Definition: Dark Media
Dark media is unindexed, unanalysed and is basically unsearchable. It exists, but it is not monetizable if it can’t be used.
The Solution:
Run analytics; image recognition, AI algorithms across your media set to build up databases of metadata that enable search. Searchable media archives have revolutionised how archives are used – from cash drains to valuable information sources.
The Problem: Egress / access fees to your own data
So what’s the problem with that? Well – no problem unless you have Egress fees. And that problem is compounding quickly :-
- Metadata extraction algorithms are iterating and improving all the time – you want and need to run the latest and best ones.
- This often results in the need to RE-ANALYSE your ENTIRE archive.
- Meanwhile some people are putting their archives into cloud storage that charges a fee to access your own data. This fee can literally cost $100,000s of on archives stored in deep storage – making the real cost of analysis a crazy blocker to using your own archive.
- Without this analysis the archive cannot be re-used, re-purposed and monetised.
This problem is occurring in part because the analytics tools are nascent and only just coming of age, at the same time as some people are making some very locked-in choices about where to keep their media content archives: at times in locked in cloud environments.
