Media integration imps key findings from visits to ebu members by European Broadcasting Union

Media Integration IMPS key findings from visits to EBU Members

December 2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A special thanks to EBU Members that hosted theme visits: vrt & rtbf (Belgium) dr (Denmark) yle (Finland) RB (Germany) swr (Germany) rtl (Luxembourg) nos (Netherlands) nrk (Norway) sr (Sweden)

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

CONTENTS 4 Strategic programme on Integrated Media Production Strategies (IMPS)

From immature to mature media integration

Background Specific objectives Visits to EBU Members: an overview

Shifting priorities: from saving money to focusing on content and quality Searching for the right newsroom organization and job profiles Input / output-based organization

Why do we integrate? What Reaching mature is the burning platform? integration Economic reasons Keeping up with audience demand and competition

Integration is a long, complicated journey

Successful integration requires strong leadership and a proper change-management approach

10 Decisive factors behind successful integration Changing the organizational chart

11 Positive results far outweigh the negative Positive results Negative results

Digital versus TV & Radio? Anywhere, anytime

Advanced technologies as the key enabler for integration Workflow analysis â&#x20AC;&#x201C; recipe for success or failure Low-cost and high-cost productions Metadata are key Value the archives Software skills are a real asset What comes next?

Next steps in platform integration Management perspective Newsroom perspective Journalist perspective

Strategic programme on Integrated Media Production Strategies (IMPS) Background The digital media revolution has caused breathtaking changes in audience behaviour, and the merging of new technologies and platforms has created exciting opportunities for the established

as a strategic interdisciplinary

for broadcast leaders and

programme, it is jointly

managers, regardless of the stage

coordinated by the Technology

of media integration they find

& Innovation Department and

themselves in.

EUROVISION Academy from the Media Department.

Integrated media

Specific objectives

A definition

IMPS aims to assist Members

The blending of technological

If they want to survive, public

in planning and implementing

capabilities and smarter

broadcasters must demonstrate

integrated production facilities,

production workflows to deliver

digital creativity and increase

addressing organizational,

content on any available media

their flexibility and programme-

editorial and technical issues, and

platform at any time.

generation capabilities. Staff and

facilitating experience-sharing

management need a fundamental

among Members.

media.

understanding of the new digital paradigm, and what it requires

Additional aims of IMPS are

in the light of rapidly changing

to develop reference models

media consumption. This implies

for production platforms and

a complete reconsideration

newsroom organization, make

of enhanced workflows and

change management processes

automation in creating content

transparent, and develop

for the various services without

guidelines for best practices.

increasing costs. Broadcasters must also abandon their

Visits to fully or partly

traditional silo structures for TV,

integrated broadcasters are the

radio and online content.

main deliverable of the IMPS programme, plus technical

IMPS – Integrated Media

recommendations(1) and

Production Strategies- was

interactions with the industry.

launched in 2012 to help EBU

As the 10 IMPS visits conducted

Members share best practices

in the period 2012–2014 mainly

and experiences when addressing

focused on integrated news and

the above challenges, and in

current affairs production, this

particular, the need to integrate

paper primarily deals with the

their media platforms to produce

experience of EBU Members’

and deliver content on any

news departments. This paper

platform at anytime. Set up

is designed to be a source of

by the Technical Committee

understanding and inspiration

________________ 1 Functional requirements for integrated newsroom systems (INRS) – EBU TECH 3365 (tech.ebu.ch)

The dear child has many names - Integrated media - Media convergence - Multimedia journalism - Crossmedia journalism - Tri-media

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

“Media integration is about our mindset, not how we place the tables in the newsroom or new technological inventions. It all starts in our minds and our way of thinking, and for DR it has been a journey in our mindset to integrate our platforms.” Ulrik Haagerup, News Director, DR News, Denmark

Visits to EBU Members: an overview The experience of all the integrated broadcasters visited by the IMPS project shows that it is a painful exercise: −− It involves tearing down the traditional silos of radio and TV and changing the organization from mono-media production to crossmedia and multiplatform production. −− It demands a revolution in the mindset and culture of staff and management. The transition from well-known comfort zones to new territory creates uncertainty and often resistance among staff. −− The paths chosen by various broadcasters are very different. Most broadcasters have gradually introduced platform integration and taken small steps year by year. Others have chosen the Big Bang solution with a major organizational turnaround, often accompanied

by a transition from analogue to digital production.

