SVG Sports Content Management Forum Puts MAM, Storage, Archiving, Metadata, AI at the Fore at NYC Event

More than 200 attendees filled the 230 Fifth Penthouse in Midtown Manhattan for the annual meeting

SVG’s Sports Content Management Forum returned to New York City on Wednesday as more than 200 attendees were treated to a full day of sessions packed with media-asset–management (MAM) leaders from major sports broadcasters, leagues, teams, streaming outlets, and technology vendors. The event showed a light on adapting to remote and hybrid workflows, storage and archiving on-prem and in the cloud, the rise of AI and ML, best practices in metadata assignment and management, MAM and orchestration planning, and much more.

SVG’s Sports Content Management Forum returned to New York City on Wednesday.

The day opened with the annual “State of the Industry” session that featured key executives from across the industry sharing their big picture perspectives on the technologies, strategies, and demands facing this segment of the business. WWE’s Senior Director of Media Management Services Rex Canning; WBD Sports’ Manager of Strategy and Planning, Sports Media Services Anne Graham; IPTC’s Sports Content Working Group Lead and The Canadian Press’ Associate Director, Content Operations Paul Kelly; NBC Sports & Olympics’ Senior Director, Live Event Workflows Jim Miles; and NHL’s SVP, Technology Grant Nodine addressed metadata best practices, opportunities for AI and automation, staffing and recruiting young talent, the impact of industry consolidation, remote vs. in-office work, and much more.

The morning was highlighted by a keynote presentation from FOX Sports addressing their use of intelligent MAM in the cloud. Fox Sports’ VP, Media Workflows Reed Kaufman and SVP, Production Operations Dustin Myers shared details behind their work with Google Cloud to develop a custom media management system. Those workflows played an integral role in FOX’s productions of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Super Bowl LVII. It is currently using the platform at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

A panel discussion on the topic of practical applications for AI in media management asked the question “is manual logging dead?” Byron Chapman, Director of Media Asset Management & Media Workflows at the PGA TOUR; Chris Cruz, Senior Director of Media Services at CBS Sports; Hugo Gaggioni, CTO at Sony Professional Solutions; Reed Kaufman, VP, Media Workflows at FOX Sports; and Philippe Petitpont, CEO and Co-Founder at Newsbridge knocked around the concept of AI potentially changing how leagues, broadcasters, teams, and other sports-content creators generate and manage content.

Gregg Katano, SVP, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development for Medici XD presented a compelling look at inventing asset management and worflow strategies for the burgeoning world of the metaverse. Using the case study of “Burning Man,” Katano addresses how one builds and populates a virtual replica of an event of this scale.

More than 200 attendees filled the 230 Fifth Penthouse in Midtown Manhattan for the 2023 SVG Sports Content Management Forum.

It wouldn’t be an SVG event these days without addressing the impact of the cloud on production workflows. A panel discussion tackled how the role of the cloud has evolved and pondered where the technology is headed. The conversation featured Alex Keighley, VP, U.S. Sales at Telestream; Whit Jackson, VP of Media & Entertainment at Wasabi Technologies; Grant Nodine, SVP, Technology at the NHL; Andrew Reich, Senior Consultant, Sports, Professional Services at AWS; and Dave Klee, VP, Strategic Media Solutions at A+E Networks.

Another captivating presentation saw Paul Kelly, Associate Director, Content Operations at The Canadian Press and IPTC’ Sports Content Working Group Lead share details behind IPTC’s Sports Schema, an open, universal model for sports data.

A pair of panel discussions anchored the afternoon as thought leaders dug deep into the topics of both storage and MAM. First, the question of “what’s the next big thing in storage and how do we stay ahead of the curve was posed to the likes of Mark Anderson, Manager, Channel Systems and Solutions Sales Team at Seagate Technology; Roy Burns, SVP, Media Solutions at IMT; Jonathan Morgan, SVP, Product & Technology at Perifery; Luke Nihart, VP, Global Accounts at Quantum; Scott Rinehart, Director, Broadcast and Streaming Technologies at the University of Notre Dame; and Brent Angle, CTO at CineSys. Next, a collection of experts questioned whether standalone MAMs are dying or simply evolving? The talk featured Padraic Boyle, Senior Director, Enterprise Media at MLB Advanced Media; Stephane Guez, Co-Founder and Principal at Dalet; Ian Owen, Manager, Media Asset Management, esports at Riot Games; and Anne Graham,  Manager of Strategy and Planning, Sports Media Services at WBD Sports.

The event also featured a pair of technology-focused case studies. Imagen offered a look at how the PGA TOUR transformed its media delivery, revamped rights management, and delivered an ultra-polished experience for partners in a presentation that featured its Chief Revenue Officer – Americas Nick Ashwin and the PGA TOUR’s Director of Media Rights Management Keifer O’Connor. Meanwhile, Signiant‘s VP, Global Customer Acquisition Matt Gaede shared stories of how professional sports teams are meeting the moment through cloud and SaaS innovations that are right-sized for their purposes.

This year’s program was spearheaded by the SVG Sports Content Management Committee and its Chair, Anne Graham, Manager of Strategy and Planning, Sports Media Services at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports.

The SVG Sports Graphics Forum was made possible by Diamond Sponsors Perifery, Sony, Telstream, and Wasabi; Gold Sponsors Dalet, EditShare, Quantum, and Seagate; Case Study Sponsors Imagen and Signiant, and Event Sponsor Newsbridge.

All sessions from the main stage of the event will soon be made available for viewing on SVG’s on-demand video platform, SVG PLAY.