Centralized Graphics: Look Good, Save $$

Two years ago, as part of a corporate mandate to improve efficiencies by consolidating operations wherever possible, Media General centralized graphics for all 18 of its TV stations at corporate headquarters in Richmond, Va.

Dubbed MGFX, the operation "handles news, marketing, sales, outdoor and even a little bit of set design," says General Manager Jim Doyle.

And without conceding any quality, he says, it has whacked 40-50 percent off the group's graphics budget.

"Right now, if you're a TV station, it's all about cost. The responsible thing for any station group...is to explore centralization models," he says.

Groups that haven't already explored "the responsible thing" certainly are now as they try to figure out ways to prop up profit margins in the face of declining revenues and a limping economy.

And broadcasters are being encouraged to centralize by vendors offering the means -- among, them, Vizrt, Chryon, Miranda, Harris and Avid.

The implementation of a graphics hub allows for a substantial reduction in staff costs, reducing -- if not completely eliminating -- graphic artists at stations.

"Let's say you are a group of 15 TV stations," says Grigory Mindlin, VP of creative service for VIZRT. "You can hub all your graphics creation to one station. Where you used to have one or two artists per station, now you have a staff of five in one city. You can do the math."

"Every station typically has one or more artists creating the same graphics as other stations so there's a redundant effort going on," says Teicia Gaupp, technical marketing specialist for Avid On-Air Graphics.

In addition to reduced payroll, proponents say centralization may lead to an overall improvement in graphics since the hub can be staffed with the group's best artists. 

A key is a good order management system that allows stations to request graphics from the hub.

And one of the tricks is to standardize graphics across a group. "You utilize more templates," says Mindlin. "You don't get as many unique graphics."

Standardization is not a negative, says Gaupp. "It gives you a stronger consistency of look across your stations so when you tune in you know that's part of a group."

Avid has been working with Gannett on centralization and other operational efficiencies, including graphics, Gaupp says.

"What we did is went in and helped identify those areas and savings that could be found across many different areas -- savings like brand consistency, more fluid production and fewer resources required to pull it all together," she says.

"We helped them standardize their look. All of their stations had a unique look -- unique graphic elements, logos, theme music -- and all of that stuff drives costs."

Gannett is using Avid's Deko for graphics creation, but Chryron's AXIS as the centralization platform.

Chyron's Todd Martin says AXIS "distributes the graphic workload away from dedicated graphic designers to other staff members at each station, leaving the graphics hub to concentrate on building customized graphics and animations instead of standard news graphics."

According to Martin, AXIS is a hosted application, meaning that there is no need to install proprietary equipment across all stations to make it work because it is all online. "All that is required is a subscription to the service and Chyron handles everything else."

Martin says Chyron's order management tool is "a simple Web entry form [that] creates an order that is added to a list of requests which the designers can fulfill." AXIS, being a centralized solution, allows all users to access newly created material, not just the station making the request, Martin adds.

The Fox Television Stations are in the process of centralizing graphics with AXIS.

For Harris, the core of its solution is a centralized graphics server, Inscriber Connectus.

The system "allows customers to set up a centralized database or file server where all their graphics assets can be stored and accessed," says Curtis Mutter, manager of Harris' G Series Product Line. 

"From any location on the network or across the Internet, users can log in to this database and either publish graphic content or download content to their system," Mutter says, adding that Connectus is "platform agnostic."

"One of the big problems in moving CG graphics around is [that] as the graphics get more and more complex, they're referencing lots of different file types," he says. "What Connectus will do is actually package up all of the required assets and publish them to the server." 

Connectus integrates with Harris' production graphic, master control and branding tools. "We've also integrated directly into the Windows shell," he says. (A version for Mac is in the works.)

"What that will allow you to do is manage any file or folder on your system through the Connectus tool. I can right-click on any file -- a PDF file, a folder containing my After Effects projects -- and I can publish that to the Connectus server. Another user in another location can download that content and continue working."