“It is a matter of survival. Only a crossmedia organization can support our strategy to deliver content to all the new platforms. The time of the silos is over – we must work together across platforms.” Jean-Paul Philippot, EBU President and Administrateur Général de RTBF, Belgium

Integrated media: a strategy, a concept and a process Strategy: Which way should we go to reach our vision? Broadcasters with a clear and well-defined strategy have come the furthest. Concept: Integrated media is a smarter way to produce journalistic content. Think content before platform. Content is king. Platforms are secondary. Process: It is a long learning process for everyone in the organization. New skills and a new mindset are essential. “How can my journalistic content reach as many users on as many platforms as possible?”

Why do we integrate? What is the burning platform? Economic reasons repeated by most integrated

Keeping up with audience demand and competition

broadcasters.

The other most common

A few arguments are constantly

arguments for integrating The primary argument is

platforms relate to increasing

“economic reasons”. Public

audience demand and the need to

broadcasters’ budgets simply do

keep up with the competition from

not enable them to meet all the

a variety of new players:

demands of the audience and use all the technological opportunities

−− To produce content for the

offered by digital media. Choices

internet, mobile devices and

need to be made, especially as the

new media platforms without

resources of public service media

increased budgets

tend to decrease rather than increase.

Increasing gap between audience demands, technological opportunities and resources

−− To be faster and more competitive −− To achieve greater impact with the day’s key stories −− To strengthen the news brand −− To find new ways to produce news content

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

Integration is a long, complicated journey People are often surprised at how

the next can take years, if not

long it takes to efficiently change

prepared in the right way.

the broadcast organizations from the traditional parallel silo

The frontrunners have been

organizations to new, smooth

integrating for 13–14 years already,

and flexible organizations with

and they are still struggling to

an integrated workflow. To move

find the right set-up for their

from one level of integration to

organizations.

Summarizing the main challenges 1. Time: It takes a lot of tough fighting and sometimes several years to go from one level of integration to the next. 2. Content: It is difficult to fully transition from focusing on platforms to focusing on content. 3. Roles: Almost everybody in the organization takes on a new role and new responsibilities. 4. Culture: You must break down the strong monocultures and build a new unified culture across the media platforms. 5. New skills: Staff must learn many new skills. 6. Struggle: You might experience a tough power struggle among managers and leading editors (‘kingdoms’). 7. Interdisciplinary teams: You need to create joint teams of technologists and editorial staff to innovate and move the project forward.

Successful integration requires strong leadership and a proper change-management approach One of the primary conclusions

The top management’s vision

from the 10 IMPS visits is that

cannot be implemented without

successful media integration

a proper change-management

demands strong, persistent

process. Staff need to be

and visionary leadership. Those

integrated and interdisciplinary

integrated broadcasters, that

(editorial, technology, and

have come the furthest, are

organization/HR) teams must

often run by strong leaders who

be set up. It is vital for success

are not afraid to take decisions,

to find ambassadors for

act, communicate clearly and

change at all hierarchical levels,

compellingly, and engage in the

including transparent and proper

necessary fights.

information to staff.

A few examples of what we heard:

“To advance our integration we must change the mindset and culture of the staff, change strategy, technology and organization.”

“We want integration – this is the bright new future, and saying no is not an option.” “This is where we want to go – we will experiment constantly to find the right strategy.” “We will confront the strongest TV and radio editors and transfer some of their power to the new crossmedia functions.”

Steps management needs to take 1. Burning platform: Management must create a strong sense of urgency among staff and make them understand that integrating platforms is an absolute necessity to survive. 2. Compelling vision: Very few broadcasters have formulated a compelling vision for their media integration, and many work without a specific vision, instead running in many different directions. Strong visions often create support and direction. 3. Clear strategy: The strategy work has often been a weak spot among integrated broadcasters – sometimes because the vision was not clear. A clear vision and a bold strategy with room for experiment and adjustments seems to pay off. 4. Support from top management: If the vision of media integration is not fully, uniformly and publicly supported by the top management, the integration process will be jeopardized and middle management, who are the implementers of the integration strategy, will be slowed down. Middle managers are key to implementing change.

