2019 was a huge year for our Mediabank media asset management platform. We began a partnership with ESPN to use Mediabank for their ACC Network and SEC Network. We renewed our partnership with Fotball Media delivering services for ingest, upload, storage and management of all of their content. Additionally, we launched a partnership with Eurovision to share their DC facility – adding a US home for our growing cloud-based service.
The Mediabank team’s busy 2019 didn’t stop there, though. They also managed to develop and deploy several new features that continue to grow the platform. These include a new “Content Collections” feature for media libraries; new configurable features for the landing page; and an energy-saving, eye-strain-reducing dark theme. Read more about these exciting developments, and stay tuned for more coming in 2020.
Content Collections
Our new Content Collections feature simplifies the content discovery process by categorizing content into virtual folders so users can find what they are looking for with a simple click. Then content will automatically be placed in the correct collection folder for easy and quick access when using the search function.
Collections are based on smart search technology that automatically groups content based on metadata. For instance, a collection can include only last week’s volleyball matches, TV show episodes from a specific season, or a viewer can simply browse the content by category. Each Collections folder is dynamic and remains up-to-date at all times as new content is added.
Collections can have two levels: Main collection and and Sub-collections. A sub-collection allows for content to be refined one step further, making large collections easier and faster to navigate.
Collections can be used as a powerful tool for editors to promote their content to their user groups. They can get their content out quickly, ensure it can be easily found, and can even implement an “Editor’s Picks” category to highlight the best content available.
Choose Your Default Landing page
Every user session in Mediabank starts with the landing page dashboard where the users select which application or tool they would like to work with. We wanted a way to get users where they wanted to be as fast a possible when they log in, so now they can set their default landing page. Users that are mostly interested in browsing or downloading content can have their default landing page set to the Library application. Users who mostly review and/or approve content can set their default landing page to be the Review & Approval application directly upon login without having to navigate through the dashboard.
Choose Your Default view
To make the experience even more personalized, the user can not only select their default landing page, but they can also select a default view for the landing page. This defines the layout of landing page displayed upon login. For instance, a user might choose to have their default page be the library, opening with the collection view.
The New Dark Theme
This year, we have also added a “dark theme” to Mediabank, often referred to as “dark mode”. Users can select this new theme option via the settings in the Mediabank dashboard. Though it is purely a cosmetic change, and doesn’t affect functionality, it has several advantages:
- The color settings in the dark theme are chosen to minimize the eye strain that can come with extended use of screens.
- It can save battery life on devices and generally reduce energy consumption.
- It also makes content stand out visually.
The light theme will still remain the default setting until you manually change from the “Default” to “Dark” theme on your Mediabank Dashboard. Remember to save the new setting at the bottom of the page.
