NAB 2018: The IABM has introduced the BaM Content Chain: from Creator to Consumer industry model offering technology buyers, end users and vendors a 360-degree view of the industry.

drama bts bbc last kingdom

BBC’s Production The Last Kingdom

The extensible BaM (broadcast and media) model tracks the steps throughout the content lifecycle, from the creation, production, post-production and management to the publishing, distribution and monetisation stages of content.

The model is supported by three main pillars which include to connect, store and support the content throughout its lifecycle, reflecting the technological effects and fast-paced changes across the industry. 

It is structured on a flexible design to reflect the state of the media and broadcast industry catering to business changes such as the transition to online and native OTT content.  

Fundamentally the IABM business intelligence scope underpins the design which is built on creative, technical and business processes.

IABM Chief Executive Peter White said: “The BaM Content Chain: from Creator to Consumer, will change the way we look at our industry. It is the result of a major project undertaken by IABM to redefine the broadcast and media content supply chain as the industry continues to transform.

“It had become clear that the previous industry model, based around product categorisation, was not able to reflect the enormous changes our industry has gone through and will continue to go through into the future.”

“A fundamental change throughout the industry from a ‘push’ model to one where the consumer can now ‘pull’ the content they want” – Peter White 

The BaM Content Chain serves four primary economic functions:

  • Building a common understanding of the creative, technical and economic activities addressed by the industry. This enables changes to be tracked and understood.
  • Underpinning the valuation of the addressable market for different types of technology products and services – now and into the future. It looks at this from both ends – spending by technology buyers, and revenues of vendors.
  • Aiding discovery of potential solutions/vendors by prospective buyers, making it clear who sells what, and which products fit which niche.
  • Creating a blueprint for building a modern content supply chain – optimising workflows and operations to deliver content from creator to consumer efficiently across multiple formats and platforms.

Peter white

Peter White

White said: “There has been a fundamental change throughout the industry from a ‘push’ model to one where the consumer can now ‘pull’ just the content they want, wherever and whenever they want it.

“The BaM content chain: from creator to consumer, puts the consumer at the heart of its model and defines the industry ecosystem around delivering what they require. A further beauty of the BaM Content Chain model is that it is not static – it is flexible and can evolve to include new products and offerings without being redesigned.”

The IABM core intelligence services built on creative, technical and business processes:

iabm

Create

Create covers the process of original acquisition or creation of raw content – live (‘real-time’) or recorded, in a studio or in the field and the technology that enables this process. While this naturally includes distinct products such as cameras and accessories, lighting and audio recorders, it also encompasses UGC and social media. Services such as OB/remote trucks also come into the Create link. While these currently overlap into the Produce link, with the growing trend towards remote production using IP, OBs/Remotes will increasingly be fully described within Create.

Produce

Produce encompasses the production process (real-time/live) and post-production (file-based) to create a finished piece of content. The enabling technology that supports Produce includes graphics, audio production, video production and services, production and post-production software – including film transfer, editing, audio post, finishing, VFX and graphics and services.

Manage

Manage defines the aggregation, preparation and management of completed content items ready for distribution. This includes content preparation and services, content and workflow management and orchestration, metadata, and operational analytics – everything from ingest and QC to transcoding; the process of readying content for delivery to the end-user customer.

Publish

Publish covers an ever-growing field as viewing and listening choices continue to expand. It is defined as the playout or publication of content ready for consumers, and its subsequent distribution to reach consumers. Enabling technology for Publish includes linear playout systems, linear playout services, non-linear publishing systems, non-linear publishing services, projectors, large LED screens, protection & encryption, linear distribution & encryption, cable, IPTV, satellite, terrestrial distribution and internet distribution.

Monetise

For end-users, monetisation is the reason they are in business, and the Monetise process defines the activities that support this. It covers the business activities that support the creation, acquisition and generation of sales/advertising revenue of content, including rights management, broadcast management, advertising systems, subscription & CRM systems and data analytics.

Consume

The final link in the content chain – and the force that ultimately powers it – Consume defines all the touchpoints with the end-consumer of the content. Examples include a consumer-facing app that makes content recommendations and captures consumer data.

The three common pillars that enable and support the interaction through and between the five creative, technical and business processes of The BaM™ Content Chain: from Creator to Consumer, are:

Connect

Connect defines the infrastructure, connectivity and bandwidth used to move content within and between facilities. This includes intra-facility connectivity, inter-facility connectivity, video interfacing & conversion, audio interfacing & conversion and file & object delivery.

Store

Every process in the chain also needs access to storage, whether it’s raw content, work-in-progress, completed projects or archived content. This includes VTRs & DVRs, video servers, portable storage, on-premise storage, and cloud storage.

Support

The Support link encompasses the supporting capabilities used across the content supply chain to monitor and secure content and run operations. This includes video and audio monitoring, system monitoring, test & measurement, communications, cyber-security and protection, on-premise compute, cloud compute, facility hardware, implementation services and rental services.