WHITEPAPER

ConvergingMediaPlatformsto MaximizeContentValue

BehzadIlchi VicePresidentMedia&Entertainment VirtusaCorporation

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ExecutiveOverview
The media industry has reached a critical crossroad when it comes to generating revenue through traditional content channels compared to online channels. The percentage of advertising revenue generated by traditional channels such as television, radio, magazines and newspapers, is decreasing compared to revenue generatedbytheircompaniononlinesites.Nondigitaladvertisingstillrepresentsthe lion'sshare,butthegapiscontinuingtoclose. Thekeytoaddressingthischallenge,whichalsooffersatremendousopportunity,is to converge content production onto a unified platform. Deploying an enterprise content management system that allows content to be created once and then be distributedacrossmultiplechannels,bothtraditionalandonline,improvesproduction efficienciesandassuresconsistencyofcontentandbrandingacrossallchannels. Onlinechannelsthataresynchronizedwithtraditionalchannelspromptaudiencesto spend more time with the brand and thus lead to higher viewership and readership ratings. The repeating cycle can then open new advertising and revenuegeneration opportunitiesacrossallcontentchannels. Mediacompaniesmustalsofacetheultimaterealitythatembracingcontentplatform convergence is a necessity in order to survive. Those that do not converge their contentchannelsriskthelikelihoodofflatordwindlingrevenuestreams. With more people now consuming content on the Web and mobile devices more often, media companies that do not converge their platforms will become indistinguishablefromtheircompetitors. Thiswhitepapertakesalookatthechallengesinvolvedintryingtointegratecontent production platforms for both traditional and online channelsand why many media companiesfindthetaskdifficulttotakeon.Thewhitepaperalsopresentshowmedia companies can not only address the challenge but also take advantage of the opportunitythataconvergedmediacontentproductionplatformoffers.

TableofContents

ConvergingTraditionalandOnlineContentPlatforms ToProtectandGrowMarketShare 4 DrivenbyDigitalRevenue,GainingGroundon NonDigitalRevenue 5 TheChallenge:IntegratingContentProduction AcrossAllChannels 6 BusinessRequirementsMustDriveConvergence 7

IdentifyaTechnologyPartnerwithProven BusinessProcessExperience 8 SuccessStoryTravelChannel Conclusion 9 10

ConvergingTraditionaland OnlineContentPlatformsTo ProtectandGrowMarketShare

Contentthatisoutofsyncacrossmultiplechannelsrepresentsamajorthreatto mediacompanies.Conversely,effectiveconvergenceoffersamajoropportunity. Failure to integrate content and branding effectively among all channels could lead to a dwindling customer base. Failure to integrate could also cause media companiestomissopportunitiestoexpandtheircustomerandrevenuebases. When it comes to producing content, traditional media companies have long focusedtheireffortsontheirprimarychannelwhetherit'satelevisionorradio show,orahardcopymagazineornewspaper.It'sonlynaturalthattheseareas shouldreceivetheprimaryfocus.Afterall,that'swheremostoftherevenuehas beenandcontinuestobegenerated. Many media companies are still challenged with taking advantage of online channels, such as the Web and mobile devices. This often occurs because the technology platforms used to create online products are inflexible and labor intensive.Inmanycases,thetechnologyplatformsaresiloed.Separateplatforms are used to create content for various channelscausing further divergence of the content across the different channels. For example, a wellknown entertainment magazine is required to pull content from five different content managementsystemstocreateoneWebpage. Most media companies are wellaware of the need to converge their content production platforms. But proceeding on a solution has become a question of investment and becoming convinced that true integrated content and branding can be achieved. Many media companies have chosen to wait for the right solution that meets their requirements while many others have tried to build theirownsystems,whichoftendonotachievetherequiredlevelofsuccess. This often occurs not only because of the deployed technology lacking the necessary features, but also because of the organizational changes that media companies must go through. In addition to deploying the right technology platform, media companies must place a high priority on converging their organizational structure. This can be difficult to achieve since many media companies have established organizations where online channels are siloed in separatebusinessunitsfromthetraditionalchannels. In trying to find a working solution, CFOs want to see businesscase support before endorsing new solutions, but CIOs may have trouble making one. CIOs mayalsothinknosuitablesolutionexistsorthatthecostofownershipofexisting solutionsistoohigh.Someeventrytobuildtheirownsolution,butit'sdifficultto developandmaintaintherequiredcapabilities. But it's clear that if media companies remain stagnant, competitors will take away their market share. This has particularly occurred in the newspaper industry, which had a lock on classified advertising until sites such as Craigslist.com,Monster.comandAutoTrader.comtookawaythatbusiness. Mediacompaniesneedtoconvergenowratherthanwaitingfortherightsolution to come along while marketshare declines. Instead of ROI drivingthedecision, the market is forcing a change. There are no perfect solutions, so media companies should be proactive by investing in R&D to assess and explore new products and solutions before another dot.com takes away their market share. TheNewYorkTimes,forexample,hastakenaproactiveapproachbylaunching its own R&D department dedicated to testing different media convergence approachesandplatforms. 4