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

5. Respected frontrunners: Broadcasters with a strong group of frontrunners among staff and management move faster from one level of integration to the next. Some organizations have, for example, appointed the most prestigious staff, such as their foreign correspondents, to be multimedia frontrunners and only accept new correspondents with the skills to produce for all platforms. 6. Managing resistance: Integrating media platforms and merging TV and radio is a huge change process that has created substantial resistance everywhere.

How to manage resistance? For example, RTBF has involved the opponents

10 Decisive factors behind successful integration In addition to a clear vision, firm leadership and a thoroughly

power away from the mono-

implemented change-

media editors leading the

management process, IMPS

production of the daily news

visits have helped us identify 10

broadcasts.

strategic decisions and measures that should be taken to pave the

1. Under one roof: Let staff work

basis creates a better atmosphere around the integration project. But it drags the process out. When multi-platform skills become compulsory for staff, the

9. Staff diversity: Understand that not everybody should do everything: develop multiskilled, multi-platform reporters

platforms.

alongside mono-media top-

2. New organization: Substitute

notch TV, radio and web

an integrated matrix organization for the parallel silo organizations of TV and radio.

specialists. 10. Focus: Understand that not everybody should produce for

3. Merging: Merge identical TV

joint crossmedia desks.

production on a voluntary

planning tool accessible to all.

common newsroom for all

dialogue regarding the

platform training and

platforms, e.g. an open

under the same roof with one

domestic news, sport, etc.) into

Staff participation in multi-

information and ideas across

below is a list of the vital factors:

development in an on-going

7. Voluntarily or compulsory:

Plan, coordinate and share

Based on the IMPS visits, here

and radio news desks (politics,

was needed,Â etc.

8. Transparency and cooperation:

way for successful integration.

of the new crossmedia

changes, the training that

7. Reducing power: Take some

all media platforms at the same time. The bigger the event you cover the more specialized the reporters you will need.

4. Workflow: Develop a completely new, integrated workflow to reduce the oldfashioned duplication of work in separate departments. 5. Training: Train staff intensively to produce content for more than their original platform and especially to get the digital thinking right. 6. New crossmedia functions:

integration process speeds

Create new powerful

up considerably and the

crossmedia functions

quantity produced increases.

especially at top- and middle management level: one news director, one chief editor in charge of the crossmedia,Â etc.

â&#x20AC;&#x192;

Leaving the traditional silo organization behind and replacing it with a matrix is common among integrated broadcasters Traditional silo model

Changing the organizational chart Integrated broadcasters usually find it impossible to continue with their traditional silo organization with parallel structures for TV, radio and digital media. This organization often implies a duplication of jobs, and it does not leave any formal room for the new cross media leaders and editors. Therefore, integrated broadcasters usually introduce a matrix model or as some call it: an input-output model with a clear division of labor between the input and the output side of the news organization, but also with a cross media layer on the output side to make sure that cross media coordination and planning will

Matrix / input-output model

take place. Other more advanced matrix models have been developed at the more mature integrated broadcasters.

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

Positive results far outweigh the negative Positive results On the positive side the following improvements have been observed: −− Considerable increase in journalistic output due to new, integrated and more efficient workflows −− Leaner and more efficient organization with a lower cost per unit produced −− Content for internet, mobile devices and social media has exploded due to crossmedia thinking, integration and production −− Bigger muscles when covering

Owing to the more efficient production of news some

broadcasters, where staff

broadcasters have been able to

are sometimes split into

save money and set it aside for

news gatherers and media

prestigious new initiatives, such

specialists, some staff feel less

as:

ownership and less professional

−− Setting up an investigative

pride in their work

reporting unit or enlarging the existing unit −− Creating powerful new

training

−− Allowing journalists to use iPhones for low-cost content production −− Setting up crossmedia units for journalistic surveys, research, etc.

