PRODUCTION IN THE CLOUD - THE VIEWS OF THE CREATIVES AND BUSINESS DECISION-MAKERS
PRODUCTION IN THE CLOUD - THE VIEWS OF THE CREATIVES AND BUSINESS DECISION-MAKERS
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Demand for digital content is accelerating, and increasingly sophisticated algorithms are igniting audiences’ desires for more personalised experiences. According to an Adobe survey published in 2023, 88% of customer experience and marketing professionals said that demand for content grew by at least two-fold in the previous two years.
Many businesses are striving to grasp this growing opportunity by ramping up their content production. Increasingly, this involves creative collaboration – a process that prioritises teamwork as a way to implement ideas and develop innovative solutions. The benefits of this increased focus on creative collaboration when producing content are clear. Bringing together uniquely experienced individuals, sometimes
from across the globe, who have a diverse set of skills and backgrounds, gives businesses access to a greater supply of ideas and solutions. This produces a richer, deeper variety of content. It also speeds up production, which helps businesses to address customer needs more swiftly and stand out against competitors.
Despite these benefits, challenges remain. In many cases, the budgets for content creation teams are not up to par when it comes to meeting this increased demand. As a result, many businesses are still relying on slow, outdated methods for feedback and collaboration, such as email. This often leads to lengthy review and approval processes, and causes difficulty when locating and reusing assets.
In order for creative collaboration to be fully effective, business leaders must give creatives the time, resources and tools to fulfil their roles and focus on what they excel at: innovation and creativity. This means businesses must work to eliminate time-consuming tasks by optimising and streamlining the review and approval processes, and centralising asset management. An effective way to do this is by leveraging digital collaborative tools.
This is why The Drum and Adobe conducted a research study with 200 industry professionals across Europe (namely the UK, France, Nordics, and Benelux) to explore the need for these collaborative tools in greater depth – through the eyes of creative end users of the software and business decision-makers. Four clear trends emerge from the research:
ABOUT
In the following pages, we’ll explore our research findings, and these four trends, in more detail with a look ahead to the future of video content production to discover why the cloud will be key for closer collaboration – for creative end users and business decision-makers alike.
DEMOGRAPHICS
BREAKDOWN OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS
COUNTRY OF RESPONDENTS
25% UK
25% France
25% Belgium
5% Denmark
5% Norway
5% Sweden
5% Finland
5% Iceland
COUNTRY OF RESPONDENTS
25% UK
25% France
25% Belgium
5% Denmark
5% Norway
5% Sweden
5% Finland
5% Iceland
RISING TIDE
THE RISE OF CLOUD-BASED VIDEO SOFTWARE
The proliferation of video content is making its stamp on social media. As a result, new visual opportunities on established media channels, including out-of-home (OOH) and streaming services, make longer form video content a compelling prospect for marketers. This is largely driven by the many channels available to distribute and reach their customers.
The potential of this growth is clear for brands as video content satisfies the consumer demand for more personalised experiences and innovative formats. Our research also shows that video is a highly effective communication medium that works hard to deliver across a range of metrics.
INCREASING ENGAGEMENT
Survey respondents agree most strongly that increasing campaign engagement is a key metric that is met by video content (70%), followed closely by showcasing the personality of a brand or business personality (66%) and improving conversion rates (64%).
Speaking with video professionals, it seems clear that visual content is only going to rise in importance in marketing. This is partly due to the factors mentioned above and partly due to the media form’s storytelling richness. In addition, tech advances and feature-rich social media platforms have widened the potential of video content to meet engagement, personality and conversion metrics.
The importance of cloud-based video software in meeting these targets is perhaps reflected in the finding that 41% of business decision makers are getting closer to the process as users, not just buyers, of the solutions.
“Social media, in particular, has encouraged everyone to get involved with video production,” says Ian Flynn, the Executive Creative Director at UK-based digital agency RocketMill. “As a marketing agency, we want and need to be within that conversation as best as possible.”
LET'S GET TOGETHER
MOVING TOWARDS CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS
With the exponential growth of video content comes a clear demand among video production professionals for tools and platforms that can enhance workflows – with a particular focus on inspiring greater levels of collaboration between stakeholders to boost creative output and speed up production time.
Video producers and editors need to be able to share files, comment on clips in real-time on specific time codes, and compare different versions or edits of a clip. That’s because, typically, there are a wide range of people contributing to a project, including pre-production staff, videographers, video editors, post-production experts, marketers, agencies, business users, and other project sponsors.
This awareness coincides with high demand for cloud-based support for those who work collaboratively in different locations around the world.
Technology is evolving to meet these needs. For example, 50% of survey respondents were aware of Frame.io versus Dropbox Replay (44%) and Vimeo (39%).
“Project teams often span multiple departments, locations & even organisations.”
For example, while agency creative teams may not be able to attend a video shoot in person, their media experts may still need to share their input to advise whether a particular video format or effect will work on digital screens. The ability to do so through remote collaboration is game-changing.
