The new revenue generators

Eros International Media Ltd Eros International,Indias largest integrated film studio,has also joined hands with Prime Focus Technologies to digitise its vast library of more than 1000 films and is in the final stages of deployment of an in-house Digital Asset Management DAM platform. This initiative will help Eros International to monetise its intellectual property by enabling the production,re-purposing and delivery of its content globally,across web,mobile and other new media platforms. It will also allow the company to archive,preserve and rights manage its library.

Rajesh Bahl,Chief Digital Officer,Eros International said,The platform will help us to continuously monetise our assets and enable cost-effective optimisation of media asset management,thus facilitating faster introduction of new products and services in the market. It would further help us meet the increasing demand for our content across all digital platforms.

Both companies will use Prime Focus trademark technology called Clear to digitise its content. Clear was developed four years ago by PFT and has been used extensively by varied companies across many countries such as Vodafone, Idea, Sony in Europe, Board of Control for Cricket in India etc. Clear is a very unique technology. It is the worlds first hybrid cloud platform wherein all the content is simultaneously available online as well as offline. We created it when typical media companies were beginning to show an interest in digitisation, Ramki Sankaranarayanan,President and CEO,Prime Focus Technologies,said.

PFTs past initiatives coupled with its unique understanding of the market have helped the company close both the deals,Sankaranarayanan said. Prime Focus understanding of the Mamp;E industry and combination of media and IT skills turned out to be the biggest USP of the technology, he said.

Bahl concurred and said that the company looked at several options to manage its library. Many of the options meant creating something from the ground up but we chose PFT because it was a production-proven content operations platform, Bahl said. He further added that Clear came as a complete system,but could also be quickly tailored to support the companys vision of exploiting multi-platform opportunities for its content.

PFTs past initiatives coupled with its unique understanding of the market have helped the company close both the deals,said Sankaranarayanan. Typically,when a company decides to install a new technology,it has to contend with associated IT costs. Else,you have to figure how exactly you want your content to appear. Our USP is that we have media as well as IT skills, he said.

Explaining how the technology works,Sankaranarayanan said Clear is a technology platform that comprises hardware as well as software components. Clear manages and preserves professional media content. Flexibility being one of its key features,the platform can be deployed in a way that suits the needs of the customer. Since it is a hybrid cloud model,data can be either stored completely on the cloud or completely on location or a mix of both. Similarly,either the client acquires the license for the technology and implements it via their IT department or it opts for a pay-as-you-use option, he explained.

Sankaranarayanan said it was only a coincidence that two companies signed up for the service within the past week. The shift to digital content is inevitable for any media company. The entire world is migrating to this platform. Apart from storage and preservation,it provides options for monetising their content as well, he said.

Content on the digital platform,whether it is a television show,an entire movie or even an album is available for distribution through Clear. With Clear,we are in the process of successfully creating a digital media supply chain,linking broadcasters,advertisers,media and creative agencies and production houses,making all possible content available digitally. This greatly helps in increasing efficiencies at different levels for all participants of the supply chain, Sankaranarayanan said.

The content is used across devices and formats such as iPad,Internet,Google TV,IPTV etc. The brutal reality is that people now want content on a number of non-traditional mediums,thus,multi-platform delivery of content is the need of the hour. Digitisation is a business need for media companies now as they have to look for monetisation beyond regular platforms, Sankaranarayanan concluded.

HOW CLEAR WORKS

IF a cable company in US wants to screen Golmaal 3 from Eros Entertainments library,it can use Clear to directly access the HD version of the film instead of receiving a standard definition hard copy of the film. The process is aimed at reducing time and monetary expenses. PFT claims that its technology reduces overall media processing costs by 30 per cent.

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