The DPP used a wide range of input from industry for its new document ‘Supplying the VOD Revolution’, with the findings painting a chaotic picture.

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De Pomerai: “It is startling how chaotic and costly aspects of the process can be” 

The group also announced that the report will trigger a new technical work programme. 

Rowan de Pomerai, head of delivery & growth, DPP, said: “The rise in the number of VOD platforms and the lack of commonality between their delivery requirements, has become a source of pain for many content owners. 

“It is startling how chaotic and costly aspects of the process can be, not just for content suppliers, but platforms too,” he added.  

The report enabler was Sony New Media Solutions. According to de Pomerai, the targets were to define a reference workflow for the supply of content, identify the implementation pain points, and review standards and formats. 

The pages of the report carry the wisdom of 59 industry faces, ranging from CTOs to operational staff, with five key findings. 

Many VOD supply chains are still dominated by manual processes; onboarding processes are costly because they take months to complete; irritating format issues emanate from metadata, not video; custom formats and spreadsheets still dominate the exchange of crucial data; and, supply chain wise, all players are keen to develop best practices for key processes. 

Explaining that this reduces the number of formats deployed, Kunal Shah, VP of software engineering and architecture with Sony NMS, said: “The rising number of global VOD platforms creates commercial opportunity, but with it come technical and operational complexity. 

“The insights from this report will benefit distributors and platforms alike,” he added.  

De Pomerai revealed that the DPP will partner with MovieLabs to solve the issues raised. He added: “The industry can work together and reduce costs. Of all the problem areas we hear about, this may be the one causing the most frustration on a daily basis. 

“By sharing best practices and building on best-of-breed formats and workflows, we will work alongside our membership to make practical improvements to these processes,” he said.