How an exercise equipment and media company centralizes and streamlines content management
Unify and modernize video content management
One of the world’s leading exercise equipment and media companies struggled to review and manage video content from external vendors. They turned to Backlight to streamline their processes.
The situation
A fragmented method for managing third-party vendor content
As a global exercise equipment and media brand, our client provides its subscribers with a wide range of fitness and training content. They work with internal production teams and third-party vendors worldwide to produce that content.
However, with so much content being created, they needed a better way to manage and aggregate it. Their process for reviewing third-party content was fragmented and separated from the tools they used to manage media, causing productivity and efficiency challenges. The company used a variety of cloud environments where vendors could upload training content. However, many of these generic cloud ‘buckets’ (such as Google Drive or Microsoft’s OneDrive) were unsuitable for uploading, storing, and reviewing large video files and other rich media, and the user experience was subpar.
Their existing process was also very expensive and lacked the APIs and customizability they needed.
The solution
A centralized place to review and approve content
In 2023, the client replaced its multiple cloud buckets and review tools with a simple, centralized process via iconik. In the new approach, third-party vendors uploaded video directly to iconik (rather than external cloud platforms).
Then, the client’s producers and editors could collaborate directly on the video files providing feedback, keeping track of versions, and ensuring the right people are given access and notifications along the way.
Our client began using iconik with a proof-of-concept pilot project. After its success, and within eight months, over 200 users (from our third-party vendors, internal editors, and other stakeholders) had set up an account and uploaded or reviewed videos directly in iconik. By early 2024, almost all content from third-party vendors was being processed this way.
Our client identified several factors that made iconik especially attractive:
- Built for video: iconik is built explicitly for rapid upload and collaboration in the cloud. With the client’s ever-growing content creation needs, it was far more appropriate than generic cloud-based storage.
- Connections via APIs: iconik has an extensive range of APIs, allowing clients to hook it into their other workflows. The client realized that iconik had a much more comprehensive range of built-in APIs than alternative platforms.
- Price: iconik’s pricing model was significantly more competitive than our client’s previous cloud-based video editing platform, offering equivalent or more powerful features. The ability to add unlimited users was especially helpful in reducing costs.
The result
A more efficient, centralized approach to managing third-party vendor video
Our client described several key benefits and improvements that iconik brought to their processes:
The client now has a central place where all its vendors can quickly and securely upload videos from anywhere. It is far more efficient to manage content in this way, avoiding misunderstandings and preventing the emergence of information silos. All vendor content is now stored in one place and is accessible by the company’s editors without any barriers.