Negative results

duplication of news in separate

are observed in most integrated

TV, radio and internet-content

broadcasters:

departments

platforms −− Improved communication and coordination across the news organization −− Stronger branding of news when TV news, radio news and internet news are merged into one common news brand −− Unified culture among staff −− Many more job opportunities and job variety for staff

equipment is used for content capture without the necessary

On the negative side, the following

planning of events for all

has dropped as consumer

units

multiple news angles instead of

−− Improved centralized forward-

−− The technical quality of content

crossmedia forward-planning

breaking news −− More news stories with

−− In the advanced integrated

−− Closer cooperation across platforms needs more timeconsuming coordination −− The number of meetings increases −− Staff sometimes feel “homeless” or confused in the new matrix organization and work for several bosses in one day −− Long discussions about which platform-exclusive stories should break – today more and more broadcasters follow the rule of “internet and/or mobile first”

From immature to mature media integration Shifting priorities: from saving money to focusing on content and quality

Searching for the right newsroom organization and job profiles

One of the major issues that has

Broadcasters that have been

been most intensively discussed

integrated for many years, have

in integrated broadcasters is

had to make several adjustments

production quality. Can the new

to their strategies and have

integrated organization, with

been through a vast number of

staff producing for platforms

organizational charts, workflows

they are less familiar with, keep

and views on the necessary profile

up the quality or will it decrease?

of staff.

features, sensitive portraits, or less newsy material, or when they have been sent on expensive journeys abroad, saving money on cameramen and other technicians. At DR and YLE an estimated 70â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 80% of staff are tri-media literate, with the capacity to produce for TV, radio and the internet, and almost everybody is bi-media

There are no clear answers to this question.

proved valuable when producing

Some of the most advanced broadcasters at one point aimed

At YLE in Finland they say the

at making the majority of their

figures speak for themselves.

staff multimedia and multi-

Over the years spent integrating

functional with the capacity to

their platforms, budget and staff

deliver content for all available

have been cut, but the production

platforms. The dream was to

volume has increased and, more

develop self-editing one-man

importantly, their audience share

bands with small DV cameras

has increased. But who can

who could produce TV, radio

objectively document whether

and internet content at a

this is a result of increased quality?

semi-professional level. Multi-

At YLE they say that quality

functional reporters have often

literate, so that that they can all produce for the internet and mobile devices in addition to their original media platform. These reporters can easily be put into the duty schedule of whatever platform is needed and this has created valuable flexibility in the organization. However, some of these multi-functional staff have expressed the feeling of not really belonging anywhere.

has gone up partly because of new and smarter workflows brought about by integration â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and because of massive training provided for staff. As time goes on, some of the broadcasters that have been integrating the longest have other priorities than just how to save money on the traditional platforms to be able to produce for all the new platforms. They focus increasingly on content and technical quality. They take account of the competition and find that quality is the way to differentiate themselves.

Many levels of cross-media journalists

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

But multi-functional reporters are

organizations and usually only

no guarantee of successful media

concentrate on one medium.

integration. As YLE news director Atte Jääskeläinen said:

“We risked losing important specialist know-how on radio and TV in the integration process. Multi-functional one-man bands are no longer the interesting perspective. If you want to be the best in TV and radio you must have specialist knowledge to produce good TV, radio and internet content”

This has proved an efficient way to produce news, and the total input to the newsroom has increased considerably, though staff have lost ownership of their stories and sometimes report a reduction in professional pride.

Reaching mature integration At DR, the director of news, Ulrik Haagerup, talks about three development stages of the integration process from early childhood to the more mature

Input / output-based organization The next step for some of the advanced integrated broadcasters, such as DR, has been to divide staff into two

integrated broadcaster, and DR’s focus today is primarily on how to create the best possible teams of reporters supplementing each other with both topical and platform expertise.

separate groups: news gathering and news output.

