On June 26th, at Rai premises in Torino, the Open Innovation Day was carried out for the second time. The workshop was specially targeted to startups and small enterprises offering innovative solutions to technical and editorial problems in the area of media. Its goal was to improve mutual knowledge in areas of interest, creating a network of stakeholders aimed at collaborating, and contributing to innovation in the media industry. The event was organised in collaboration with ItaliaStartup, the not-for-profit association of Italian Startups, and I3P, the innovation accelerator of the Polytechnic of Turin, in synergy with the Italian Tech Week, a whole week of conferences and workshop focusing on innovation and technology in Torino.
AI and the media: too hot, too cold, just right? A mapping of Artificial Intelligence applications
By Kati Bremme, Innovation & Prospective Directorate
Algorithms are made to solve problems. Generating suspicion in some, perceived as a miracle solution by others, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, impacting every industry. Some, though, struggle a bit more to fully embrace it, an example being the media. Compared to the financial or health sectors, the media’s capacity to acquire the necessary tools to integrate AI is less flexible and dynamic. In its latest AI Predictions Report, the PwC firm pinpoints these differences, reporting that 20% of interviewed executives plan to deploy AI in their enterprise, but only 7% in the media sector.
However, the application fields for AI in the mediums of written press, cinema, radio, television and advertising are broad: automation of business processes and customer relationships, social network monitoring and listening, information verification, predictive analysis of success
France Télévisions’ Sandbox “The Fiction Lab” Project obtains MediaRoad’s Quality Label
MediaRoad assigned the Quality Label to France Télévisions’ Sandbox “The Fiction Lab” Project, started in November 2018. The project was carried out by France Info TV, a subsidiary of France Télévisions. See https://www.mediaroad.eu/prize-development-and-quality-label for information about the MediaRoad’s Quality Label.
Based on researches in cognitive science, THE FICTION LAB develop the CFX technology to help content producers and broadcasters to better manage audience satisfaction. CFXs, standing for Special Cognitive Effects, are words, images, sounds, signs, objects… that can be inserted into any content. They are classified by the cognitive effect they generate: attention, memorization, emotion, identification, credibility or edification.
THE FICTION LAB develops a methodology, and software, dedicated to mapping all CFXs embedded within a given content. The outcome is a report presenting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats regarding CFXs. A kind of “SWOT” analysis in the context of audience satisfaction, helping producers and broadcaster to make the best strategic decisions for their content.
They are naturally used by all influencers: corporate hierarchy, educators, media, beliefs, politicians, vendors. Popular television series send up to three CFXs per minute to the audience, mainly CFXs of identification, excitement and emotion. More than 500 CFXs are listed in behavioural economics.
The collaboration with the French news channel FRANCE INFO TV consisted of a CFXs analysis for a typical day of broadcasting. Focused on about 60 CFXs specific to news, we were able to suggest 20 improving leads, from reducing interference between text and audio, to gaze axis configuration during interviews.
CFXs technology is nurtured by the amazing interest of contemporary research on the human brain. New CFXs are yet to be discovered. Our mission is to bring them to the content industry.
More info
Start-up website: http://thefictionlab.org/
Email: emmanuel.kuster[AT]thefictionlab.org
Project description on MediaRoad site: https://www.mediaroad.eu/archives/portfolio/thefictionlab-cognitive-sciences-and-news
Sandbox: France Télévisions’ Sandbox
France Télévisions’ Sandbox “Streamroot” Project obtains MediaRoad’s Quality Label
MediaRoad assigned the Quality Label to France Télévisions’ Sandbox “Streamroot” Project, started in July 2018. Find here more information about MediaRoad’s Quality Label.
As online audiences grow, traditional client-server architectures are less and less effective for delivering video content, both from a cost and from a quality standpoint. A secure and hybrid mesh network delivery system meanwhile helps broadcasters scale to increase viewership. By obtaining video segments from the source that can provide them most quickly – either a content delivery network (CDN) server or another device watching the same content – hybrid CDN / mesh network delivery allows broadcasters not only to reduce bandwidth costs but also to ensure higher quality video for viewers.
Today France Télévision delivers over 50% of its online desktop traffic via Streamroot’s mesh network delivery. They use the service for all live and catch-up TV channels as well as their most important broadcasts, including Rolland Garros, Tour de France and other international sporting competitions and cultural events.
Together the companies are working to promote more reliable ways of delivering video content over the internet to meet the exponential growth in online viewing today and in the future. This initiative will help ensure the viability of the france.tv platform in the long term.
More info
Start-up website: https://streamroot.io
Email: erica[AT]streamroot.io
Project description on MediaRoad site: https://www.mediaroad.eu/archives/portfolio/streamroot-distributed-network-architecture-on-france-tv
Sandbox: France Télévisions’ Sandbox