Vizrt sees rise in supply to TV industry both at home and CLMV

“TV broadcasters are requiring not only more capacity to store their growing content library but also various ways to distribute those contents via multi-platforms. 

“To deal with this challenge, it is very important to have high performance and cost-effective media asset management,” Michael Namatinia, president for the Asia-Pacific market at Vizrt Thailand, said yesterday.

Over the next three years, local broadcasters would invest about US$20 million (Bt690 million) to $25 million on facilities and technology related to media asset management on top of regular expenditures on other advanced broadcasting systems and studio automation, he said. 

Vizrt Thailand has enlisted Hitachi Data Systems, a leading data management and technology company, to increase their capacity in managing media assets and supporting workflow from content acquisition to broadcasting and online distribution. 

“Due to the change in new media, particularly online video consumption, the demand from local broadcasters in terms of content distribution across multi-platforms has shifted to exponential growth after experiencing linear growth during the past three years,” said Marrut Manistitya, managing director for Thailand and Myanmar at Hitachi Data Systems. 

After striking this deal, Vizrt aims to see a 25-30-per-cent expansion in its media asset management service this year. 

Namatinia acknowledged that the investment on this segment in Thailand was still low, while at the global level, only 7 per cent of investment on broadcasting systems was budgeted for this purpose. 

The good news is that the PPTV digital TV channel in Thailand already has this technology along with other cutting-edge broadcasting systems from Vizrt and Hitachi. 

“Despite facing an economy slowing down this year, Thailand is still a healthy and advanced market for the company in the Southeast Asian countries,” he said. 

So more clients are expected to be welcomed this year on top of existing ones such as Channel 3 and its network, Channel 7, Channel 5, Modernine TV, Thai PBS, Thairath TV, New TV, Voice TV, Now26, PPTV, True4U, Matichon TV and Media Studios. 

Vizrt is also continuing to expand its client base in neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where terrestrial TV broadcasting is in a digital transition. 

Early this year, the company established a sales and marketing representative in Yangon, the commercial city of Myanmar, and welcomed MRTV as its first client. 

 

Did you know? 

Vizrt's Asia Pacific Head Quarter is based in Bangkok. Why?