Warner Bros. successfully integrates eViewer HTML5

HBOMax, the premier streaming service launched in 2020 from Warner Bros., provides subscribers with a library of classic movies, recent blockbusters, HBO shows, and streaming-only original content. Leading up to the launch of the streaming service, Warner Bros. needed their cross-functional teams around the world to review tens of thousands of hours of video content before it is made it available on the streaming platform.

The first step Warner Bros. took to resolve this problem was to migrate from SharePoint 2016 on-premises to SharePoint Online. This gave them the flexibility of adding new users world-wide without deploying new SharePoint farms as well as reducing their overhead costs of managing SharePoint in their IT infrastructure. With SharePoint Online, all of their teams had access to the same video content for review. The next step Warner Bros. needed to accomplish was to be able to easily display the video content, and annotate and comment on the videos in order for the final decision-making team to take a course of action. Warner Bros. needed a viewer that didn’t require the content to be downloaded to the user’s system in order to play the video. After an exhaustive proof of concept (POC) process, Warner Bros. adopted MS Technology’s eViewer v5 to accomplish their goals.

Benefits

• Easily integrates with Microsoft SharePoint Online
• Scalable
• In-built video playback capabilities that support all the required video formats that Warner Bros. has in their SharePoint repository.
• Reviewers have the ability to draw annotations and make comments on video files without altering the video file itself. Each annotation and comment included the user information for the reviewer that created it and a timestamp so other reviewers know who and when created the annotation and comment.

Delivering a user-centric platform and improving productivity to meet deadlines, cost effectively

Easily integrates with Microsoft SharePoint Online

Being a Microsoft Partner, MS Technology has been integrating its products with SharePoint since 2010. With eViewer being a web-based application, it can take full advantage of SharePoint Online and integrating seamlessly with the platform using SharePoint’s API stack. eViewer launches directly from SharePoint Online, enabling users to access the content they need to get their tasks completed.

Scalable

By taking advantage of eViewer’s scalable deployment, Warner Bros. only utilizes resources required to deliver the viewer to the users that need it and only have licenses for those users. As Warner Bros. adjust its users according to business needs, the SharePoint One and eViewer licenses will adjust according to meet their changing demands.

In-built video playback capabilities for all major formats

With eViewer’s in-built video playback capabilities enable Warner Bros.’s users to play, pause, fast forward, and rewind video clips at a touch of the keyboard hotkey or mouse button. eViewer natively supports all the common video formats, which prevented Warner Bros. to costly video format conversions in order to use an HTML5-based viewer. The intuitive design allowed Warner Bros. to quickly onboard users to the application which allowed them to quickly meet tight deadlines for the upcoming HBOMax launch.

Commenting on videos during the reviewing process

From eViewer’s native video playback window, Warner Bros. users are able to add annotations to videos as well as providing comments on the particular spot on the video for other team members to review. These annotations and comments are directly saved to the SharePoint Online repository and will not alter video file itself. Each annotation and comment contain metadata that can be viewed by other users as to who created them and the timestamp of when they were created. This was particular useful so various members know the order in which the annotations were created. Also, these annotations could be deleted or hidden, if necessary, during the review process.

Expanding innovation across the business

As more teams continue to take advantage of eViewer to find new opportunities to innovate, Warner Bros. plans to focus on improving productivity as well as reducing IT overhead.

“We have a number of off-the-shelf products, including some cloud-native technology,” said Santosh Reddy. “The challenge is to make sure the ecosystem is working well while reducing applications that have overlapping functionalities. To that end, we’re planning to expanding Microsoft SharePoint Online with eViewer to gain more flexibility without the need of expensive, cumbersome solutions.”

About Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros.) is an American film and entertainment company headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and now a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is one of the “Big Five” major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).