Broadcast continuity in a world of complex systems

Ensuring channels stay on air is much more complex now than it was in the past when infrastructure was centralized and the main risks were fire, floods, power loss and equipment failure.

Broadcasters today face a myriad of additional threats on top of those just mentioned, such as cyberattacks, hacking, damage to global infrastructure and network outages, all of which can impact service quality or even temporarily prevent channels from being broadcast.

Added to that, we’re unfortunately living in a time of global uncertainty and political instability, which is heightening the risk of these kinds of threats. Furthermore, broadcast operations have also become much more complicated and are typically reliant on a large number of different systems, networks and third-party services to function. As a result, there are more potential weak links for malicious actors to infiltrate, which in turn means there are more points of failure for broadcasters to guard against.

To protect against this multitude of threats, broadcasters clearly need to prioritize resilience. This involves working proactively and adopting a wide range of tactics such as implementing robust security measures including data encryption and multi-factor authentication, regular and multi-layered backups, and effective and well tested disaster recovery plans. Integrating cloud-based tools and services, which by their very nature have resilience and redundancy baked in, are also likely to be part of the solution.

Consequences for broadcasters

Given the critical nature of broadcast operations, broadcasters need to keep their channels up and running continuously without interruptions. The implications of failing to do so are severe. Although it may have been forgiven in the past if a channel went off air temporarily, that’s no longer the case. Viewers, rights holders and advertisers alike expect continuous service with no interruptions.

Viewer tolerance for any disruptions to their viewing experience is incredibly low. With so many services all competing for viewer’s attention, even a small disruption to channel delivery can be enough to frustrate and annoy viewers, leading them to switch off or over.

Aside from potentially driving viewers away, which obviously results in financial losses, another consequence is loss of advertising revenue during times when the service or channel is disrupted or off-air. Additionally, if a service goes down, it can be incredibly damaging for a broadcaster’s reputation. This is true both in terms of how viewers perceive the broadcaster and also in how rights holders and partners view it, both of which have significant consequences.

Why a new approach is needed

To keep channels up and running in the past, it was generally deemed sufficient to have critical infrastructure duplicated at another location, ready to kick in if required. This system had to always be ready to take over in the event of a failure, which meant significant investment in hardware, infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance. While effective in terms of ensuring continuous service delivery, this approach is extremely costly. Added to that, because it relies on hardware, it’s also inflexible, which adds complexity when a broadcaster wants to scale in terms of adding new channels or reaching new audiences. These limitations have become more apparent as broadcasters have had to adapt their operations over recent years to remain relevant and competitive.

Advertisement

Cloud-based infrastructure in contrast is flexible and scalable, does not require capital expenditure, and at the same time, offers high levels of resilience and redundancy. The geographical redundancy that cloud-based infrastructure provides offers an added layer of protection against local disruptions. Added to that, the on-demand access that cloud-based infrastructure offers ensures that backup systems do not generate unnecessary costs when not in use.

Some broadcasters are also implementing regional backup strategies, allowing neighboring services to automatically step in and maintain continuity when problems arise. This approach has been adopted by broadcasters in the Baltic region enabling public broadcasters in the region to each air channels from other broadcaster’s playout platforms.

Media orgs deploy real-time analytics to optimize supply chain performance

Improving resilience with the cloud

We live in an interconnected world where events that happen in one part of the world can and do have a knock-on effect all around the globe. This makes it incredibly difficult to predict what’s around the corner and it is this that is driving the need for improved resilience and redundancy. Broadcasters essentially need systems capable of adapting quickly in an unpredictable world.

Whether it’s cyberattacks, network outages or technical failures, cloud-based infrastructure, and indeed cloud-based playout, gives broadcasters the flexibility, reliability and resilience they need to stay on-air no matter what’s happening behind the scenes. In practice, this means broadcasters can avoid disruptions and outages, sustain stakeholder trust, and avoid revenue loss, thereby maintaining their presence in the industry no matter what challenges arise.

Industry Insights: How orchestration is reshaping playout and delivery

Martins Magone, VesetAs CTO at Veset, Martins Magone brings more than 15 years IT experience to his role, which he has held for the past 10 years. With an entrepreneurial mindset, Martins has always been interested in finding innovative ways to implement new IT tools and methods into the broadcast and media industry.