived.
Workflow Design: Design, modify and monitor your own
workflows in real time: automate asset retrieval from an
archive, transcode content to the preferred format for
Microsoft Video Indexer, send the new file to Microsoft, and
receive the new metadata. You can also add manual tasks
to check what has been returned, and add information
that can be fed back to Microsoft machine learning so it
becomes more and more accurate.

Resource Integration: Integrate with your HSM, online

storage and other solutions that may hold assets and metadata
(PAM, MAM, DAM, CMS, etc.) and enable you to search them.

To Buy or To Build Your Media Solution? 3

 Video Indexer

Ingest and Import Archive and Storage Edit Suite Quality Control Review/Approve

Define Manage Integrate Design Manage Manage Manage Review Manage

Event Operations Real-Time
Object Metadata Metadata Metadata Metadata Asset Temporal and Spatial
Metadata Visibility Analytics
Hierarchy Definitions Sources Workflows at Import Metadata Metadata Annotate Metadata

+
Video Indexer

In the public domain, broadcasters and even national Along with the time and cost savings these services provide
archives with whom we talk have a wealth of archive teams that are searching for assets, they offer monetization
content lost in a manual, two-dimensional catalog gathering opportunities like these:
dust. They know that content is loaded with potential!
From our work in this space, we’ve seen that the use ♦♦ New content creation
of bespoke automated video workflow combined with
♦♦ International distribution
powerful metadata modeling and orchestration can bring
this content to life when analyzed by today’s cognitive ♦♦ Brand integration
services. Our Ooyala Flex early-adopter projects with
♦♦ Personalized content recommendation
Microsoft Video Indexer are illustrating that the prohibitive
barrier of manual effort can be removed, and this content
If a sports league or broadcaster is seeking to monetize
can be searched, explored and exposed for repurposing
historical content, they may want to transcribe archival footage
across multiple applications.
such as voice-over from matches, and create subtitles and
archive metadata for ease of search. Microsoft Video Indexer
MONETIZE YOUR ARCHIVE WITH A.I. can transcribe the voice-over, and add metadata based on
athlete numbers or names, screen text, etc.
A.I., with its machine learning application, is growing in
This unlocks a whole new way of monetizing old content:
importance each day. Teams use it not only to enhance
Before VOD, years of archived content may have been
workflow and metadata management, but to manage and
gathering dust or used maybe once a year. Now, your
monetize archived assets.
viewers can have your full catalog at their fingertips via
SVOD, AVOD or TVOD for re-living those winning goals,
Archived assets paired with the correct metadata and
major news stories and other unique experiences.
A.I. can be mined now for a host of activities that draw
from images, audio and text. Ooyala recently polled top
executives in several cities around the world as part of its
global video forum series; results indicated that the A.I.
services of most interest to them include:

♦♦ Facial detection and identification

♦♦ Audio transcription
♦♦ Object tagging
♦♦ Multi-language translation

To Buy or To Build Your Media Solution? 4

A.I.-ENHANCED METADATA

Ooyala Flex works with A.I.-driven cognitive service providers like Microsoft Video Indexer to provide features like these
that can help solve monetization challenges:

Audio Translation Keyword Visual Text Face ID and Scene/Shot

Transcript Translate audio Extraction Detection Detection Detection
Convert audio transcript to Find out the Extract text that Identify who the Detect when a
to text based on another language. keywords appears in videos person is and find shot changes
acoustic language discussed in as overlay, slides when each face based on visual
models. the video. or background. appears in the analysis.
video.

Want to find a Want to search Want to see only Want to find Want to find Want to
video clip when your archive in certain keywords signage that clips of specific summarize
a particular English and read discussed in a protesters were people, such content visually
subject was being it in French? video, rather than using in news as a celebrity, or recommend
discussed or a Or some other the full transcript, footage? Or shots or see specific edit points to
specific phrase combination of to make it easier that were taken on moments where your team?
used – but you languages? to search for a particular street? they appear? And
know there’s no suitable assets to Or people that match them with
metadata? monetize? were interviewed ads or create new
but only their content featuring
name badge was that person?
showing?

Versioning Object Content Speaker Sentiment

Tagging Moderation Indexing Analysis
Use audio Recognize Detect and Map and Understand the
transcripts and common objects prevent explicitly understand who level of positive
translations to such as a cat, visual and textual spoke what and vs. negative
create subtitles table, etc. when content. when. spoken or written
for new markets. they appear. words.