From early to mature integration* −− News gathering: those gathering the news are often young reporters, who collect raw material in the form of sound bites, video footage, text for the internet and social media, still photos and even live reports. −− News output: at the other end, media platform specialists collect the raw material and create compelling TV, radio or internet stories. They are the best storytellers in their

* From DR News

Realizing that quality and specialist know-how was

Job profiles in the mature integrated broadcaster: News reporters must master one of three skills*

threatened in a situation where all staff were trained to produce for all platforms, since 2014 DR has had three basic categories of reporters: making, shaping and breaking as illustrated in this model created by Ulrik Haagerup.

Key digital lessons learnt 1. It is imperative to transfer money from TV and radio to digital initiatives. 2. Digital understanding and

* From DR News

thinking must be achieved by everybody in the organization. 3. TV and radio should not just absorb digital media. Integration of digital media must be handled with great care to avoid endangering their innovativeness. 4. Digital platforms are not just distribution channels for TV, radio and online content but must be understood and appreciated in their own right. 5. Understand digital audiences and be where they are. 6. The deadline is dead; the deadline is always, and the internet comes first. 7. Digital-first strategy: news must first break on the internet and mobile platforms. 8. Reporters no longer own their story. Bits of text, video and audio must be shared immediately on digital media.

Digital versus TV & radio?

news and programmes. In doing

Broadcasters will not be

this, traditional media could stifle

successful in their endeavours to

the strong innovativeness of

reach younger audiences without

digital media.

a full understanding of the new

Swedish Radio wants to avoid

digital mindset.

‘overruling’ the new digital platforms and has strategically

There is a concern that digital

decided that the three platforms

developments might be hampered

are equally important: radio,

by the traditional mindset of

internet and mobile devices. The

TV and radio, and there is some

new in-house slogan is:

scepticism, not least among the digital editors, about the effects of integrating digital media into the traditional platforms. Digital media seem to have good reasons

“Your work is not finished until it is published on social media.”

to worry about being absorbed by the economically and historically

All platforms are integrated in

more powerful traditional media

the same newsroom and with an

in the name of integration, as

understanding that

the possible consequence of that integration may be that the older media platforms impose a fundamentally wrong way of thinking onto digital media. For example, by considering digital media merely as new distribution channels for their TV and radio

“it is only a matter of time before the internet and mobile devices are more important than radio.”

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

Anywhere, anytime NOS in the Netherlands encapsulates the new digital realities with this vision statement: “Always. Anywhere. NOS”. In other words:

“We think 24/7 online and publish fast on all platforms.” The guiding principles for NOS can be summarized as

“Know your audiences and their mode at different times of the day – and be where they are.” This thinking is revolutionizing the way reporters produce. For many traditional TV and radio reporters the new realities have been painful:

“You no longer own your story. Share it immediately with bits of text and video for all relevant platforms.” In 2012, NOS introduced a new guideline that all news should first break on their website. In 2014 they changed this to “video first” – now all news breaks on the internet with text and video, and in parallel to this, NOS is rapidly lowering its threshold for live broadcasts allowing it to produce much more live content on its websites, including live

broadcasting on the iPhone. NOS

integrate the new platforms with

is constantly developing new apps

TV and radio: to push themselves

for mobile phones.

outside the comfort zone.

At the regional NRK broadcaster in Nordland all staff are tri- or multi-media, and under the headline

“Everybody can go live, everybody can publish” NRK Nordland has integrated smartphones into the digital workflow, and all staff have been trained to do the following, when they are on assignment in the field: −− Transfer videos to the desk in the newsroom −− Transfer photos to the desk in the newsroom −− Edit and publish video in Polopoly, using NRK’s content management system −− Direct interviews for TV, radio and the internet on their iPhone −− Use social media in their research and their dialogue with the audience

NRK Nordland news editor Eivind Jacobsen says,

“We want to push ourselves out of our comfort zone.” More than anything, this quotation says what is needed from public broadcasters, when they plan their digital strategies and how to

Advanced technologies as the key enabler for integration The overall objective and

content, and can all collaborate

The key is to determine which

motivation for Members to use

in programme-making for

content genre deserves which

new technologies and redesign

all distribution platforms.

type of production style.

newsroom environments is to

Interoperability and compliance

produce crossmedia news content

with standards are essential to

for all devices.

safeguard investments. The key challenge is to have engineering

“Easier, faster and stronger, more monitored (more visibility/usability) and on the same user interfaces.” As a consequence, crossmedia news production faces these challenges: −− to feed a plurality of media (devices) in a (cost) effective way from a joint production process, but also −− to consider and develop “the news product” as a joint synopsis of all the information offered to the consumer across various media platforms.

staff who understand standards and new IP technologies.