Production experts highlight that the emergence of cloud-based video collaboration software has helped to shape the process for the better. “We don’t overspend the budget on additional rounds of feedback, and we hit our deadlines so we don’t delay anything for the client and for us. All the parties are happy, that’s the most important thing,” says Mal Sobczak, Senior Art Director at London-based agency Ultra Brand Studio.
ONE UNIFIED PLATFORM
Collaborative cloud-based video software platforms are now being used on a frequent basis.
Almost three-quarters (71%) of all respondents to the Adobe research and 88% of end users specifically are using this technology in some form at least once a week. Frame.io emerges as the clear leader in this space, used by 44% of respondents, followed by Sony Ci (21%) and Pix (17%).
With adoption of cloud-based video software set to rise further, it’s clear that having one unified and dedicated platform to simplify the editing and approval process is key for enabling better creative collaboration and communication across teams.
“Hybrid work and remote collaboration means the only common place people connect to is the cloud,” says Bill Roberts, senior director, industry strategist at Adobe. “…And when teams centralise workflows, from ideation to delivery, for all key stakeholders – work gets done both better and faster.”
FIT FOR PURPOSE
MEETING STRATEGIC PRODUCTION GOALS
Speaking with video professionals, it seems clear that visual content is only going to rise in importance in marketing. This is partly due to the factors mentioned above and partly due to the media form’s storytelling richness. In addition, tech advances and feature-rich social media platforms have widened the potential of video content to meet engagement, personality and conversion metrics.
The importance of cloud-based video software in meeting these targets is perhaps reflected in the finding that 41% of business decision makers are getting closer to the process as users, not just buyers, of the solutions.
“Social media, in particular, has encouraged everyone to get involved with video production,” says Ian Flynn, the Executive Creative Director at UK-based digital agency RocketMill. “As a marketing agency, we want and need to be within that conversation as best as possible.”
Flint is not alone on this. End users (37%) and business decision-makers (39%) are closely matched on identifying business efficiency (in terms of costs and time to market) as most strategically important. However, they differ significantly on the relative importance of client satisfaction (31% for end users, 45% for business decision-makers). A clear reflection, perhaps, of their varied areas of responsibility in the business.
REMOVING COMPLEXITY
Large projects, especially those involving long-form content for brands, present significant complexities for producers – particularly when it comes to having multiple stakeholders involved in the process.
The demand for removing complexity is emphasised by the research, which found that 51% of end users say software that’s easy to use – in terms of the functionality and interface of the software itself, access to content, feedback
and collaboration – is the most important factor (against 36% of business decision-makers). Furthermore, these end users also identify the importance of ease of access to content (39%) as a priority, in a secure way. However, easy feedback and collaboration is a more important feature of software for business decision-makers (37%) than end users (24%).
SEAMLESS SPEED
IMPROVING SECURITY
As more cloud-based video collaboration software enters the workflow, the experience creatives have with the tools they use remains a key priority. What emerges from the research is a picture where integration, speed, and security come in as the most important features.
For end users specifically, integration with other tools and software used in the video production workflow is a top feature for more than half (52%) of those responding to the survey. This is borne out when discussing the broader views of creative people.
Brit Phelan is a director and photographer who collaborates with video creators all over the world. As a user of video collaboration tools, she believes that there are clear benefits to software in terms of increased integration and efficiency.
“What I’m looking for as a creative is the simplest workflow so that I don’t have to spend a million hours figuring out how I’m going to make things look,” she says. “The tools just work for me, and streamlining allows me to create more and better things because I’m not putting all that energy towards not creating.”
STREAMLINING WORKFLOWS
Another important feature for 49% of end users of the software is the ability to “facilitate camera-to-cloud workflows, allowing simultaneous production and post, and better collaboration on set”.
Frame.io’s own Camera to Cloud solution for video production professionals, for example, offers an intuitive way to get media from the film production set to the people who need to work with it, leading not only to more efficient workflows, but also to better creative output..
Davide Bianca, Chief Creative Officer at BCN Visuals, works on 3D anamorphic billboards that deliver cinematic out-of-home advertising. While on set, he collaborates with creative partners around the world, in different time zones, who are not at the video shoot itself. So the ability to share media easily has creative benefits too, he says.
“The brainstorming element or creative discussion aspect of the collaborative tool incentivises creativity and sparks imagination,” says Bianca. “It really allows people to riff off each other and go back and forth.
Even supporting happy accidents – things that you weren’t planning on doing but happen fluidly and organically in the conversation.”
The subject of integration has become more complex as users look for cloud support for content from multiple devices. It’s something that Adobe has worked towards supporting with its bespoke Camera to Cloud technology. “When Camera to Cloud first launched, it was only integrated with a few devices,” explains Roberts. “Today, we’ve expanded to support over 250 production devices, including in-camera integrations with Fujifilm and RED Digital Cinema cameras.”
