John Riley, VP sales engineering at Telestream, talks to TVBEurope about the on-going adoption of SMPTE’s ST 2110 standards within the media industry, and how that driving a is growing demand for training and expertise on newer formats, protocols, and workflows.
What industry trends have particularly stood out for you in 2023, and why?
As European media and broadcasting organisations strive to modernise infrastructures and optimise operations, SMPTE ST 2110 standards have become pivotal for transitioning to a fully networked media environment. ST 2110 offers increased flexibility when handling diverse formats and higher resolutions (e.g. 4K/8K and UHD) which is vital as media technologies continue to progress rapidly. By using separate, simultaneous streams for different data types, productions can be much more agile in adding new services and features into their workflows. ST 2110’s compatibility with virtualised production tools and cloud-based workflows also facilitates remote production capabilities, which have significantly grown in demand. As such, adopting 2110 is not just a technology upgrade, it opens the door to increased innovation, efficiency, and collaboration.
Another trend that we have observed is that of cloud migrations and hybrid deployments of production solutions. Broadcast operations are adopting the cloud to increase flexibility and reduce costs, providing enhanced scalability, operational agility, and remote collaboration capabilities. For many organisations that have been traditionally reliant on on-premises technology, hybrid cloud ecosystems provide greater business continuity and content accessibility. They are leveraging the cloud to improve resilience, enrich content and metadata with advanced AI/ML technology, and strengthen disaster recovery.
A third trend that has taken hold is the transition from SDR to HDR and adoption of UHD content. These higher-resolution HDR formats deliver richer, more dynamic visual content, higher contrast, a broader colour palette, and sharper imagery. This is not only for net new content produced today but also applies to legacy SDR content being remastered for HDR to give it an extended lifespan on modern displays. By giving these assets a longer lifespan, they also enable broadcasters to command premium advertising rates on them, which may not have been possible previously. This trend is driven by increased consumer demand for HDR and 4K-capable displays, as well as broadcasters looking for a competitive edge to differentiate themselves in the growing content provider market.
What impact are you seeing those trends having on the media and entertainment industry?
These developing trends have had an enormous impact on production technology infrastructure configuration, operational flexibility, cost efficiency, and innovation.
The shift from SDI-based production workflows to more flexible, scalable, IP-based workflows is driving significant modernisation and innovation opportunities for broadcasters. Embracing advanced formats demands this technical innovation as production, post production, and distribution needs become more complex. Operations teams are streamlining media asset management and using IP networking to make processing and content workflow handling more efficient. And with higher-quality formats and greater bandwidth considerations comes the need for higher-end hardware, cabling, and other production tools, which can be costly. These emerging trends are overcoming those limitations by providing cost-effective, specialised solutions that can handle and produce UHD and HDR content without breaking the bank, while simultaneously future-proofing and extending the shelf life of premium assets.
There is also growing demand for training and expertise on these newer formats, protocols, and workflows. Professionals who are skilled in managing and implementing 2110 workflows, as well as producing 4K and HDR content, are very sought-after. Beyond the training and skill sets required to manage and deliver these higher-quality experiences, content delivery networks (CDNs) are also evolving to more efficiently handle these types of media files.
Broadcasters need the flexibility to easily route and process audio, video, and metadata streams separately for greater production flexibility. With the advent of higher-resolution formats and higher-quality images, bandwidth considerations are the tip of the iceberg. Broadcast operations professionals also need to ensure compatibility across different devices and platforms to deliver a consistently high-quality viewing experience for all audiences. Remote production collaboration further enhances this flexibility by allowing for more streamlined, cost-effective productions across globally-distributed workforces. Broadcasters can compound these benefits by layering in highly-scalable cloud resources on top of their optimised remote/hybrid productions. What’s more, broadcasters can also make more strategic, data-driven decisions by parsing and correlating vast amounts of information collected on viewership trends, content performance, and several other factors.
