FEED issue 28 Newsletter

34 ROUND TABLE Remote Studios

the quality that should be expected. But I believe the key to a successful remote studio is looking to do more, rather than replacing what you already do. There is a place in broadcast and streaming for PCs and smartphones, small mobile crews, outside broadcast trucks, multimillion- pound media centres and everything in between. A good remote studio gives you the quality of the professional studios and crews at a cost comparable to DIY solutions, but its major advantage is instant availability, professional support and flexible delivery. DANIEL MALONEY: Generally, monetisation is tied to advertising. The revenue from advertising is driven by the size of audience, but also its profile. If interactivity allows the broadcaster to accurately profile their audience, this info can be valuable to identify specific advertisers who will pay a premium to be part of the programming with a known audience profile.

SHUTTLEWORTH: COULD OUR REMOTE STUDIO TRIAL BECOME A NEWWAY OF MONETISING OUR CONTENT?

GIDEON FERBER: Absolutely! You can add sponsorships to the content, and replace them for every show segment. You can build cross promotions into the set design, and push viewers to stay with the station for longer periods of time. You can stay on-air longer with fewer breaks, while still changing sets and environment, and keep your audience engaged. LIAM HAYTER: Graphics use opens up the opportunity for on-screen sponsorship and, depending on the delivery platform (ie YouTube or Facebook Live, where adverts are supported), you can generate revenue that way. Sponsorship and advertising aside, it has been proven that the use of appropriate graphics increases audience retention. In a

world where everyone is forced into remote production models, the use of the right remote technologies combined with virtual sets and considered graphics can really make you stand out from the crowd. IAN HUDSON: It can certainly save a lot of cost. If you were able to have remote studios in a number of locations, you would be able to respond more quickly to an event. For example, if you have a local politician and a local doctor with home studios and there is an unexpected turn of events with the current emergency, you could have instant feedback specifically tailored for your audience. We have seen full programmes being produced from home recently, which is great. This shows what is possible and

SHUTTLEWORTH: HOPEFULLY, THE EMERGENCY WILL BE OVER SOON. HOW CAN WE BE SURE TO CREATE A SET UP THAT CAN BE REUSED WHEN WE’RE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF ALL THIS?

GIDEON FERBER: Once the work-from- home code is lifted, you can reuse the cameras in the green-screen studio in the station. All of the equipment can be redeployed. Nothing is wasted. If it works well – and there no reason it won’t – you can just keep producing shows in that manner. To make things more engaging, you can keep the remote structure and use it to enhance a studio production by virtually teleporting the home-based talent to the main studio. LIAM HAYTER: When the emergency is over, I think remote production will become just another standard tool. DANIEL MALONEY: If the emergency lessens quickly, staff may quickly want to revert to ‘normal’ operations. However, if they are forced to perfect the craft because there is no alternative, an inflection point may occur where all parties are as comfortable using one method as the other. At that point, projects that may have been discarded in past may become more viable using the newly acquired techniques.

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