Efficient Workflows for Election Coverage: LiveU’s EcoSystem Solutions

Part 2 of 2

Welcome back to our election journey as we get ready for a very important year in the US, UK, and many other places around the world. If you haven’t read it yet, check out part 1 of this series, where we explore LiveU’s role, outlining our expanded EcoSystem and LiveU advantages for elections coverage.

Now, we’re going to dive deeper into primary and secondary workflows, touching on our EcoSystem offerings and how they fit into these respective workflows.

Let’s pick up where we left off and explore these workflows together!

Primary and secondary workflows – getting the most out of your content assets

Through the LiveU EcoSystem, there are a range of solutions for primary (linear) and secondary (digital) workflows that are particularly valuable in the context of election coverage. We’re going to run through some typical scenarios here.

Primary workflow

For primary workflows, we have the integration between News Room Computer Systems (NRCS) and LiveU Ingest, which follows a full story-based workflow, together with other third-party integrations such as Dina, Mimir, Wolftech and more. So, let’s assume you need to film the conventions with our multi-cam field encoders. You can select the field unit you are going to use, using a multi-cam setup, click the start button to begin transmission, and select the story from the list. With the list from the NRCS, you can easily select the story and start transmission, and the metadata will automatically be coupled with the transmission.

Many elections events are extremely busy and may create network congestion issues. For that we offer our OmniU live IP-video bonded connectivity solutions mentioned in Part 1, which are all about connecting LiveU field units into the right network technology with the right OmniU partner.

If we continue now with our production, with so many stories for the election day and coverage, you may run out of recording capacity in your studio. For that we have LiveU Ingest. LiveU Ingest initiates automatic recording of all feeds streaming from the LiveU field units, as they grow, while applying all the available metadata coming from the selected story or the field unit (with geolocation, date and time etc.). As well as providing peace of mind knowing that all your live content is being recorded, it speeds up the time for your digital teams to publish your content online.

Now you have our feeds captured and secured, you probably need additional content for your primetime evening news program, which can be gathered from other stations in the news pool we are part of. For this you can use LiveU Matrix, the world’s largest IP cloud‑based distribution network. Matrix allows you to receive and share content with any of the LiveU 5,000+ customers and can save you up to 70% on your distribution costs compared to traditional distribution technologies.

Matrix is an essential distribution tool for sharing content with affiliates, public information officers, and community TV stations. It’s increasingly used in the US for public information purposes, e.g. governors and community TV stations, for communicating with a large audience. If you haven’t already, we recommend that you get a Matrix demo now so that you’re up to speed and can automatically incorporate it into your workflow as needed.

Secondary workflow

In parallel, you probably want your digital team to cover the campaign days and election day itself live on social media and other digital channels (including shoulder content and guest interviews). Today, the digital news team is often embedded into the main newsroom so it makes sense to use the same overall system and core resources so that both workflows complement each other for increased efficiency. 

This can be done easily using one of our most important value adds, LiveU Studio, taking advantage of LRT™, with its simple automation, switching, remote control to over 30 digital destinations, easy data integration via our APIs with any HTML5 graphics and more. It makes it easier to bring data-driven graphics like polling charts to the screen, helping to reduce on-air errors by automating more of the workflow. In essence, Studio acts as a video and audio mixer from your web browser, operating in the cloud, meaning that you can work with the best video producers from around the globe, on multiple productions at once.

All your MMJs around the country can be using LiveU field units and see all the units directly within LiveU Studio, along with the option to start and stop broadcasting. Thanks to LiveU Studio’s video and audio mixing capabilities, your operators can decide which feeds they wants to display, in what layout, use transitions and more. The possibilities for engaging live content are endless. This includes producing 24/7 pop-up channels at a moment’s notice and inviting online remote guests and commentators with a simple ‘Click a link to join’ experience for immediate inclusion in the broadcast.

Completing the workflow with monetization and distribution, LiveU Studio enables you to distribute your content to up to 30 destinations: be it your digital broadcast channel, social media, third-party sites, etc. This can even be done in different formats and aspect ratios – everything to serve your needs to quickly create additional content and reach larger audiences. Studio can also output LRT™ so you can bring the Studio program back to the on-prem Studio workflow.

Conclusion

In the dynamic workflow of elections coverage, LiveU is committed to ensuring seamless and efficient live video production. Our EcoSystem works as a comprehensive toolkit, simplifying the process from contribution to cloud-based production and distribution, all based on our robust LRT™ (LiveU Reliable Transport) protocol, that guarantees unwavering performance and reliability. Beyond technology, our core principles revolve around quality, dependability, and cost-effectiveness, supported by our renowned 24/7 customer service.

In this critical election year, count on LiveU not just as a provider of cutting-edge solutions, but as your trusted ally, empowering you to navigate the complexities of coverage with quality, adaptability, and efficiency.

Learn more about how LiveU’s EcoSystem solutions can boost your elections coverage.