Driven By Digital Revenue, Gaining Ground On Non DigitalRevenue

Althoughmediacompaniescontinuetogeneratemostoftheirrevenuethrough their traditional channels, the revenuegeneration model has changed significantlysincetheintroductionoftheInternet.Accordingtoarecentreport issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the ratio of revenues from nondigital channelscomparedtodigitalchannelswas79:21in2008.Butby2013,thestudy projectsthattheratiowillbe69:31. AsmoreconsumersbecomecomfortableusingtheWebandmobiledevices,the ratio of nondigital revenue to digital revenue is likely to continue trending towards50:50perhapseventothepointwheredigitalrevenuewillbecomethe numberone revenue source for media companies. Innovations in Web and mobileplatformswillonlycausethetrendtoaccelerate. This trend is something media company executives have seen coming for quite some time. The magazine and newspaper industries are especially feeling the effectsofreadersbecomingmorecomfortablewithaccessingcontentonlinevs. reading hardcopy versions. And although the Internet has not yet produced as much of an adverse effect on television and radio, the Internet still offers a tremendous opportunity to strengthen branding and generate additional revenue. When viewers start to not only watch television shows and listen to radioprograms,butalsovisitthecompany'swebsiteforadditionalcontent,new revenue and branding opportunities emerge as consumers enjoy moving from broadcastprogramstoWebcontentandviceversa. Theindustrymustalsoconsiderhowmobiledeviceshavebrokentheboundaries ofpersonalcomputersandopenedanotherchannelforenduserconsumption throughthegrowinguseofdevicessuchassmartphones,tablets,ereaders,and smarttelevisions.WithGartnerpredictingthatmobilephoneswillreplacePCsas themostcommondeviceforWebaccessby2013,theadventofmobiledevices as a key content channel as well as a revenuegeneration channel has become imminent.Thisshiftoftheaudiencelensmeansthatmediacompaniesneedto startacceptingmobiledevicesasanotherpublishingplatform.Theymustinvest in settingup practices and developing innovative applications that provide better,fasterandricherexperiencestomobilecustomers. Newerdevices,suchastheAppleiPad,willperhapshaveanevengreaterimpact ontheindustry.Magazinesandnewspapersmayactuallyseeanuplifttheycan take advantage of because these devices closely replicate the experience of reading print products with interactive enhancements. Television programmers now have the opportunity to create companion applications so that when viewers watch programs on TV, they can interact simultaneously with the programs.

TheChallenge:IntegratingContentProductionAcrossAll Channels
When creating an integrated publishing platform, media companies need to developasolutionthatprovidesaconsistentuserexperienceacrossallcontent channels.Thesolutionalsoneedstomanagecontentworkflowtoensuretimely updates,anditshouldhelpmaintaincontentandbrandingconsistencyamongall channels.Ifthesechallengesgounanswered,companiesfacethethreatoflosing theiraudienceormissingopportunitiestogainnewaudiences.

Convergingcontent productionrequiresanew paradigmintheway contentisproduced.It requiresmajor organizationaland operationalchangesalong withanewcontent productionplatform.

