
There are probably more cloud-based services providing functional capability for media operations than for any other commercial sector. These services range from simple format conversion (transcode) to complex AI services which can automatically create temporal logs that describe' content based on object or other recognition models. The aggregate of even a small selection of the available services is extremely powerful. Cloud-provided service functionality has the capability to transform the efficiency of production and content supply chain operations. Aside from the breadth of functionality available in the cloud' the structure and fabric of cloud provides direct benefit for media businesses:
Scale, infinite scale for material storage and processing.
Resilience, at a fractional incremental cost.
Security, cloud affords greater security and auditability than on-prem storage.
Access, global access to content enabling remote and collaborative operations.
Economical, almost universally costs are on a consumption basis.
Interoperability, through standardised control interfaces*.
*A very welcome development in the broadcast and media industry.
Whilst there has been a significant increase in the use of cloud for production and content preparation workflows, broadly take-up has not been as rapid as it might have been. Aside from the migration issues relating to file size, covered here, the key reasons cited by media companies distil into three headlines: visibility, cost, and control.
These are genuinely held concerns; below are some real-world statements from media operators and details of how BLAM's functionality answers the issue.
Visibility & Discovery we recently put over a petabyte of media into the cloud as a backup / safety copy but now cannot see what we have without restoring it
This is a simple one for BLAM. The BLAM UI makes all media objects visible and playable'. For video assets, BLAM creates a full resolution browse / proxy version of all material that is brought into the platform so that it may be played within a standard web-browser.
The browse / proxy file is typically encoded at 2Mb/s (this is configurable) so the file stored on disk is between 0.5-4% of the original / master file size. If you are using AWS S3 storage, this means that only the small browse / proxy file is required to sit' at Standard Class. The much larger broadcast or mezzanine format may be archived to the Deep or Glacier class in AWS parlance.
The ability to see media and the relationships between media in this way means that cloud storage and services may be used in an extremely cost-effective way.
Content accessibility is enhanced with discovery tools - principally this means search. BLAM supports accessibility of media through a fast and sophisticated search capability underpinned by advanced metadata management for structured and unstructured data. BLAM provides:
Metadata synchronisation with live systems such as traffic or rights management.
Connectors to a range of legacy platforms for bulk data migration.
Generation of temporal metadata generation using AI and other services.
A powerful search capability to support simplified discovery.
Asset relationship management capability.
Cloud storage tagging tools to persist data at the object level.
With all the promise of scalability, our operation still suffers bottlenecks but, in the cloud, ironically, it is more difficult to see where .
Another form of visibility that has been designed into BLAM is real-time workflow monitoring. BLAM provides real-time status information for all processes that it is orchestrating - both for internal processes, such as checking technical data on a file, or long-running processes, such as transcoding. BLAM provides a single interface through which multiple services from multiple vendors (i.e. multi-cloud) can be monitored and managed. Crucially, BLAM supports the management by exception paradigm through alerts in the case of error. Such alerts provide specific detail so corrective action may be enacted quickly.
Cost It is extremely difficult to calculate how much as specific asset or job has cost us, particularly as we use the services of multiple providers
The fundamental of finance control, when using a consumption-based model, is to understand the aggregate cost of performing a specific function. This calculation is complex when using the services from several vendors - the multi-cloud problem. BLAM tracks fixed and variable costs based on transactions across all services, regardless of provider, and can compute these to provide meaningful management information.
Finance in BLAM is based on transaction units which are calibrated as time (seconds) or size (bytes) although these can be customised. Rates are manually set or applied to transactions dynamically through a service API. Calculating costs is then as simple as multiplying the rate by transaction units (which are tracked within each BLAM Workflows BLidget). Tracking transaction units at the BLidget level means that BLAM records data at the most granular level possible. Cost data may then be presented in an entirely customisable way, be it in a graphic form in a BLAM dashboard or in an Excel-based financial report. A common requirement in the content supply chain context is to see the cost of delivering a media package which includes a breakdown of all the services involved so that this may be recharged. An equally common request is to see the total cost of ownership information. BLAM now displays this as standard in the Media view.
It's the egress costs, that is where they catch you out
The fact is that storing large media files in AWS S3 at Standard class is expensive. It is also a fact that egress costs for large files are not trivial - although this aspect is under increasing
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
15/04/2026
Image courtesy of MD Helicopters...
15/04/2026
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, L3Harris VP Mark Farley, and state and local l...