Frame.io’s Camera to Cloud solution is designed with ease of use in mind. Moving hi-resolution video and photography from the camera to Frame.io is straightforward and involves a simple and secure set-up that connects devices with just a few clicks. Meanwhile, the range of support for related software and apps is also growing all the time.
“People who want to adopt Camera to Cloud will have a leg up in their business – especially for live event production and sports media content creation teams,” adds Roberts. “We’re truly
witnessing a workflow evolution in real-time. Similar to the way we saw the transition from tape to digital, we’re now seeing an evolution from teams who rely solely on storing media on camera cards and hard drives to shooting images right to the cloud.”
ENTERPRISE SECURITY FEATURES
Strong security is another key business concern for business decision-makers. Organisations with the most advanced security capabilities delivered 43% higher revenue growth than peers over a five-year period, according to research published by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBM IBV) in 2022.
However, more than a quarter of end users (26%) rate the security and privacy features of the various cloud-based video collaboration software they use as “unsecure”, as per the research.
Frame.io’s solutions are paired with enterprise security features, including embedded real-time and forensic watermarks, and digital rights management protection. Inboxes are secured with two-factor authentication, which is designed to prevent unauthorised viewing and downloading. These features address users’ security concerns.
NEW HORIZONS
BOOM TIME FOR VIDEO
With viewer demand rising, and technology improving and evolving exponentially, it seems a safe bet that video content will continue to thrive. Exciting developments in the fields of AI and special effects will bring great opportunities for video production professionals, requiring even greater levels of collaboration across the process as more creative skills are added to the equation.
Sobczak at Ultra Brand Studio adds that greater flexibility in the software that enables creative people to express themselves and provides clear, directional feedback visually, would provide a real step forward. She says: “When I feed back to editors, it’s better for me to scamp it out, to do a storyboard.”
In addition to the demand for the creative flexibility and collaboration described by Sobczak, better integration will make cloud-based video software an even more compelling solution in future. Close to a third (30%) of end users believe that more improvement could be made in providing ‘seamless integration’ with other tools or software used in the video production workflow.
CONCLUSION
The benefits of adopting creative collaboration to rapidly produce content and increase campaign engagement are clear. For physically distanced teams, unified cloud-based software is vital when it comes to simplifying and reviewing the content approval process.
In addition, it is important that this software is designed to integrate seamlessly with other platforms and can be used in conjunction with other tools, given that over half (52%) of end users say they highly value integration with other software solutions. End users also highlighted ease of access to content (39%) as a priority, in a secure way. Meanwhile, business decision-makers highlighted feedback and collaboration (37%) as an important feature.
The increased focus on online privacy in recent years has also fuelled increased demand for secure, privacy-first solutions. However, it is apparent there is still progress to be made, given that over a quarter (26%) of end users rate the security and privacy
features of the various cloud-based video collaboration software they use as “unsecure”.
A significant number of software platforms are also incorporating AI into their solutions to help businesses automate repetitive tasks and inform decision-making using predictive analytics. By taking advantage of these developments through investing in these tools and understanding how to use them effectively, business leaders can further modernise the way their teams collaborate. This can help to further streamline processes, which helps to save time and money in the long run.
Adobe’s full platform of products aims to help creative decision-makers meet these needs while helping to ensure that creative talents can focus on what they excel at: increasing innovation, and conceptualising new creative experiences designed to enhance customer perception and improve the overall experience.
WHY DO BUSINESS DECISION-MAKERS THINK THAT CLOUD-BASED COLLABORATION CAN DELIVER ON MEETING THEIR BUSINESS GOALS
CLIENT- SATISFACTION
Client satisfaction is ranked as being of the most strategic importance to their business by key decision-makers. Software can improve against this metric by streamlining processes and delivering video assets in a timely manner.
FEEDBACK & COLLABORATION
Providing easy feedback and collaboration throughout the video creation process is identified as an important benefit by business decision makers. According to video production professionals, Frame.io excels in offering these capabilities.
VIDEO BRAND MARKETING STRATEGY
Three-quarters of business decision makers agree strongly that video increases campaign engagement. By simplifying the approval process and enabling enhanced team collaboration, the software can help businesses in their adoption of video as a brand marketing strategy.
WHAT DO CREATIVE END USERS WANT FROM THE SOFTWARE?
SEAMLESS INTEGRATION
High levels of seamless integration delivered by central, cloud-based storage for all stakeholders in the process.
CREATIVE COLLABORATION
Tools such as Frame.io that spark creative collaboration and brainstorming.
SHARING & PROCESS
Fast and secure file sharing backed by a robust review process.
READY TO REVOLUTIONISE YOUR WORKLFOW
Adobe’s dedication to improving creative collaboration is evident with our innovative tools, including Frame.io. Designed to streamline video and content production processes, Frame.io sets new standards in creative workflows. Contact your Account Manager to explore the full capabilities of Frame.io and schedule a demonstration.