The challenge in addressing the threat and the opportunity that the Internet presents to the media industry is that most companies do not have tight integration among their content distribution channels. This creates two problems:First,userexperiencestendtobeinconsistentwhenaudiencesmove from one medium to the next. For example, they may read an article in a magazine and then visit the magazine website without experiencing the same brandinglookandfeel. Second, lack of integration causes extra manpower productionwork and inefficiencies. For example, newspapers and magazines have traditionally produced content for their print version first and then turned the content over the digital team, which manipulates and enhances the content for the Web or mobile channels. The more effective approach is to create the content once regardlessofaspecificchannelinanenterprisecontentmanagementsystemand thenpublishitacrossmultiplechannelsprint,theWeb,ormobiledevices. In moving towards an integrated enterprise content managementplatform, the challengethatmediacompaniesfaceisasmuchanorganizationalchallengeasit isatechnologychallenge.Mostmediacompanieshaveaseparategroupthatis responsible for digital products. Converging content production requires a new paradigm in the way content is produced. It requires major organizational and operational changes along with a new content production platform. Media companies should no longer tie their content to a specific channel but rather producethecontentregardlessofthechannel.Thisprovidesgreaterflexibilityin terms of leveraging the content for new distribution channels and revenue streams.

Although creating an integrated publishing platform represents a monumental challenge,itcanbesuccessfullyachievedwithproperinvestmentandexecutive sponsorship.Afteryearsofrunningseparateoperations,afewmediacompanies, suchastheWashingtonPost,havemergedprintanddigitaloperationsandare implementing content management platforms that support the converged publishing model. Without going through a transformation such as this, media companiesmayrisklosingsignificantmarketsharetocompetitorsthattransform quicklyandsuccessfully. The challenge has been made even greater as the media industry has gone throughaconsolidationphasewithmanymergersandacquisitions.Thishasled to a proliferation of brands within single organizations along with the concomitantbaggageofdifferentprocesses,platforms,datastoresandcustomer bases that are even more difficult to integrate. This has led to further fragmentationofbrandsanduserbases.Mediacompaniescouldseeincreasesin viewership if they integrate and leverage content across multiple brands. With the recent acquisition of the Travel Channel, for example, Scripps Network whichalsoownsFoodNetworkandHGTVispresentedwithagreatopportunity tocrosspromotebrandsandofferricherproductstoviewersinterestedintravel, leisureandfoodbyintegratingcontentfromtheseproperties. This is a challenge that can be overcome through media convergence. But managing content creation and publishing across a heterogeneous application portfolio is any mediacompany executives nightmare. Executives first need to align business priorities with budgets and then overcome the reluctance of makingtheinvestmentwhileknowingwheretoinvestandwhetherornottotake therisk.

Onceacompanyhas determinedtomakethe organizationalcommitment toconvergeitscontent production,thenextstepis toalignwithabusiness processandtechnology partnerthatknowshowto accomplishthetask.

BusinessRequirementsMustDriveConvergence
Once a company has determined it's ready to make the organizational commitmenttoconvergeitscontentproduction,thenextstepistoalignwitha businessprocessandtechnologypartnerthatknowshowtoaccomplishthejob. Taking this approach is critical because process and technical challenges will undoubtedlyemergealongtheway. Oneofthekeyattributestolookforinapartneriswhetheritunderstandsthat the requirements of the business will drive the integration of the content channelsas opposed to the technology driving the integration. The right partner understands that contentproduction needs should be considered first, and they will know how to advise on the business processes that need to be implemented. The right partner knows what challenges a media company will face in implementingsuchasolutionandbringswithitbestpracticesandacceleratorsto complete the job quickly and efficiently. Some areas that are often overlooked includedetermininghowtomigratecontentfromtheexistingplatformsandhow to build the new information architecture. It's also critical to consider performance,scalabilityandusabilityrequirements.

