ITV to use AI/ML to dramatically accelerate tasks

ITV is using Prime Focus Technologies’ AI/ML tool Clear Vision Cloud to automatically find key marker points in long-form content.

ITV currently manually marks 12 types of segments in the content – including colour bars, blacks, and slates, and creative segments like recaps, PRTS, credits, program part segments, and bumpers.

Clear Vision Cloud will enable the broadcaster to utilise AI/ML to automate the marking of these segments at 95-100% accuracy. ITV will still use a human to QC the process, but the entire process will be completed in about three minutes instead of the 15-20 minutes it takes when performed manually.

The AI automatically picks up the content and runs AI engines to mark the segments with near 100% detection accuracy and 95-98% frame accuracy, including in creative segments.

Prime Focus Technologies worked jointly with ITV to learn the process and tune its AI engines to deliver the outcomes. A Segmentation proof-of-concept was done jointly and the accuracy was tuned up to the required level so that a QC could be done in less than three minutes.

When a content segment or its signature is not identified by the AI engine and is marked manually during QC, it automatically triggers learning for Vision Cloud’s machine wisdom.

This automatic learning through QC input ensures errors are never repeated and frame accuracy improves every time.

Clear Vision Cloud is hosted on the cloud, so can auto-scale on demand.

Sonny Hanley, controller of content services, ITV, said: “I am very impressed with Clear Vision Cloud and Prime Focus Technologies’ approach to making AI work for us. Prime Focus Technologies understands that each media enterprise is unique both in terms of business objectives and nature of content, and hence the AI solution cannot have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Their AI experts worked with our teams to understand the challenges and deliver a solution that truly meets the efficiency goals we had envisaged when we commissioned this project.”

Nick Kaimakami, EVP and head – EMEA and USA East, Prime Focus Technologies, added: “Clear Vision Cloud will bring about a substantial reduction in time and cost of segment marking and content segment extraction for ITV.”