ShowMS supports both VPPO driven "Short Form", or Clips as we call it, and also its own clips subsystem. We took the decision to build out our own clips infrastructure, including media processing pipeline, streaming and short form players as there was a requirement for a lighter weight, higher volume clips publishing process that also included workflow and control over where and when the clip was used on the owned and operated platform without them being exposed to other partners.
This also included the ability to host Clips as a List Item within ShowMS Editorial articles, and as the OTT platforms matured there was also the requirement to offer a special type of clip to power the Spotlight previews on those platforms.
Each show houses a Clips section, where promos, sneak peeks and any other short-form video relating to the show can be managed. In addition, a show trailer (when available) can be added - this is then offered to users to preview, as well as being used to power the preview feature in OTT apps Spotlight area. When a new clip is published, an app deep-link is created so that it can be directly linked to e.g. in a push notification.
Editing VPPO Clips
It hasn't happened very often, but clips may be added via the VPPO feed. The primary use case for this has been when Freeform experimented with having a talk show, where there was an anticipation that short form edited from the show could be an important part of the overall proposition. When ingested via VPPO the following elements are set but can be overridden if required:
- Title
- Description
- Rating
- Thumbnail Image
- OG Image
Optionally, the following settings can be added via the CMS:
- Tags
- Closed Captions
- An associated episode
- Whether the clip is the show trailer
- Playcard Image
Across the various client apps, as well as Freeform.com VPPO clips play using the Framework Player/Unity Player implementations.
ShowMS Clips
Clips can also be uploaded manually to the platform. The following details are required to set up a clip:
- Title
- Description
- Thumbnail Image
- Playcard Image
- OG Image
- Video File
Optionally, the following details can be added:
- Closed Captions
- Rating
- Tags
- An associated episode
- Whether the clip is the show trailer
When uploaded, the Clip is entered into a publishing workflow described below.
Show Trailers
Trailers can be added to shows and are linked to from the show's homepage. Trailers may be incorporated via the feed or manually uploaded, and any clip can be set as the show trailer by selecting the "Is Trailer" option.
Clips Workflow
ShowMS supports the following publishing workflow when uploading Clips:
- Work In Progress - while the clip is being prepared, a draft version will appear in this state. This allows digital programmers to prepare details and meta-data in advance.
- Processing - once a video file is uploaded the clip changes state to processing while the video file is put through the ShowMS Media Pipeline. This is powered by Azure Media Services and includes re-encoding the uploaded video file into a number of different formats and bitrates for consumption across the Freeform Platform, as well a generating thumbnails and play-cards automatically.
- Scheduled - a publish date and time can be set for clips. Alternatively, clips can be set to go live when a specific episode arrives on the platform. If either of these scheduling options are set then the clip will be in the Scheduled state.
- Published - for clips that are currently live on the platform.
- Removed - for clips that no longer appear on the platform, either due to manual deletion or for VPPO clips that no longer appear in the feed.
