In September EditShare, a Boston-based provider of video content management, systems announced a merger with fellow Beantown company Shift Media, a cloud-native video solution provider.
TV Tech recently spoke with Ramu Potarazu, who led Shift Media and is now the new CEO, replacing EditShare CEO Conrad Clemson.
TV Tech: Congratulations on the merger. What is your background in this industry?
Ramu Potarazu: My skill is in business leadership. My career began as an engineer at Intelsat, and I’ve driven growth in multiple verticals, which have included satellite and media, and also related fields like SaaS.
The great thing about the EditShare team is that they have a massive understanding and experience of the video industry, both in media and emerging verticals. I’m just here to empower them.
TVT: What is it about Shift Media’s product line that complements EditShare’s portfolio?
RP: They complement each other in a number of ways. EditShare specialized in very high performance storage, content management and workflows for content creators; Shift Media had the intuitive collaboration tools to share that creativity with clients, to ensure approvals, and to bring in new business.
EditShare was founded on excellence in hardware design along with innovative software; Shift’s products were cloud native from the start.
From a product point of view, there is a perfect mesh to bring end-to-end solutions across the entire video creation workflow. From a technology viewpoint, the strengths from on-prem to cloud are complementary and will result in even better performance in the future.
TVT: Can you provide some Shift Media projects recently completed in the broadcast/post space?
RP: DEFINITION6 is a commercial content creator that drives results through creativity, technology and analytics. By implementing MediaSilo, they can now manage and navigate hundreds of versions of assets across dozens of clients, from any location, simply and securely.
For All Elite Wrestling, we simplified workflows through a single solution to manage and distribute their finished assets with global broadcast partners, offering global coverage and consistency. Creatives get reliable access to the content they seek while AEW gains searchable analytics to track when, where and for how long each asset is viewed.
AGBO is another one of our clients. They are an independent studio known for films such as Extraction and Avengers: Endgame. Several of their teams use MediaSilo to track and organize projects from pre-production to post all the way to distribution and marketing. The role-based user management and asset repository allows the team to collaborate securely throughout the project’s lifecycle.
TVT: Apart from Conrad Clemson’s departure, are there any other personnel/infrastructure changes because of the merger?
RP: When two companies come together, there is inevitably the issue of roles that exist in both businesses. One of the key benefits of a merger like ours is in finding the advantages in synergies and efficiencies.
The new management team has been looking carefully at how best EditShare can continue to be successful and drive further growth in the future. Our conclusion at the moment is that we need minimal organizational changes to be as operationally efficient as we can be. Our goal, as always, is to be responsive to the needs of our customers.
TVT: Is the merger prompting EditShare to look at any other markets?
RP: In terms of business, I think it is really important to recognize that we are already very successful in many of the adjacent business verticals. Yes, of course we are well known in production and post, but we also have successful market penetration in education, corporate, advertising, houses of worship, gaming and others.
One very important part of the merger is that EditShare was already very successful globally, with a well-developed distribution network. Bringing the three legacy Shift Media products—MediaSilo, Wiredrive and Screeners.com—into the EditShare fold means that they too will benefit from the worldwide sales network.
That is good for the distribution network, giving them more chances to engage with potential customers. It is good for users around the world who can now enjoy the powerful benefits of the products. And, it is good for EditShare, not only bringing in more business but more feedback and user input, spurring future product innovation and development.
TVT: What was the response of booth visitors at IBC about the announcement?
RP: Visitors to IBC are serious about investing in future-facing technology. When they are making choices, obviously they look for the right functionality and use case fit. However, they also have to be certain that the vendor has a strong financial background and will be able to continue supporting and enhancing their products for the full lifecycle of their investments.
What we showed customers and partners with the merger of EditShare and Shift Media is that we have created a new business which is both financially very strong and supported by two excellent technical teams together. Our booth visitors were excited that all their favorite products continue to be available; all their favorite systems architects and technical support people are still in place; and we could show them a first look at our future roadmap of industry-leading innovation.
TVT: How many employees are in the combined business, and how many locations do you have worldwide?
RP: Both EditShare and Shift Media had their headquarters in the Boston area, and the newly merged EditShare will be run from Boston and from the U.K. Currently, there are a little over 120 talented people directly employed by EditShare.
TVT: What do you see as the biggest overall challenges in the M&E industry?
RP: The big trend is the move from fixed facilities towards a much more flexible environment. Sometimes you need to be working in a full-service post house, but at other times that is just not necessary. Neither the editor nor the client needs to commute into an expensive city-center location if remote working can deliver the same level of performance and functionality.
That means that the technology platform supporting the workflows has to be more agile. Content will be stored on premises or in the cloud. Proxies will be generated automatically at the point of ingest. Secure connectivity will allow remote logins from anywhere in the world to access just the relevant content. Simple distribution of review copies for approval means that producers can see work in progress wherever they are.
The answer to all these challenges is not to make the same old workflows work around additional connectivity: it is to find new, relevant ways of working that deliver productivity bonuses alongside the convenience.
We have launched an AI-powered transcription view that allows producers and editors to assemble content based on the transcript and metadata. Producers can quickly access the transcript and a high quality proxy over any internet connection and start working right away. Our Swift Link is a smart client that adapts to variable latency on the connection, giving the producer or editor the best quality in the best timescale.
Success in the future will come from finding new and better ways of working, backed up by intelligent technology that boosts productivity, reduces the carbon footprint and puts creativity front and center.
