AEG确保直播流事件永远不会失败

[Note: This sponsored interview was recorded at 流媒体 West 2012.]

AEG streams live events for some of the biggest entertainment properties around, 所以它必须每次都提供完美的体验. 这是一个不小的成就. 最近在洛杉矶举行的流媒体西部会议上, 乔·爱因斯坦, AEG的技术服务和运营高级副总裁, 坐下来接受红毯面试.

"We have eight days of fuel on site, 所以我们可以失去LADWP电力8天. 我们有燃料合同，”爱因斯坦解释说. “我们每个季度都对发电机进行负载测试. 最重要的是，我们的互联网提供商存在多样性. 我们总是在冗余的入口点进入cdn. So it's sort of that never can fail, whether it's a $5,000事件 or a $2 million event. 我们用同样的设备、经验和人员来对待它, 因为有5美元的人,000事件, to him it's just as important as the Academy Awards are or the Grammys or the Super Bowl."

而AEG让直播活动看起来很容易, 创建上传和分发系统需要投入大量精力.

"The biggest challenge right now that we see is education on how complicated the process actually is, 如果你想交付一些永远不会失败的东西,爱因斯坦说. “有, 你知道, from a production to signal acquisition to encoding to delivery to supporting every device. 这很复杂. 我们试图尽可能地简化这个过程, but if you want to support every device and every connected television with a six-hour event that's coming from even just one location, 这是一项相当艰巨的任务."

想了解更多AEG是如何将直播活动放到网上的，请观看下面的完整视频.

埃里克: I'm Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, the editor of 流媒体杂志 and StreamingMedia.com. 我和乔·爱因斯坦在一起, who's the Senior Vice President of Technical Services and Operations for AEG Digital Media. 嗨,乔.

乔最近怎么样?

埃里克: 伟大的,伟大的.

乔:太好了.

埃里克: Thanks to you and AEG for sponsoring our Red Carpet interviews and for doing a couple interviews with us. 给不知道的观众和读者, 请先从高层次上介绍一下AEG数字媒体公司, 然后我们开始深入研究.

乔:好吧. AEG Digital Media is a technical services company when it comes to live events, 一般来说是线性直播和在线直播. We run a broadcast operations center in Los Angeles here for supporting some of the biggest events like the Academy Awards and the Grammys, 还有很多全天候的线性服务, all the way down to your small nonprofit-based events that pass through our facility.

埃里克: 现在, your online broadcast center here in Los Angeles or just outside of L.A. 是你能提供的非常重要的一部分，AEG能带来什么. 告诉我们那里发生了什么. OBC发生了什么事?

乔: So we built the facility from a broadcast background so we'd 说 never can fail, 一切都是多余的, 任何一次故障都不会影响整个事件. 我们汇集了我们在世界各地举办的所有活动的所有视频. We have partnerships that give us acquisition facilities in Europe and Sydney and Asia-Pac. 我们把所有的都带入L.A. 然后我们处理任何点播内容, 生活内容, and then usually push that into one of our CDN partners like Akamai for delivery through a platform that has the player as well as any social media and any other metadata around the live experience.

埃里克: 现在, from a technical standpoint, what does AEG offer that perhaps some other companies don't?

乔我认为最重要的是可靠性. 所以我们有, 你知道, 考虑到刚刚在纽约发生的事, 我们有, 这是一个很好的例子, 我们在现场有八天的燃料, 所以我们可以失去LADWP电力8天, 我们有燃料合同. 我们每季度对发电机进行负荷测试. 最重要的是，我们的互联网提供商存在多样性. 我们总是在冗余的入口点进入cdn. So it's sort of that never can fail, whether it's a $5,000事件 or a $2 million event. 我们用同样的设备、经验和人员来对待它, 因为有5美元的人,000事件, to him it's just as important as the Academy Awards are or the Grammys or the Super Bowl.

埃里克: 正确的. 现在, 再一次。, 从技术角度来看, what do you see as the biggest challenges and perhaps opportunities facing the streaming of large or small live events coming up in the next 6 to 12 months, 你认为AEG和整个行业会如何回应他们?

乔: Think the biggest challenge right now that we see is education on how complicated the process actually is. 如果你想交付一些永远不会失败的东西. 有, 你知道, from a production to signal acquisition to encoding to delivery to supporting every device. 这很复杂. 我们试图尽可能地简化这个过程, but if you want to support every device and every connected television with a six-hour event that's coming from even just one location, 这是一项相当艰巨的任务.

埃里克: 正确的. 除此之外, 所以AEG提供了从汤到坚果的整个工作流程, 但你也提供客户可以来找你的托管服务, 如转码、编码和信号采集.

乔:是啊.

埃里克: Which services are you seeing the most interest in and demand for right now?

乔: Think one of the big services we're seeing is as everyone's focused right now on, “我如何获得更多内容?"

埃里克: 正确的.

乔显然是为了获得更多的内容, 基本的商业经济学是价格点需要下降. So we are rolling out with a lot of our clients a managed service product. So it's sort of a hybrid between your traditional co-location - you'd have at a data center and your traditional video services that you'd buy from a video provider. 我们要把所有这些都放在一个四分之一货架上给我们的客户. 他们按月支付这种服务的费用. 他们可以随时使用那些硬件. It's usually a hybrid between what we manage and they manage but they have remote access. They can make profile changes, but when their live events come along, they give us the coordinates. 他们说, “嘿, 我需要把丹佛的信号输入我的编码器,“我们只是为他们管理那一块. So it's much lower event-based cost, because we're not charging them a setup fee. It's sort of all bundled into this longer-term contract they have which allows them to generate 5, 10, 每周50场活动, 如果他们愿意.

埃里克: 正确的. 我发现你做的一件很吸引人的事就是你的方式, 你知道, 尽管AEG来自广播背景, you've really gotten ahead of things like social media and second screen experiences with your HAWK and MC platforms, tell us about the kinds of unique interactive social media type of experiences that you can bring to a live event that takes it beyond simply a picture of a concert on a screen.

乔:当然. 所以我认为这是一种生活经验, whether it's a companion experience to a broadcast or it's just an online experience, we're seeing we're using social media to not only drive traffic to the event but allow people that are watching the event to talk about the event and share photos around the event. 不一定是活动的照片, but a photo of Bob and his cat watching the show gets posted and then we share that back out. 然后每个人都开始上传他们的猫看节目的照片. So it just sort of drives the engagement and then we see the viewer times go up, 这显然会让内容提供商更高兴. It makes the advertising partners happier and it makes the content delivery companies happier. So it sort of all-around just sort of generates more business and makes all of the partners get more out of the experience.

埃里克: 正确的. 最重要的是什么, 当你最后回首时, 说, 12个月左右, what are some of the most memorable or exciting events or unique events that AEG has delivered.?

乔特别是我们与广播公司合作的活动.

埃里克: 嗯嗯.

乔: So it's things like Academy Awards or "Glass House" that was on ABC where there really, 你知道, 以前有个网络节目, 然后是这个广播节目. 他们是分开的. 他们没有共享任何百家乐软件，也没有共享预算. 我们在去年看到了这一点. Started about two years ago, but it's really now the broadcast guys are 说ing, “嘿. This is an actual medium that we can make money on and really extend the experience." And as we see those two really consolidate into sort of one message to the consumer, 这看起来很酷.

埃里克: 非常酷的. 到处都是激动人心的时刻. 我一直在采访AEG数字媒体公司的乔·爱因斯坦. 我是Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen，流媒体西部报道.

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