THE TIME FOR TALKING IS OVER: THE FUTURE IS NOW 2017 was the year that media and entertainment companies stopped simply talking about data, IP and the cloud and started to practice what they have been preaching, writes Richard Scott, head of media solutions at Sony Professional Solutions Europe
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f 2017 has taught us anything, it is that many of our predictions about the media and entertainment industry are starting to come true. Over the last couple of years, vendors and endusers alike have been anticipating further moves to the cloud, the full-blown transition to IP, the everincreasing importance of data and the continued growth of OTT. This year, all of these things came to the fore, often linked intrinsically with one another. Importantly, 2017 was the year that the discussion around technology subsided. Many of the broadcasters, service operators, content owners, producers and distributors that I speak to are now far more consumed with engaging and growing their audiences. The type of technology is almost irrelevant. Irrespective of whether they are commercially focused or they provide a public service, the conundrum that media companies now face is how to continue to satisfy their current audiences (and reconnect with what they call their ‘lost audience’) while also attracting a younger generation of viewer, a generation that is said to have abandoned traditional TV almost completely. The challenge, therefore, is to devise a method for making compelling content available across multiple platforms, without doubling or trebling the cost of running their operations. This is no easy task. But it is one that Sony can help with, and we did so throughout 2017.
Of course, we already empower and enable amazing storytelling through our acquisition and production solutions, bringing 4K and HDR as standard to drama and live sport and allowing everyone from videographers to news gatherers to quickly and efficiently create and transfer their content. There are, however, much lesser-known solutions, services and workflows that have been making their mark in this space. PlayStation VR Live is just one example. Trialled with various sports broadcasters and sporting federations, and making use of the incredible power of the PlayStation 4 game console engine, VR Live takes televised sport to a new level by combining live broadcast feeds with next-generation immersive technology to create a totally new experience. Users can select their stats, camera angles and replays on a virtual display, observe the world around them and even interact with friends via social media. As all the complicated technology processing is done by the PlayStation, very little effort is required at the production end. Sure, VR may not take over the world but PlayStation VR Live shows that it certainly has a place and is a great example of how broadcasters can attract new audiences without investing huge sums of money. On the production side, you only have to look at virtualisation to see how a media business can be transformed internally to allow it to better serve its audience, again without huge investment.
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02/01/2018 14:08