15/04/2026
U.S. Space Forces Ground-Based Optical Sensor System upgrade at the Maui Space S...
15/04/2026
NBCU-Versant notches 13.1% of TV viewing in February, its best since August 2024...
15/04/2026
New data reveals older Kiwis are financially resilient, loyal to local products,...
15/04/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, announces the market launch of the ACCE...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Evergent introduces its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform, transforming how subscription businesses across direct-to-consumer streaming, pay-TV, telecommun...
15/04/2026
Harmonic's XOS Media Processor Delivers Exceptional Video Quality to More than Half of U.S. Public Media Viewership
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announce...
15/04/2026
LONGMONT, COLORADO, APRIL 15, 2026 DPA Microphones N Series Digital Wireless System users in North America can now take full advantage of the system's exc...
15/04/2026
Cobalt Iron, a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced the launch of Compass Tape Gateway (CTG), a transformative enhancemen...
15/04/2026
Disguise to Showcase Cutting-Edge Experience Tech for Sports, Broadcast and More...
15/04/2026
Arooj Aftab Makes the Music She Wants to Hear The singular artist explores the juxtaposition of grief and joy, dark and light, in her distinctive sound.
Apri...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Interra Systems, a provider of end-to-end quality assurance solutions for the digital media industry, is proud to announce its central role in the digital trans...
15/04/2026
VO Integrates Client-Side and Server-Side Ad Technologies with its Secure Video Player and Segmentation Tools, Leveraging Broadpeak's SSAI and BPK SmartLib ...
15/04/2026
TMT Insights, a leader in professional services and software development for the media and entertainment (M&E) industry, today announced the launch of TMT AI at...
15/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media, a global leader in managed broadcast and cloud-based media services, today announced an expanded partnership with Oracle Cloud Infrastr...
15/04/2026
Middleman Software, a leading provider of signaling and synchronization solutions for broadcast and streaming workflows, today announced it will unveil PhaseLoc...
15/04/2026
Deity Microphones today announced the PR-4, a compact six-track field recorder featuring four inputs, 32-bit float recording, advanced routing, and a workflow-f...
15/04/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Fairlight Live
Brie Clayton April 15, 2026
0 Comments
Powerful software-based live audio mixer with support for SMPTE-2110...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/04/2026
Strategic Alignment With the Riedel Group for Innovation and Growth
Thomas Riedel, founder and owner of Riedel Communications and the Riedel Group, has acqui...
15/04/2026
SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that the company's Rally platform has been deployed by Iyuno Media...
15/04/2026
Frequency, the engine behind many of the worlds leading streaming television channels, has become the platform of choice for leading U.S. broadcasters bringing ...
15/04/2026
New Service Simplifies Integration of AI Applications with Exceptional Reliability and Security
SAN JOSE, Calif. April 14, 2026 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) t...
15/04/2026
During the 2025 off-season, VIDI completed a major upgrade of the broadcast infrastructure across all 36 stadiums in Germany's 1st and 2nd Bundesliga. The p...
15/04/2026
Clear-Com announced significant updates to its award-winning Arcadia Central Station as well as enhancements to the Eclipse HX Digital Matrix System now runn...
15/04/2026
Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB SHOW 2026
Brie Clayton April 15, 2026
0 Comments
New system removes PTZ pan restric...
15/04/2026
LiveU Announces Expanded Collaboration with Sony at NAB Show, Adding Direct File...
15/04/2026
This 24-Hour Performance Art Piece Needs Your Participation Keefer Glenshaws latest project is about collaborating with the Berklee community and beyond.
Apr...
15/04/2026
Back to All News
The Countdown Has Begun! Netflix Drops Trailer and Release Dat...
15/04/2026
Back to All News
Celebrating BEEF' Season 2 and Storytelling That Connects Cultures
From left to right: Matthew Kim, Jinny Howe, Lee Sung Jin, Seoyeon Ja...
15/04/2026
Back to All News
Made in New Jersey: Dan Levy's New Comedy Big Mistakes...
15/04/2026
LinkedIn's 2026 Grad's Guide shows where opportunity is growing Published on Apr 15, 2026 Categories: Company News, Data and insights
LinkedIn Corp...
15/04/2026
With new broadcast standards evolving all over the world and OTT streaming striving for the pole position in media consumption, both next-gen video and audio co...
15/04/2026
Harmonic's XOS Media Processor Delivers Exceptional Video Quality to More th...