Workflow analysis – recipe for success or failure Those broadcasters visited by

Metadata are key In the world of news, metadata are provided by a variety of sources including news agencies. Actually news content for a large part consists of metadata such as headlines, slug lines, dates, subjects and links to associated media (pictures, audio, video, text) or on-line resources.

IMPS that have performed a thorough workflow analysis

A good data model is a

in interdisciplinary teams and

fundamental requirement to

then designed new workflows

reuse or allow optimum access

have reported an increase in

to content. It is in particular

programme output.

important – at a conceptual level – to separate the editorial object

Low-cost and high-cost productions While key events still require multi-staff outside production crews and high-quality connections (e.g. DSNG) to the broadcaster, lower-cost

These challenges result in a series

productions can be achieved by

of fundamental requirements

using consumer-type equipment

for a joint planning, production,

such as smartphones (e.g. using a

archiving and delivery process, as

4G mobile connection), or semi-

well as for the news product itself.

professional CE-type cameras and low-cost editing at the site of the

Pillars of separate TV, radio and

event. A prerequisite reported in

online technology domains must

the IMPS visits was that journalists

disappear and joint technology

were keen to learn and use

and software layers must be

technical systems by themselves

built, with the advantage that

or collaborate closely with the

all platforms can access stored

technical staff.

from its presentation, as the latter can take several forms, adapted to different media. The metadata model chosen must be able to describe different versions and formats, and the relation between them. In many of the publishing channels metadata is essential for delivering content to the audience. The content will be searched for rather than pushed at a specific time as used to be the case in traditional broadcasting.

MEDIA INTEGRATION: IMPS KEY FINDINGS

Value the archives In the past, archives were traditionally at the end of the production chain. The new thinking process is that archives should become an integral part

of technical tools as identified

This will challenge broadcasters

above. For example, to allow

particularly in their planning

content production tools for a new

efforts for the next generation

emerging media platform to be

studio infrastructures (traditional

added seamlessly to the existing

HD-SDI, or IP) and will require an

operation.

in-depth rethink of workflows, including remote productions. For

of the programme-making process. This requires archives to become content libraries where the content is available to all journalists, both on site and remotely. Building a modern archive requires a strategic decision and long-term planning that consists of digitization, re-digitization, and support for search and retrieval.

Software skills are a real asset Acquiring strong software-

Especially important is adequate

example, what can be expected

in-house knowledge of IP media

is a complete rethinking of event

network architectures and to

production in stadiums, and

make sure responsibility for the

how many OB vans and staff

key production infrastructure

are needed at the event, when

is ‘owned’ in-house. In addition,

networked remote production

journalists must be trained to use

becomes feasible.

new technical platforms. Failing to provide adequate training and

The key challenge for

an efficient helpdesk close to the

broadcasters is to guarantee that

newsroom can result in a drop

their in-house skill sets develop in

in quality and severe technical

pace with their production needs,

malfunctions, as the IMPS visits

to make the right investment

have shown.

decisions in the near future, to understand new workflows, and to

development skills, comprising

What comes next?

both media expertise and

The next paradigm change facing

‘standard’ IT skills, is key to

form joint teams of creative staff and “IP-literate” media engineers.

the whole broadcast industry is

success on the technology

the move to an over-IP networked

side. This is required to fulfill

infrastructure for live and non-live

the need for flexible innovation

(file-based) productions.

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Index Services

Transcode Services

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Cross-medial planning

Example reference diagram

Channel Management – Program planning – ERP – Rights, licenses – …..

Content portal

Enterprise Service Bus (e.g. EBU FIMS) TV channel INGEST – – – – –

Program Line File Tape individual

Shared Productions Content repository Near line Storage, Exchange