InBroadcast - February 2022 - 61

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 12 - Issue 2 | February 2022
61
InMedia
Making Video More
Sustainable
By Ian McDonough, CEO, Blackbird...
T
he TV industry's effort to make
production sustainable may be
fatally undermined if the full cost of
carbon from camera to consumer is
not taken into account.
Watching online videos is not a
passive activity when it comes to
saving the planet. In fact, the total
energy that goes into powering the
internet's data centers, servers and
networks that stream video content
generates 300 million tons of carbon
dioxide a year - equivalent to 1% of
global emissions, according to The
Shift Project.
Another calculation noted
by
supply chain consultancy Ramprate
estimated that the carbon cost of
viewing linear TV in the old-fashioned
manner in 2018 was 62 million tons.
Meanwhile, TV streaming accounted
for 19% of TV viewing
yet was
responsible for 31.6 million tons of
CO2 in 2020-essentially doubling the
emissions caused by linear TV.
The Cost Of Streaming TV
The carbon cost figures are for the
U.S. only and are based on the 119
million households
identified
that
trend
Nielsen with homes with TVs in the
country.
Alarmingly, if
by
is
extrapolated to the most affluent half
of the world's population (3.8 billion
consumers), then this would equate
to 3.6% of global emissions. That is
nearly double the annual CO2 output
of the global aviation industry.
The Shift Project arrived at similar
conclusions. It found that the share
of
digital
technologies
(servers,
networks, terminals) in global
greenhouse gas emissions increased
from 2.5% to 3.7% between 2013 and
2019, and this footprint is predicted
to double again by 2025.
What can be done?
Consider the carbon
cost of a single email. It
could be as minuscule
as 0.3g of CO2, but if you
sent just one fewer email
a day, it could save over
16,433 metric
carbon in a year.
tons
Imagine, then, the cost
transporting high bitrate
around. It is
inefficient, and it
of
video
unnecessary, it is
is unsustainable.
When we realize that every little bit
counts, no matter how fractional,
then awareness of the issue becomes
part of the solution.
The industry is beginning to act.
Amazon has committed to being net
carbon zero by 2040. Google aims
to be carbon-free by 2030, ensuring
that its data centers are powered
by renewable energy.
purchases
Netflix says
it
comes
Content
renewable energy
certificates and carbon offsets to
compensate for any
energy
from fossil
delivery
fuel
that
sources.
network Akamai
has pledged to power all of its global
operations with renewable energy by
2030.
Another key
AT&T-owned
is in production.
European pay-TV
broadcast group Sky aims to achieve
net carbon neutrality in all of its
production activity by 2030. Dozens
of
broadcasters
and
production
companies - including BBC, ITV,
Endemol Shine Group and Warner
Bros. - are members of Albert, an
initiative set up by BAFTA to help
reduce the amount of CO2 and to
raise awareness of the environmental
impact of program-making.
Every Little Byte Counts
A primary carbon cost of making
live programming lies in transporting
kit and crew to a venue. Traditionally,
this involves dozens to hundreds of
technicians, producers and on-air
talent - which, at the largest events,
involves significant air travel, road
freight and hotel accommodation.
The broadcast industry has been
gradually pivoting to a model that
enables more of the production to
be done remotely and where crew
remain in a single central location or
even in their own homes.
It
is a movement that has been
accelerated by the necessity to keep
live sports on the air during the
pandemic. While remote production
approaches make immediate savings
in budget and carbon footprint, even
more can be done. This involves
taking steps to reduce the amount of
data - the bits and bytes of the signal
that travels from venue to production
hub for a program to be made.
We
collaborated
with
Element on a report
on
how new technologies can
reduce the carbon impact
of routine video editing and
post-production activity, and
we believe browser-based workflows
that function at lower bandwidths
come out on top.
Move Less Data And People Around
In conventional
including most
current
production,
remote
of
productions, all raw video
feeds are transferred to
the production
center to be
touched (such as
adding graphics)
before being
transmitted. The vast
majority of video acquired
from multiple cameras at
the event is transported
Green
over networks
to the production
center but does not form part of
the final program. This is clearly
wasteful.
By contrast, being able
to work
on high-quality " proxy " (copies) of
the original video means less data
is moved around. You just move
the high bitrate content needed for
publishing the final product - and you
only need to do that once.
There is no need to constantly
upload and download video every
time the program is manipulated
prior to going to air. It is extremely
carbon-efficient, so much so that
the report suggests that for a live
event lasting two weeks - such as the
Olympics - a browser-based solution
using lower power can be six times
more carbon efficient
than other
methods.
The transition to a browser-based
solution starts by planning to make
content accessible from anywhere.
When content
to certified
is
any
team members
internet-connected
device,
workflows and processes can be
transformed.
Workflows for the production of
for delivery
content
to different
outlets - social, digital and broadcast
- will converge. Processes such as
corporate branding and
subtitling are automated in
parallel. Greater efficiency
reduces the transport
data and enables producers
to create more content at less cost.
TV is
responding. In its
latest
report, Albert shows that one hour of
TV contributes the equivalent of 9.2
tCO2e/hr, which is a 10% drop from
10.2 tCO2e/hr in 2017. While the
impact of many production activities
has reduced significantly, the report
also says carbon emissions from
travel and transport have
risen consistently between
2017 and 2019.
The media industry
has a responsibility to
communicate and to take a lead. We
are already seeing a response to the
challenge, but we can all do more.
https://www.blackbird.video
freely available
from
of
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.blackbird.video https://www.blackbird.video https://www.blackbird.video/solution/ https://www.blackbird.video/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Video-Shouldnt-Cost-The-Earth_Spring-2021.pdf https://www.blackbird.video https://wearealbert.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/albert_AnnualReport_19-20.pdf https://www.blackbird.video
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