With all of this in mind, broadcasters should feel empowered to experiment with newer, more interactive forms of content delivery. Innovation is key to staying top-of-mind with viewers and standing out amongst other content providers in the market. By upgrading the viewer experience with superior picture quality, enhanced by interactive content, and delivered without fail to any viewing device, a broadcaster can easily retain the loyal viewership of their existing audience while simultaneously growing new viewership, whether through live broadcast or on-demand streaming offerings.
How do you see those trends developing further in 2024?
As ST 2110-based production workflows take hold amongst broadcasters, the industry will need to focus on standardising implementation and interoperability between vendors and systems. New training and skill sets will be developed to ensure workforces are proficient in IP-based broadcasting workflows; simultaneously, there will need to be increased scrutiny from a cybersecurity perspective to safeguard against potential threats. Organisations and broadcast operations teams will need to refine their workflows, define new best practices, and closely examine any other opportunities for streamlining production. Whether these tools and protocols are adopted as part of a full migration to the cloud, or as part of a hybrid cloud optimisation strategy, broadcasters will be able to configure increasingly streamlined workflows tailored to their needs, instead of adapting how they work to suit a third-party vendor’s solution.
As consumer tech with 4K and HDR capabilities becomes more prevalent, broadcasters are increasing the production and distribution of content optimised for these specs and formats. Advancements and continuous improvement in HDR/UHD production techniques (such as compression algorithms), the growing adoption of remote/hybrid production, and the decentralisation of media assets across cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments, will drive broadcasters to accommodate these types of formats. Over time, this will also likely drive costs down for production equipment, making them more readily accessible to all content providers so they can meet these enhanced broadcast standards (like HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HLG, and others) faster.
These trends, as they evolve in the coming year, will result in substantially decreased costs for implementation, making ST2110-based workflows more accessible and cost-effective for a wider range of broadcasters. And by opening these new opportunities to a broader swath of content providers, more innovative and engaging content can be produced and delivered to more viewers. Leveraging new AI and Machine Learning technology to personalise and amplify viewer experiences will drive increased engagement and loyalty, while providing broadcasters with rich, valuable insights into their customers’ behaviors and habits. This, in turn, will allow them to develop even more relevant and enticing viewing experiences that build deeper connections with audiences. These AI tools can also be leveraged to upscale SDR content to HDR and enhance 4K image quality, further adding value to content libraries that may have been once discounted as being “outdated” or “stale.”
Do you expect to see any new trends within the industry in 2024, and what will they be?
Two interesting trends we expect to see develop in 2024 are Generative AI and Immersive Experiences.
Generative AI will be tremendously valuable for revolutionising content creation; it brings a lot to bear in terms of automating routine tasks, generating new content, and personalising viewer experiences. For example, these tools can accelerate production by creating video, imagery, and music from simple prompts. Even further down the post production chain, artificial intelligence can augment content with sophisticated animations and visual effects, and from there, AI-powered algorithms can tailor content based on audience preferences to drive more engaging viewing experiences. AI will be employed to adapt streaming content in real-time for different network conditions or audience members on different platforms/devices, and to reach new audiences across the globe these same tools can facilitate real-time translation and localisation to turn viewers anywhere into loyal customers.
Virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360-degree video content has been leveraged sporadically over the past several years. This will continue to grow as more video services support these types of formats and more consumption devices enter the consumer market. The expectations viewers have for UHD content stem from a desire to be more immersed in the experience, and these advanced video formats amplify that immersion. Not only can these formats be leveraged for on-demand content production (like they have been largely to date) but with the new, efficient production workflows and solutions outlined earlier, producing this type of content even for a live audience will become significantly easier and sought after. Live event broadcasts can incorporate augmented reality overlays to add stats, data points, graphics, and other interactive features on top of core content. Virtual reality can be a powerful tool for giving viewers a full 360-degree experience of an event from the comfort of their living room, and augmented reality applications can enable audience members to interact with televised content in real-time, such as participating in game shows or voting in on-screen polls. Overall, this can help captivate viewers and ensure their ongoing loyalty to the broadcaster.
