Solving the Problem of Linear to Social

by:  Andy Fineberg

 

OTT service providers face a major challenge in today’s digital landscape – the need to rapidly create social media content that attracts and motivates viewers to find and consume their programming. But, repurposing linear TV content for social media channels is a challenging task. Editing tools are costly, teams require remote access to programs and files, and posting to several social media platforms requires multiple formats and optimized messages.

Thankfully, cloud-based tools enable social media teams to produce effective branded media that can be published on many media channels. In this article, we’ll explore how cloud video production solves the problem of repurposing linear TV content for social media channels.

 Process and production: not apples to apples

 The linear TV and social media production processes and tools are vastly different due to the differing needs of each platform. Linear TV production requires complex equipment and software, skilled personnel, and significant financial resources to create high-quality content that meets broadcast standards. Social media production, however, requires fast and cost-effective methods to produce engaging content that can be delivered quickly and frequently.

 This has led to the emergence of cloud-based tools that enable remote collaboration, real-time editing, and automatic publishing to multiple social media platforms. These tools are accessible and easy to use, making it possible for anyone to produce social media content without extensive technical skills or expensive equipment. By leveraging these tools, media companies can streamline their social media production process and produce high-quality content that drives engagement on multiple platforms.

 Cloud-based tools are game-changing

Backlight’s solution, Wildmoka, is one such tool that is changing the rules of the game. Its cloud video production platform allows media companies to create and distribute engaging, personalized video content for digital platforms without expensive software or hardware. With its advanced AI and machine learning capabilities, Wildmoka also helps media companies optimize their video content for specific audiences, making it more engaging and relevant.

Using Wildmoka’s cloud video production platform, media companies can quickly and easily produce high-quality video content that drives engagement and attracts viewers on social media channels.

 Beyond process wins

A more cohesive process and shared toolkit can create a waterfall effect of benefits for media businesses. For example, at the 2020 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Backlight’s cloud social media production tools helped increase awareness, engagement, and revenues and saw a 48%+ audience growth increase. Backlight’s cloud-based tools enabled the organizers to publish more videos, win attention, and increase betting revenue in 2020. This was all possible during COVID, when many workers were remote.

Thinking differently

 Producing linear TV and social media content requires different strategies and considerations.

 With linear TV, the focus is on creating high-quality content that captures the viewer’s attention and keeps them engaged throughout the program. However, social media audiences have shorter attention spans and are constantly scrolling through their feeds, making it crucial to create content that grabs their attention quickly and holds it.

 When strategizing your linear-to-social production, ask yourself these questions:

•     Why will my audience want to engage on a digital platform?
•     What can I do to the content to make it more engaging and specific for my audience on digital platforms?
•     How do I repurpose something produced for linear TV for social media channels and make it different enough that they’ll want to continue watching?

Social media production requires creativity, innovation, and optimizing content for specific platforms and audiences. By considering these factors, media companies can create successful social media content that captures their audience’s attention and drives engagement.

Meet Backlight

To enable smart and flexible media production, Backlight has several cloud-based production solutions: iconik (Media Asset Management), ftrack (workflow), Celtx (pre-production), Zype (multichannel distribution), and Wildmoka (live distribution).

 iconik (MAM) – cloud-native media asset management (MAM) that allows users to share files from any storage, collaborate on video and enrich media with AI for high searchability.

 ftrack (workflow) – production tracking, interactive media review, and team collaboration platforms for the creative industries.

 Celtx (pre-production) – includes scriptwriting, storyboarding, shot-planning, and budgeting, to in-house production teams, agencies, film schools and universities, game studios, and media & entertainment companies.

 Gem (interactive media) – a narrative design platform for interactive storytelling, simple visuals for complex story structures, and next-generation storytelling experiences.

 Zype (multichannel distribution) – manage and distribute enterprise-grade video across the web, mobile, TV, and social media with customizable APIs and turnkey solutions for OTT apps and linear/FAST channels.

 Wildmoka (live distribution) – for creating live and near-live content in Sports, News, and Entertainment to produce and deliver content from any source to any destination, in any format, at speed and scale.

Andy Fineberg is the Director of Sales Engineering for Backlight Streaming, a division of Backlight. He has 20+ years of experience in building teams that bridge the communication gap between Clients, Sales and Engineering within the organization.  His years of experience has culminated in delivering solutions that complement and integrate traditional broadcast workflows with social media, digital publishing and the expanding needs for short-form digital content in OTT, Social Media and Mobile and SmartTV Apps.