Identify a Technology Partner with Proven Business ProcessExperience

Besuretopartnerwithanexperiencedfirmthathasprovenexpertise.Withthis experiencecomesintellectualpropertyandacceleratorssuchasreusablecode objectsthat speedup the implementation of new content management platforms. An experienced partner can also help media companies streamline contentmanagementprocessesandcreateefficiencies. Itisalsoimportanttoconfirmthepartnerhasexperienceindevelopingrichuser experiences across the multiple channels and knows how to leverage Web 2.0 featurestoimprovethevisitorstickinessquotientandwalletshareasuserscome backnotonlytoabsorbmorecontent,butalsotointeractwithyourcompany and provide feedback. This elevated customer relationship creates additional opportunities for crossselling and upselling as well as improved customer loyalty. Whenreviewingthecredentialsofaprospectivepartner,checktoseeiftheycan demonstrateexperiencethatprovesthesekeycapabilities:

IntegratedMultiChannel ContentPublishingPlatform Benefits:

Increases monetization opportunities
by using existing content for Web andmobiledevicechannels. Expands user bases and improves usagebycateringtoWebandmobile customers. Leverages the enhanced stickiness quotient of customers accessing contentthroughtheWebandmobile devices. Improves employee productivity by providing easy access to all content fromvariouspublishingchannels. Increases customer satisfaction by providing content through multiple channelsoftheirchoice. Integrates brand visibility across broadcast, print, Web and mobile channels. Enhances online presence as well as primarycontentchannelpresence. Reducestimetomarketofmarketing and advertising programs that also generatenewrevenues.

Builds multichannel, scalable platforms that empower media companies to

easily manage, promote, and deliver flexible, rich content and digital assets acrossallchannels.

Reviews, restructures, standardizes and enhances all content to enable easy

reuse.

Captures, stores, manages, integrates and delivers multiple content formats

toallowaccesstoawiderandmorediverseuserbase.

Delivers a rich media and video management solution to improve revenue,

trafficanduserengagementbyenablingdeliveryofamorefulfillingcontent experience.

Creates a robust, engaging Web experience that delivers multiple initiatives

rapidlyandcosteffectively.

Conducts content review, architectural assessment, performance tuning,

internationalization, and endtoend implementation as well as support and maintenanceservices. The complexity of integrating traditional and online content platforms is illustrated by the number of components to be considered for potential integrationinordertobuildawebsite.Mediacompaniesmayneedtointegrate closeto30componentssuchascustomcontent,advertising,video,data,email, blog postings, customer polls, customer questionnaires, slide shows, maps, keyword searches, newsletter subscriptions, merchandise shopping, RSS feeds and mobiledevice interaction. Some media companies may not require integration for all of these components, but each area must to be considered. Havingabusinessprocessandtechnologypartnerhelpyouworkthroughallthe choicesandprovidethenecessaryintegrationisparamount.

TravelChannelCaseStudy
While creating an integrated multichannel content publishing platform, the Travel Channel faced several challenges: providing uniform user experiences; managingcontentworkflow;ensuringtimelycontentupdates;lackofconsistency betweentelevisionprogramcontentandwebsites;andcateringtoglobalusers. The company's websites also suffered from performance issues, especially as boththevolumeofinformationandthenumberofusersgrew. Virtusaconductedworkshopstounderstandthebusinessprocessflowandthen created the design as well as the architecture for an effective and robust content/website management system. The solution allowed Travel Channel to leverage a single, integrated multichannel publishing framework to collaboratively create, manage, deliver, and archive information that drives business operationsfrom documents, records and discussions to email, Web pages,andrichmedia. Virtusa also seamlessly integrated existing applications with a Vignette Content Management System to streamline the viewing and downloading of videos. IntegrationofAdvanceGoogleMapwiththewebsiteallowedfordisplayoftravel mapsandguideswithfeaturesanditineraries.FeatureslikeShare,Link,Rating, blogs, and discussion forum were also added and integrated to the website to make it a dynamic, Web 2.0 based portal. The solution has led to several key benefitsfortheTravelChannel:

Virtusa played a significant role as a strategicpartnerfortherelaunchofour website," said Drew Fredrick, Sr. Director IT & Technology, Travel Channel Media. "Virtusa's Vignette expertise and flexible engineering approach enabled us to adhere to the challenging timeline and deliver a high quality website with enhanced social media features. Virtusa's technical and operational expertise helped us overcome significant infrastructure and technicalchallengesduringthecourseof development by coordinating both on shoreandoffshoreresourcestomanage the schedule and the timeline. The end result is a new and improved user experienceaswellasasitethathasbeen streamlined for easeofuse and is rich withmultimediacontent.

