Global media brand ViacomCBS makes AWS preferred cloud partner

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is continuing to grow its customer base in the media and entertainment space, with the news that global brand ViacomCBS has made the firm its preferred cloud provider partner.

This means AWS is now the go-to cloud provider for ViacomCBS’s global broadcast and media operations, and will be tasked with migrating its entire broadcast footprint – spanning 425 linear television channels – to the public cloud.

According to ViacomCBS, the move constitutes one of the largest-scale digital transformations ever to take place within the media and entertainment industry to-date.

“The migration will enable ViacomCBS to drive greater efficiencies and cost savings, simplify access to content for its licensing partners, and reliably deliver new viewing experiences to consumers by broadcasting and streaming content on any device,” the companies said, in a joint statement.

The pair have also committed to co-developing a cloud-based broadcast hub to enable ViacomCBS to refine its media supply chain processes so that it can bring new channels to market faster, dynamically assemble live content with greater ease, and add image and video analysis to its applications.

To deliver on this plan, the company said it will make use of AWS’s media industry-focused suite of products, including the video processing-portfolio of AWS Elemental services.

ViacomCBS said it plans to combine AWS Elemental with the facial recognition software, Amazon Rekognition, and its machine learning library building tool, Amazon SageMaker to rapidly expand its video processing capabilities and create tools that enable the firm to predict audience viewing trends.

Phil Wiser, executive vice-president and chief technology officer at ViacomCBS, said: “With AWS, we will be able to automate and streamline our processes for content production, licensing, and distribution to consumer streaming services and innovate faster to deliver improved customer experiences.

“We are thinking and acting aggressively to build on the major disruptions that ViacomCBS is bringing to the market with our leading global content and services. AWS’s deep portfolio of services will help us unleash the power of content in new and interesting ways that benefit our advertisers, licensing partners, and streaming services.”

Greg Pearson, vice-president of worldwide commercial sales at AWS, said the work ViacomCBS is planning will enable it to cut costs and ramp up its ability to innovate.

“Moving its broadcast media operations to AWS gives ViacomCBS the agility to lower costs, take advantage of new distribution models, and drive efficiency and innovation across its entire global media operations.

“Using AWS’s proven operational experience and unparalleled portfolio of services, ViacomCBS can create and deliver new video content experiences with the utmost reliability and reach audiences no matter what platform they use.”

News of the deal comes hot on the heels of a series of other customer announcements the public cloud giant has made this week involving clients in the media space, including MGM and Thomson Reuters.