Want to sell Want to find Want to sell assets Want to map the Want to search
your archived common objects, to a children’s moment when a for content that
assets to an like a cat, a table, channel and particular speaker has a specific
international a car, etc.? need to remove said something level of positive
market, but anything explicit in about a specific or negative
the time or the video or text subject? spoken or written
cost to add — but it’s usually words, or tone
multi-language too expensive and of voice, or
captions is too time-consuming even a facial
much? to complete that expression?
task?

To Buy or To Build Your Media Solution? 5

 If a production company is looking for a film clip to license, they could add the following search filters:

FACIAL RECOGNITION, VISUAL TEXT SENTIMENT CONTENT TRANSLATION

TRANSCRIPTION, + RECOGNITION + ANALYSIS + +
MODERATION
OBJECT TAGGING
Talent A said “X” and maybe they and what they and included in French
while standing on were doing this were saying was expletives
a table while holding a sign negative

In conjunction with Microsoft Video Indexer, Ooyala language is Dutch, Norwegian, or any other not supported
Flex can also work with third-party companies like the by Microsoft Video Indexer. Assets sent to Zoom Media
Netherlands’ Zoom Media, which offers regional speech- for language transcription can also be sent by Ooyala Flex
to-text translation services. to Microsoft Video Indexer for facial recognition and other
functions. All of the resultant metadata from both services
In practice, Ooyala Flex can look at the technical metadata is merged back together within Ooyala Flex into a single
of an ingested asset to confirm the language used (or dataset associated with the asset.
process the metadata from user-specified language). From
this, the workflow can be programmed to choose Microsoft While these A.I. services are mining metadata, they are also
Video Indexer if it supports the asset’s language (e.g., creating new and more in-depth metadata as an output.
English), or Zoom Media’s Speech to Text service if the Microsoft Video Indexer offers a feedback loop so these
services and the teams using them get even smarter about
the metadata they’re collecting over time.

Facial Recognition Caption Creation

Teaching Feedback and Translation

ALL ASSETS Video

Indexer

Import Asset Validate Asset Dynamically Gather Review, Teach Publish

into Flex via (against business send asset IF DUTCH Metadata and and Approve
HTML5 uploader, rules, QC), to correct AI combine into AI output
(hot folder, Demux Audio, Service Zoom Media single library and Asset
or Azure) Create Proxy for Dutch S2T
Ad and
(Recommendation)
Influencing

ASSET PREPARATION AI REVIEW, APPROVE AND PUBLISH

+
Video Indexer

To Buy or To Build Your Media Solution? 6

For instance, if there is a face in a clip that the system CONCLUSION
doesn’t recognize, a production team member can tell
it, “This is Tom Hanks” and the next time it sees a clip Managing metadata and content archives, and making the
with this face, it will recognize him as Tom Hanks. The most of them, are now challenges with matching solutions.
technology also allows teams to segment metadata and
retain it within private data pools (such as sensitive facial A.I.-enhanced metadata provides a number of business
recognition data) versus global data sets. Ooyala Flex benefits:
enables companies to harness and efficiently manage
all of the metadata it has collected, and it can combine ♦♦ Monetize lost or forgotten assets
metadata across services, resulting in even more powerful
♦♦ Get content produced and distributed faster
searches and revenue opportunities.
♦♦ Expand into international markets and new distribution
The possibilities for fully exploiting and monetizing channels
content archives are now attainable — and endless.
♦♦ Create targeted content for brand integration and
content recommendation

With Ooyala Flex and Microsoft Video Indexer technologies,

the impact on your business is simple and clear: more
revenue and the opportunity to lead the way in video.

www.ooyala.com [email protected]

Ooyala is a leading provider of software and services that simplify the complexity of producing, streaming and monetizing video. Ooyala’s comprehensive suite of offerings
includes one of the world’s largest premium video platforms, a leading ad decisioning platform and a media logistics solution that improves video production workflows.
Ooyala’s solutions help broadcasters, operators, media and production companies get content to market faster, build more engaging and personalized experiences across
every screen, and maximize return for any video business. Vudu, Star India, Sky Sports (U.K.), ITV Studios (U.K.), RTL Group (Germany), TV4 (Sweden), Mediaset (Spain),
America Television (Peru), and Media Prima (Malaysia): these are just a few of the hundreds of broadcasters and media companies who choose Ooyala. Headquartered
in Silicon Valley, Ooyala is a subsidiary of global telecommunications and IT services company Telstra and has offices in Chennai, Cologne, Dallas, Guadalajara, London,
Madrid, New York, Paris, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, and sales operations in many other countries across the globe. For more information, visit www.ooyala.com.