Harnessing Metadata in Media: it makes all the difference!

30 August 2023

Metadata in the media sector

Metadata groups all information related to a media content, from the year it was released to cast members, soundtrack, plot, images, detailed topic descriptors and technical specifics.

As such, it is a highly valuable source of information to be analyzed and deployed by different departments within the media company and for different objectives: Legal may use it to manage content rights more efficiently, Commercial departments to inform their future purchases and improve advertising revenue, while Marketing may can draw on it to keep viewers hooked.

While developing a metadata database and management strategy can be time- and resource- consuming, its potential means it is unsurprising that harnessing the power of metadata has become such a priority for the Media sector. Intelligent employment and analysis of metadata can help companies reduce time to market, reuse content across products, channels and territories, help understand and simplify content filing and historic record maintenance and improve automation by increasing interoperability. Moreover, access to high quality, well-structured data, makes automation for internal process possible, considerably improving efficiency and saving companies non only time but also resources, both human and monetary.

Having an efficient metadata system in place can even increase contents lifespan, by reducing quality degradation, improving viewer preference and content relevance prediction and giving new visibility to forgotten content, allowing media companies to fully leverage the content in their library, old or new.

Metadata empower the future of UX

Metadata is also a key driver for better UX, as it provides important information to improve search results, content discovery and recommendation relevance, enabling a highly personalized content-view experience that holds users’ attention. Indeed, metadata opens up new opportunities, especially when it comes to innovative UX developments and next-level content enhancement. This means that users can, for example, find and skip to a specific scene by simply describing it or typing a few keywords in the search bar, or even access information relevant to the content they’re playing, such as actors, soundtrack, location or director, directly on their screen, and in real time.

Fincons Group and metadata: in it for the long haul

Fincons has over twenty years’ experience when it comes to handling metadata, dating back to the early 2000 and its collaboration with a leading Italian broadcaster. Since then, Fincons has played a key role in developing new solutions for the employment and interpretation of metadata in the Media sector.

In 2010 Fincons also supported data migration and implementation projects for a major broadcaster active both in Italy and Germany. These projects included multilanguage descriptors and sports metadata, metadata enrichment for video content management systems and guaranteed full integration with the company’s existing broadcast management systems. Given its years long involvement in the broadcaster’s metadata journey, it was only natural for Fincons to take the lead in a new innovative 2017 project which revolved around the objective of uniting metadata solution across countries into a centralized system.

Metadata transformation project

In 2017, a British media and telecommunications group with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, embarked on a transformation project that aimed to align all technical and operative systems in use in its different countries. The objective was to optimize processes throughout the entire content supply chain regardless of location and system used.

The first step of this initiative was to create a metadata management system to capture and enhance data from various sources and make them accessible to multiple consumers. This asset was identified as the foundation layer for the project, enabling the improvement of the whole content supply chain. Fincons, in its role as consultant and system integrator, led the company through this innovation process leveraging its knowledge of the industry and experience harnessing the power of metadata.

Fincons’ consulting and advisory role remained pivotal as the project progressed and the Group decided to develop technical and operational metadata streams for its new proprietary devices.

Metadata management and competitive edge

As metadata management becomes a key requirement and competitive differentiator in the media industry, Fincons Group’s experience and knowledge can help Media, Telecommunications and Mass-Media companies to respond to competitive pressures and become more agile. Improved viewer experience and content deployment, achieved by harnessing the power of metadata play a central role in ensuring that media companies stay competitive in an increasingly geographically dispersed, multichannel market. Whatever the market may demand of Media companies in the future, metadata is likely to play a key role in achieving it and the support of industry experts, versed in designing out-of-the-box ad hoc solutions, is likely to prove a critical success factor.