Goals and Expectations:

Case to automate services

Divo’s model was to build an application that can keep track of movie distribution data and generate metadata sheets. Before AntStack’s intervention, all these processes were done manually. This created three broad concerns for Divo:

• The turnaround time of the sheets was higher (as opposed to an application doing it),
• It was prone to human error,
• It raised reliability issues

In simpler terms, Divo found it hard to keep track of movie distribution data (and its contents)- transcoding of cover art (Image) and metadata sheet generation repeatedly for different OTTs. Additional challenges included limited report data visibility, unable to provide proper data accessibility to their clients, calculating payments for each OTT distribution, and making the payment to the respective OTT.

Divo wanted to address these issues through an application that can keep track of the movie distribution data, generate metadata sheets and provide clear transparent data.

The process and need for a new serverless platform

Divo receives movie content like video files, album art, etc., from production houses. This content is distributed to multiple OTT players like Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, etc. Each of these providers has a different specification for cover art and metadata (title, lead casts, director, producer, etc.).

This transcoding and metadata generation process was manually done for each OTT. This manual process would bring in errors/inefficiencies, as highlighted above.

This movie distribution data was then stored in Google Sheets and was spread across multiple sheets. All the distributions were then sent through emails.

To track any movie, they needed to look for multiple Google Sheets and Email threads. This was not only time-consuming and tedious, but it also created a scope to potentially miss relevant movie data.

Using a serverless platform automated all their processes which were manual so far. It made their process seamless, fast, and error-free.

Data Automation

Data collection and automation are now managed through Lambda functions that handle the business logic. Lambda functions were also configured for S3 triggers to carry out image transcoding and report data capturing. S3 has been used as file storage for cover art, report CSV, and exported files from the platform.

AntStack designed the solution using AWS serverless resources (API gateway, lambda, aurora serverless, etc.).

Divo’s turnaround time from days was reduced to a few hours!

Smooth Transitioning

Divo wanted to get rid of manual practices that can be automated. This required fast and seamless transitioning. AntStack is building a system for Divo that would be error-free and would not require manual monitoring. AntStack created an API with a Lambda or HTTP for fast integration.

Cost-effective Solution

As Divo’s practice earlier was manual, this meant high costs of human resources.

AntStack’s solution to Divo was to create an API Gateway with Lambda functions utilizing serverless services.

The part that won Divo was that they only paid for what they consumed. It allowed them to use the service exactly when and how much they wanted to, boosting flexibility and reducing cost.

Secure Data Protection

While the project is still under implementation, Divo is able to offer faster access to data to its clients. Using a secure connection with Https and managing Lambda resources with the AWS Management Console encrypts the communication and reduces the chances of exposing data.