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GIVE YOUR CREATIVE DESIGNER FREEDOM …and focus on channel branding, not repetitive manual edits
MANAGE INCREASED CHANNEL COUNT …and control capital outlay
GROW MULTI-FORMAT DISTRIBUTION …and manage overall operating expenses
IMPROVE CHANNEL IDENTITY AND VIEWER RETENTION …channel branding graphics and in-program promotion is key
SAVE MONEY AND POWER OUTLAY …by collapsing channel equipment chain into fewer devices
Channel branding – creative and economic It seems obvious to say it, but in a multi-channel environment audiences have a lot of channels to choose from. So it is important that they know which channel they are on so they can keep coming back to it. They may have stumbled upon your channel, but if they find something they like then you really have to tell them how to find it again. And suggest a lot of other programs they may like, too. So channel branding is really important. On the other hand, crafting a lot of graphics sequences and versioning promos is expensive. They require a lot of work in costly edit suites, and need a lot of time from creative designers and editors. So there is a real need to be smart about branding. You want to reach a point where your channel has a strong, instantly recognizable identity, which you can replicate when you need it, at low cost. Pixel Power has devoted a lot of time and effort to this, and is very good at it.
Branding at the point of playout The first stage is to move to branding at the point of playout. Design a set of templates – which only needs doing once – and host them on a live playout device like a Pixel Power Clarity or LogoVision. That does two things. First, you can afford to give your designer creative freedom in coming up with something that makes the brand look great. It can include squeeze-backs, 3D effects, multiple overlays and whatever else the designer and channel marketing manager want. They can all be delivered in real time. Once the templates are designed they are fixed, so your branding will be absolutely consistent. So each piece of branding will be eye-catching and absolutely on message, and you can put sequences in as often as you want, because they cost nothing.
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After arranging a unique lineup of content, graphics are the fundamental tool available to broadcasters who need to differentiate channels and present a consistent brand image across all their delivery platforms.
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Making the templates live If every time you showed a branding sequence it was absolutely the same, that would be very dull indeed. You would be turning your audience away, not reminding them to come back often. The idea of templated graphics is that you put in relevant information, so each time the sequence is shown it has material that is relevant to that showing. Some vendors offer this as a solution, but then say you have to fill in the templates manually each time. Suddenly this low-labor solution needs a lot of work to make it happen. The information you are going to put into the promos already exists, though, and is sitting on a computer as data. You know what programs you are going to be broadcasting in the next few hours, or when you are showing the next episode of the show just finishing, because that data is sitting in the playout automation or the scheduling system. You know what the weather forecast is, because it is on an RSS feed. You know where you can find a trailer for a coming program, because it is on a server. If the schedule changes, you know that too, because you are branding at the point of delivery. So you will never broadcast a packaged trailer for a program which has had to be moved for any reason.
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Today’s advanced template-driven graphics systems are capable of creating even the most sophisticated graphics without operator intervention, leveraging automation, existing metadata and network-accessible graphics assets to continuously refresh and deliver a channel’s graphic look.
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What you need – and what Pixel Power pioneered many years ago – is a means of harvesting all this data. You give the software some rules, and the addresses where it can find the information, and you leave it to it. You can make the rules quite sophisticated, so the branding automation could be quite intelligent. You might follow, say, an episode of CSI with a promo for Bones. You would not want to follow an ecological documentary with a promo for Top Gear. And so on.
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You decide just how sophisticated you want this to be. Pixel Power has simple software to enable you to set up the rules and collect the information. The system can create a whole program junction if required: the duration comes from the playout system, and Pixel Power software does the rest, based on your commercial requirements. Remember that the final delivery uses a Pixel Power graphics device, which gives you multiple layers, squeeze-backs, and more. Even though every element will be based on a pre-defined template it will not all look the same. Today’s advanced template-driven graphics systems are capable of creating even the most sophisticated graphics without operator intervention, leveraging automation, existing metadata and network-accessible graphics assets to continuously refresh and deliver a channel’s graphic look.
Making promos Some things are not suitable for branding at the point of delivery. It makes sense to prepare programme trailers in advance, even if it is the automated branding system that calls them when needed. But that does not mean we are back to tying up expensive edit suites for a long time to create the promos. Again, you can define templates with the same consistency and the same strong branding. This time the templates will auto-assemble the edit from a voiceover, a location for the material and a work order. And all of the versions of that trailer will be created automatically, not by an editor getting frustrated at repetitive tasks while tying up an expensive suite. That is Pixel Power’s FactoryTM and Pixel on Demand. These two products are designed to take automated branding to the ultimate degree by making trailers and promos simply, effectively and economically.
Pixel Power Creating and maintaining a strong channel brand can now be done cost-effectively, relying heavily on automation and system intelligence to turn the channel manager’s business requirements into attractive television. Pixel Power is the leader in this market. It was first to realize the potential, and first to deliver working solutions. Today, with products including FactoryTM, OnDemandTM, PromoteTM and of course the Clarity graphics platform, it can deliver solutions to meet the real, everyday requirements. As a supplier dedicated to the broadcast graphics market, Pixel Power also has the agility to tailor a system to the specific needs of any application, and deliver it quickly to capture the opportunity.
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info@pixelpower.com | www.pixelpower.com