Operational issues facing FAST/AVOD platforms and the benefits of content supply chain technology

In the ever-evolving world of streaming, the rush to acquire and retain viewers has led to the exponential growth of FAST/AVOD platforms.  While these platforms present an incredible opportunity to engage viewers with content, their success hinges on a streamlined and efficient content supply chain.

Jerry Inman, Chief Marketing Officer of Whip Media is a marketing innovator and global brand builder with a passion for entertainment technology.

Acquiring, managing, and publishing content on FAST/AVOD platforms comes with its own set of challenges; the adoption of robust tools, refined processes, and strategic methodologies can transform those challenges into growth opportunities, and help ensure seamless content operations and a rewarding user experience.

Common Supply Chain Challenges in FAST

Below are four common supply chain issues that FAST/AVOD platforms face today:

1. Tooling – Enhancing Content Workflows:  FAST platforms have historically focused on user interface and advertising technology, and neglected other content workflows such as metadata and asset preparation, which often leads to inefficiencies and errors. To optimize the content supply chain, it is essential to elevate content workflows to the same level of importance as user experience and advertising technology. This means investing in tools that automate and streamline content-related processes, ensuring a seamless flow from acquisition to publication.  
2. Visibility – Empowering Business Users:  Business users often find themselves in the dark long into the content processing pipeline. To overcome this challenge, platforms need to provide real-time visibility into the status of content supply at various stages.  This transparency empowers business users to make informed decisions, and facilitates effective coordination between teams involved in content acquisition and publication.
3. Volume – Coordinating the Content Pipeline:  The success of FAST/AVOD platforms also relies on offering a wide range of content options to viewers. However, managing the high volumes of titles being processed can quickly become overwhelming, and coordinating the availability of content for selection of channels can become a complex task. To address this issue, platforms need to implement strategies and tools that streamline content selection processes, such as employing intelligent algorithms to recommend content based on viewer preferences thus simplifying the coordination of available titles.
4. Coordination – Alignment with Vendors:  In the fast-paced world of content delivery, miscommunication can lead to delivery of incorrect content or inaccurate windows. Coordination with content vendors is crucial to ensure that the content provided aligns with the platform’s requirements. Implementing a system that enables seamless communication between vendors and the platform, along with automated validation checks, can help mitigate these coordination challenges.

How to Overcome Challenges

To conquer these challenges, and establish a robust content supply chain, platforms must adopt a holistic solution that simplifies processes from contracts to asset management.  Solutions typically involve a centralized platform that aggregates avails in various formats and enriches them with metadata. Such data empowers acquisition teams to make informed content licensing decisions; the data enables platforms to seamlessly place orders for assets across multiple lab partners, and track the status of assets in real-time.  

Below are key feature sets that support specific areas along the content supply chain:

• Automated aggregation of AVOD avails: This feature automates the collection and aggregation of AVOD avails from content providers. This can save a significant amount of time and effort, and reduce the risk of errors.
• Complex, rich workflow to select content from avails: This feature provides a workflow that allows business users to select content from avails based on a variety of criteria. This workflow should be flexible and customizable to meet the specific needs of the platform.
• Media Asset Management (MAM) integration: This feature allows the content supply chain solution to integrate with the platform’s MAM system. This integration can help streamline workflows and reduce manual data entry.
• Lab order management: This feature allows the content supply chain solution to manage lab orders. This includes creating POs for labs, tracking the status of orders, and managing recoupment.
• Content receipt validation: This feature ensures that the content received from labs matches the content that was ordered. This can help to prevent errors and delays.

Benefits of Content Supply Chain Technology

A robust and streamlined content supply chain solution improves overall content delivery, and creates numerous benefits and new business value, including:

• Scale:  Support platform growth velocity and manage an enormous volume of clean, enriched avails from content providers.
• Centralized management: Provide a centralized view of the content supply chain. This can help to improve transparency through automated workflows, drive collaboration, and reduce lag to provide for timely decisions.
• Consolidation: Consolidate back-office workflows and directly integrate processes with Lab partners and MAM systems. This can help to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

By focusing on streamlined processes, transparency, and collaboration, FAST/AVOD platforms can overcome the majority of challenges within the content supply chain. This is accomplished by implementing a centralized technology solution, which addresses challenges head-on and allows platforms to harness the power of content to succeed in today’s competitive streaming landscape.