Setting the scene

The Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector plays a big part in almost all our lives.Now, new technologies and shifts in user behaviour are blurring the lines between audiences, consumers and content producers. As companies aim to reach, attract, and engage customers more effectively, brands are seeking to build, buy, and borrow media capabilities to enable new technologies and innovation.

The biggest disruptor today is virtual reality. Technologies such as Facebook 360 and YouTube 360 allow millions of consumers to experience and interact with content from afar through an immersiveexperience. Meanwhile, online video platforms are growing in popularity, although traditional broadcast TV still accounts for huge sums in revenue. Personalisation and curation are also rapidly transforming the industry. It’s no longer about optimising one experience, it’s about optimising millions of personalised experiences. To remain competitive, broadcasters need to reduce speed to market, streamline workflows and reduce costs.

In an ‘Always On’ industry, ubiquitous connectivity is essential. The end-customers are always connected so this means content delivery is critical. Cisco predicts that by 2022, “nearly four-fifths (79%) of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video.” With such a substantial shift in data being transferred, the underlying connectivity that provides content to users will need to be flawless. This also highlights the importance of cybersecurity. As massive amounts of data are being created everyday through every click, view and download, cyber criminals may look to target any gaps in connectivity solutions.

With many external factors affecting the M&E industry right now, businesses need to assess how they approach their digital transformations and, more importantly, their connectivity to enable them to be resilient through change.

Covid-19

Covid-19 adds another layer of complexity and challenge. It’s caused disruption to the workforce and supply chains, face to face events are now virtual, people are online more throughout the day and there’s more demand for Over-the-Top (OTT) video and video games. From an internal perspective, offices have been closed and employees are now working from home. M&E companies have had to shift focus to ensure the workforce stays engaged and the consumer experience still runs as smoothly as possible.

Cybersecurity is vital for protecting the industry’s most valuable asset – its content. With the shift to a less physical world, steps need to be taken to ensure pre- and post-release that content is secure. Communication amongst a remote workforce is also key, ensuring collaboration between teams and enabling the workforce to create and publish content. Externally, the industry will need to adjust business models and technologies for better consumer engagement. With some events being pushed to a virtual platform, there should also be a focus on the underlying IT infrastructure to support this and ensure a seamless experience for consumers.

The industry needs a degree of flexibility in order to ‘future-proof’ content production and distribution in preparation for current consumer behaviours that might become permanent.

Media in a post-pandemic era

Looking to the future, M&E companies will need to move forward  confidently in order to thrive. This may mean looking at the way they worked pre-pandemic, adapting and rewriting these methods to enable their growth. Many consumers will be re-evaluating their lives and ways of operating, meaning it’s imperative to have innovative content, mature direct-to- consumer connections and robust digital platforms. An underlying component of that will be connectivity and IT infrastructure.

Long term strategies will need to be built to sustain companies and ensure they’re agile enough to come out of this crisis, grow and be prepared for the next potential change. In rewriting the way that they operate, media companies will be opening themselves up to new opportunities, capabilities and experiences that can expand revenues while building resiliency.

Innovation and future proofing

Companies in this industry thrive or fail in how they handle identifying and adopting the latest technologies. This is constantly evolving with the arrival of forward-looking systems, like AR and AI. These disrupt business models and force companies to continue innovating. According to a report by Deloitte, AR technology is currently enabled on one million mobile devices and is expected to grow to more than 3.4 billion in 2020. Pokémon Go is the perfect example of a new medium of entertainment that lifts the spirit of AR and VR.

AI, AR and VR will influence all parts of the media value chain, helping content creators to be more creative, productive and the consumers to find the content that matches their interests and current situation. With the recent interest in AR and VR from Silicon Valley giants like Google and Facebook, it seems like innovations in mobility, pricing and accessibility are highly likely.

During the pandemic, new television formats have also been emerging, incorporating the use of consumer technologies such as Zoom and FaceTime to make up for the reduction in live broadcasts. This trend may not continue after the pandemic, but this integration of technologies has been key to continue engaging consumers and showcases the innovation of this industry. The industry has also seen a rise in over-the-top content (OTT), where digital content is delivered over the internet without the involvement of multiple system operators managing and distributing it. OTT is changing the game in the M&E industry as its use rapidly accelerates. Cloud adoption provides some strategic benefits to OTT providers – from increased collaboration to bolstered revenue cycles to agile distribution channels and markets.

How can Colt help?

The fundamental aspect that underpins the challenges faced by the media and entertainment industry is connectivity. A lot of the content that the industry delivers is done over the internet. To ensure the experience to consumers is seamless, M&E companies should be investing in IT infrastructure and emerging technologies. Colt offers a streamlined portfolio that can support the media industry in this period of digital disruption:

  1. Cloud: Our cloud connectivity services can help media companies connect their current apps from legacy to cloud. It allows for faster time to market, with customised cloud hosting solutions to enable global media and entertainment businesses to quickly deliver digital content. There is flexibility in costs, geographical availability and it can introduce scalability to projects, handling surges in workloads for live events and shows. Cloud adoption can particularly support OTT providers.
  2. On Demand: Legacy networks can be slow, costly and complex, however with Colt On Demand companies have control over their network and provision connections in real time. This capability enables companies to scale bandwidth up and down to support fluctuating workloads and not have to overspend on redundant network capacity. Colt has several On Demand solutions to connect IT services easier and faster – even if they are in different cities or countries. This flexibility in bandwidth will also enable organisations to cut costs, only paying for what they use. As a result, all IT services, business- critical or not, can work together seamlessly and be up running in minutes.
  3. Cybersecurity: Effective cybersecurity relies on multiple layers of defence at both the edge and core of the network and along the network path. Colt Cybersecurity services monitor, detect, and protect data and IT infrastructure from cyber threats and security incidents and help companies manage risk. We provide a holistic approach to managed security services, with product offerings at the key vulnerability touchpoints. We offer end-end management from design through implementation, to 24×7 proactive management, monitoring, and reporting. We keep the network safe, control escalating security costs, and safeguard the IT infrastructure so companies can stay focused on growing their business.

The Colt IQ Network

Colt’s significant expansion in the Colt IQ Network, offering high bandwidth network services along with security services, directly addresses the technological requirements of the media industry. We provide secure connectivity and focus on supporting broadcasters across Europe, Asia and the US to meet the continuous demand for high quality content. We offer the world’s largest managed fibre networks for the broadcast sector and our network is our own, which can bring companies peace of mind that they can know where their data is at all times.

Now is the time to review your infrastructure and ensure that it is built for continuous change. Take  a look at our guide, with insights from compute giants Oracle and leading analyst house Forest & Sullivan, on how you can stay one step ahead in our ever-changing world. If you’re looking to move to the cloud, check out our latest research  report detailing the current trends of the cloud, and if its meeting expectations.