Integrated brand visibility: The website is aligned with the companys core
brand (TV and print), allowing the Travel Channel to create a powerful, consistentandintegratedbrandpresenceacrossmultiplechannels.

Increased monetization opportunities: The websites enhanced experience

and userfriendly interfaces allowed Travel Channel to improve adrevenue generationfromadvertisersandsponsors.

Improvedcustomerexperience:Thenewwebsitepromotesbettercustomer
stickiness by providing a richer Web experience through enhanced usability and navigation across the website as well as greater interactive capabilities andcollaborationthroughtheuseofEnterprise2.0toolsandservices.

Enhanced online presence: The solution enabled the Travel Channel to

significantlyimproveitsvisibilityontheWebbyimplementingsearchengine optimization best practices for better searchengine ranking and targeted results.

Reduced timetomarket: Delivering the Vignette Content Management

System through Virtusa's optimized global delivery model allowed Travel Channeltoimplementthecontentmanagementsystemfasterandatalower cost.

Conclusion: Integrated Content Publishing Enriches Customer ExperiencesandDifferentiatesYourBrand

Byworkingwithapartnerwhocandemonstratealloftheattributesdescribedinthiswhitepaper,youwillbe wellonyourwaytocreatinganintegratedpublishingplatform.AndwithintegratedWeb,mobile,printand broadcast channels, your viewers and readers will receive a richer experience, which will differentiate your businessfromthecompetition.Whencontentsynchronizeswellwitharichonlineexperience,customersalso feelbetterabouttheirrelationshipwithyourcompanyandaremorelikelytoengagemoreoftenacrossall availablechannels. The traditional revenue channels that media companies have relied on for years will never completely go awayandwillcontinuetoplayamajorroleintheirsuccess.Butintheeverevolvingdigitalworld,itisnow mandatorytointegratethosetraditionalchannelswithonlinechannels.Failuretodosowillmakeitdifficult tothriveandmayevenforcemediacompaniesoutofbusiness. To address this challenge, several media companies have turned to Virtusa which has proven experience demonstrated in all of our client engagements and success stories. Virtusa leverages its experience to acceleratesolutionimplementation andtimetomarket sothatrather thanwaiting one ortwoyearsfora bigbang rollout, media companies can deploy converged platforms in smaller increments that deliver measurable results. Virtusa achieves this by delivering fast, incremental rollouts using application accelerators,bestpracticemethodologiesandagiledevelopmentapproaches. For more information about developing an integrated multichannel content publishing platform, contact Virtusaatsalesinquiries@virtusa.com

AboutVirtusa
Virtusa is a global information technology (IT) services companyprovidingITconsulting,systemsintegrationand applicationoutsourcing.VirtusafocusesonsimplifyingIT by consolidating, rationalizing and modernizing core customer facing processes into one or more core systems. We leverage a global delivery model to offer solutionsatacosteffectivepricepointandemploynew methodssuchasAgileandAcceleratedSolutionDesignto ensure that the right system is delivered the first time. Asaresult,organizationscanreducethecostoftheirIT operations while increasing their ability to meet the changingneedsofthebusiness. For more information on how Virtusa can take your enterprise from where it is to where it needs to be, please contact salesinquiries@virtusa.com or visit us at www.virtusa.com 2010 All rights reserved. Virtusa and all other related logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Virtusa Corporation in the United States, the European Union, and/or India. All other company and service names are the property of their respective holders and may be registered trademarks or trademarks in the UnitedStatesand/orothercountries.

BehzadIllchi

VicePresidentMedia&Entertainment
BehzadIlchiistheVicePresidentofMedia&EntertainmentBusinessUnitatVirtusa Corporation. He has over 25 years of experience working for a wide range of companies in the media and entertainment industry, including Viacom, News Corp, The Washington Post,Simon&Schuster,TheNewYorkTimes,Standard&Poors,NationalGeographic, TravelChannel,TimeWarnerandTribune. Hisexperiencesspanacrosstechnologymanagementandstrategy,largescalesystem implementation, digital media supply chain, intellectual property management, advertisingandecommerce.

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