Porsche News TV runs on Flow Works (case study)

Challenge

Porsche possesses and continuously produces large volumes of video, photo and text documents. Understanding the need to build a system that could handle large amounts of assets, to simplify the handling by automating all processing and provide instant publishing to a growing number of channels for a diverse global audience, Porsche went for the Flow Works system to build the overall media eco-system.
Specifically looking for economies and speed both in handling and cost, Porsche also entrusted Flow Works to come up with a unique, auto-scaling live-streaming / VOD playout solution, that is fully integrated into the production and editorial workflows of the new core system. Playout needed to be able to automatically scale from a single viewer to 2 Mio viewers without any upfront or redundant costs and without any lead-times. Integrated, instant and efficient.

All this had to be ready at short notice for the global launch of the new flagship Porsche 911 model.

Solution

Flow Works delivered a system spanning from technical base to production and editorial backend, to custom playout-frontend with an innovative, auto-scaling CDN usage.
The solution Flow Works implemented has three tears: technical, editorial and playout front-end. All three elements are fully integrated, they are one single system with different views and different users. The technical area is handled and operated by Flow Works directly, the editorial environment is handled by a production house hired by Porsche, and the playout front-end is the global viewership.

Technical tier

The technical tear is based on a Flow Center Core, a highly integrated, complete workflow and asset management solution. It incorporates and combines all key modules: database, user-management, user-interfaces, automated workflow-management, transcoding, file-transfers, playout and third-party-system management; in this case CDN.
In this system the Flow Works manages all video assets technically. First, all available video assets were ingested from various sources and quality-checked. Accepted contents were unified, to assure quality and then auto-transcoded into the desired playout derivatives for VOD and Live-Streaming in different qualities. Publication is auto-cross checked to ensure metadata, languages, rights, dates and channel-requirements are fully met. After that files auto-distributed onto CDNs (or any other targets such as Social Media or VODs) and playout-frontends are updated on the availability and structure of playout-sites (categories, order, dates, time, etc.)

Editorial tier

The editorial environment is based on a Flow Archive software and handled by a production house. Flow Archive is a dedicated GUI for editorial users. It is simple, intuitive, all drag & drop. It is all about managing media content and media processes - without having to worry about technical aspects.
In this tier, Porsche has access to their archive where they can upload, search and see the available content, make decisions on what to publish where and when. Editorial users have the full range of editorial tools on any browser to manage individual items, projects, approvals and publication/distribution. Editors can manage metadata (titles, descriptions, etc.), edit media (cut, brand, subtitle, add languages, add thumbs, etc.), create projects and collaborate (internal and externally for reviews and approvals) and take publishing/distribution decisions to any target/playout.
Importantly, this GUI does not ask the editorial staff to master any technical questions or decisions. All processing is automated based on workflows and rules set by admins. Easy to use.

Playout front-end

The third tier is the playout frontend. News TV is a fully customized website that is "hooked" onto Porsches' editorial backend via API. There is no need for a CMS, as this role is already fulfilled by Flow Works editorial GUI. No data is ever duplicated, all content, the entire page structure (categories), all metadata and all functions come directly from the backend. Editors have instant control of everything and all their actions are instantly reflected. The architecture is simpler and leaner, as are the costs — and the frontend can do what it does best without compromise: look and feel good to the viewer.
Flow Works also mastered a new challenge for Porsche: run the service so flexible that viewership scales totally freely. So, Flow Works not only put the media content on the CDN, they put the entire pages on the CDN. No matter if there are two or two million viewers - it will automatically scale up by itself as it is entirely CDN based. A real benefit, because it is ultra-cost efficient, as you only pay for what is being used. There are no set up fees, there are no reserve fees, there is no cascading, whatsoever.

Success

All three tiers were implemented within a limited time and are a great success for Porsche News TV. The global press launch of the new Porsche 911 model had over 2.000.000 viewers, all enjoying perfect quality and service.

New live events are happening on News TV regularly and new, additional payout-channels are in the making.

You can check the Porsche News TV online here - https://newstv.porsche.com