Reaching that ambitious goal of becoming a sustainable company is undoubtedly a "trendy" topic right now not only in the media industry, but across all the industries. When thinking about sustainability, we think about what a company has to give up or sacrifice to reduce its negative impact on climate change. And it is understandable, considering how astonishing environmental impact numbers are. For example, according to the Sustainable Production Alliance, producing one episode of a scripted drama series generates 77 tons of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of 10 homes for a year.
However, it is easy to forget that sustainability is not only about sacrificing for the sake of climate, but also remaining economically viable. In the end, the sustainability equation has to be balanced between both economical and environmental considerations.
So, let's take a look at how sustainable initiatives can benefit both your media supply chain and environment.
Win #1: Less energy-demanding equipment = more efficient use of resources
Planet: Innovations don't stand still, but constantly progressing and creating more efficient and therefore, planet-friendly solutions. Media industry relies predominantly on energy-consuming on-premise setups, which are also often highly inefficient. As a result, such setups largely contribute to overall carbon footprint. Fortunately, thanks to cloud computing, many hardware driven workflows are possible to run in the cloud. For example, such hardware can be already accessed in the cloud: transcoding, CDNs, video editing workstations, broadcast and live streaming infrastructure, playout systems and many more. This tech development significantly reduces the dependency on energy-demanding on-premise setups and standardises a more sustainable energy-usage with cloud-driven workflows.
Media: So, how can hardware-free workflows benefit media businesses? You might have already guessed that with all those energy efficient cloud processes, your company could probably greatly benefit from a more efficient use of internal resources. The thing about cloud, that it is very flexible. Meaning that you can scale-up and scale-down your cloud setups according to the specific needs of the project, which is impossible to achieve with hardware-driven workflows. On top of that, cloud solutions are constantly kept up-to-date what assures a significantly longer life-cycle of your setups. At the same time, you do not have to worry anymore about the maintenance as it is already handled by the provider.
Win #2: Less polluting transportation = more efficient collaboration
Planet: Did you know that travel is one of the biggest contributors to carbon footprint in the media industry? Both production teams and equipment are constantly on the move for on-location filming, live events or production. All this travelling might be exciting for teams, but not very much for our environment. Fortunately for the planet, cloud can also empower collaborative and productive work just from the comfort of your home. In fact, according to the environmental organisation - Albert, during the pandemic, when most of the countries had travel restrictions, yearly average carbon emissions were dropped by more than two times in the TV industry!
Media: So, the planet is happy and what about media businesses then? Even though many companies were sceptical about remote working, it actually increased teams productivity and overall performance. Media industry is not an exception. Many cloud-based solutions empower production teams to access powerful collaborative tools without the need to physically share the same space with each other. Your teams can manage equipment, share and edit extensive files, seamlessly collaborate and generally perform the entire media lifecycle from anywhere in the world. Such tools can greatly improve flexibility, productivity and overall job satisfaction of your teams while the company can benefit from cost-saving on rent, utilities and transportation. On top of that, your business is not limited to only local talents anymore - you are now open to a broader range of potential candidates, what increases the quality of the workforce.
Win #3: Less resource-intensive legacy = more streamlined workflows
Planet: Legacy systems are not only harmful for the business, but also for our planet. Such systems require way more energy compared to modern solutions. Moreover, many of them should run without shutting down, what also leads to a significant increase of carbon emissions. However, there is a way how a media company can change that. Thanks to technological innovations, there are many cloud-based solutions as well as hardware, which can create a significantly more sustainable infrastructure, which can handle more workload while using less energy compared to legacy systems.
Media: It is not hard to guess how changing old to new systems can benefit media businesses. Your media supply chain will be able to progress way faster thanks to countless integrations possibilities and automations of manual activities. What in turn results in faster time to market. It is especially important right now as media consumers demand more content, faster delivery, multi-channel accessibility and personalised experience at the same time. With the power of updated infrastructure, your teams can focus on generating more great content and not waste time on solving manual tasks.
As you can see, sustainability is not built on sacrifices, but on innovations where both planet and business can prosper in harmony with each other. And above all, if you do everything right, your company can win hearts and minds of your target audience as sustainability has become one of the top considerations for a modern consumer.
By the way, Pluxbox is happy to help in streamlining your media supply chain for reaching your sustainability goals!