At the June StreamTV Show in Denver, Hollie Choi, managing director for the Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR), participated in the panel “The Benefits of Standardizing: An Industry’s Approach to Standardizing Live Metadata,” sharing how making media metadata standardized is akin to having shipping containers standardized.
“You can ship things all over the world in the same container, which means you can use all the same equipment to load and unload different equipment as long as it’s compatible with that shipping container size, shape, weight,” Choi said. “And that standard metadata begins with standard identification.”
Choi was joined on stage by moderator Haywood Batchelor, partner engagement manager for YouTube; Steve Maher, TV partner engineering lead for YouTube; Alvaro Castillo, COO for Simply TV; and Damien Sanchez, VP of partner operations for NBCUniversal. Their discussion centered around how streaming metadata still lacks that “shipping container” moment that revolutionized global logistics.
Instead of a universal standard, content providers and distributors are stuck in a relentless cycle of data normalization and bespoke specifications. Choi and other panelists examined how collective alignment on a shared specification can finally bridge the gap for live and linear programming.
“That ‘shipping container’ concept for metadata would allow for true standardization, and that starts with EIDR,” Choi said.
The StreamTV Show, held June 16-19 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort, has become one of the top events for the streaming media industry, bringing together executives, content leaders, technology innovators, advertisers, and distributors. “There’s a lot of really good programming,” Choi said. “It’s where all the cool kids go with a lot of good networking.”