DPP publishes guidance for VOD supplier onboarding

The DPP, the media industry’s business network, has today published Guidance DPP007: Best practices for content supplier onboarding. The document explores the content supplier onboarding process with a specific focus on VOD platforms. A successful onboarding process ensures content and data are shared efficiently between sender and receiver.

In 2020’s Supplying the VOD Revolution, research with DPP members concluded that onboarding is a major pain point in the VOD supply chain, with inconsistencies in the overall process, as well as in formats and documentation.

Based on the input of over 30 DPP member companies, including major international streaming platforms and content owners, Guidance DPP007 provides advice available to the whole industry. It sets out commonly agreed best practices that are simple to implement and can drive significant time and cost savings. It is recommended reading for both senders and receivers of VOD content.

“The publication of DPP007 demonstrates the power of DPP member companies working together”, said DPP CTO, Rowan de Pomerai. “Using our structured approach to facilitating industry collaboration, we identified a key item of concern in the content supply chain. It resonated with content owners and platforms around the world, and they responded by joining the effort to improve the onboarding process for everyone involved.”

Guidance DPP007 breaks down the onboarding process into a structured set of steps, each with actionable recommendations. These steps enable organisations to simplify and improve communication, documentation, and technical integration.

“This DPP Guidance is a comprehensive tool to be used for aligning content providers and distribution partners when it comes to VOD delivery,” said Alessandro Capitani, Senior Operations Manager, Disney. “The document is a common reference for all matters regarding VOD Onboarding. This results in a shorter time to complete the onboarding process, and smoother ongoing delivery. Another good example of the role of DPP in the media industry for facilitating our daily jobs.”

The document examines three key areas of onboarding documentation - technical, project, and operational - and examines the steps required for a successful workflow build and testing process.

Abigail Hughes, Vice-President Growth EMEA, Premiere Digital added: "This is an invaluable piece of work, allowing DPP member companies to explore the multiple facets of the process of onboarding, and benefit from a deeper and broader understanding of one of the most complex challenges in content distribution. This guidance brings some much-needed structure to the process and highlights the importance of mutual understanding and collaboration. Such guidance is vital in helping companies realise efficiencies in this key part of the distribution supply chain".

Work is underway on a related technical publication, Recommendation DPP008. This will explore the mapping of AMWA AS-11 metadata within the MovieLabs Digital Distribution Framework, enabling users of AS-11 to migrate to a more richly featured metadata set, driving a more common metadata approach for delivery of content to VOD platforms.