Mercedes-Benz Shifts into Streaming Gear (Part II)

A typical video shoot – producing 15 minutes of video, to be broken up into shorter clips – runs three days, and requires a crew of five: producer/director, lighting, camera, sound and production assistant. On rare occasions, Thomas takes his crew on location for road footage or shots from a dealership. For some projects, Thomas brings in an editor. He edits many projects himself.

MBUSA currently encodes and streams Windows Media 7 at bit rates of 56Kbps and 100Kbps (new projects will be encoded with the Windows Media 8 codec). But with many technicians using DSL or cable modems from home, the company is considering increasing bandwidth to 300Kbps. While the company employs the latest video codecs, there are no plans to update content previously encoded on earlier codecs. Thomas says, "It’s a moving target. If the legacy content is doing the job for us, and we’ve got other irons in the fire, we’re just going to proceed with the technology."

The company originally looked at both Real and Windows Media, but decided on the Microsoft solution largely because the corporate intranet was Windows-based. Thomas adds, "A big issue for us was support. When we had some technical questions, we got answers when we needed them."

Easy Payments

MBUSA’s streaming media program is just a few months old, but the company is already seeing positive return on investment. Thomas notes, "Our investment was paid back after the second project was completed." As a result, the media development group is moving forward with new content, including a course on the digital communications systems used in Mercedes-Benz cars, and videos detailing service procedures for soon-to-be-released models. Even though MBUSA’s streaming program is still in embryonic stages, the company streamed over 75,000 separate video files last year, and anticipates even more extensive use of the system as word of its capabilities spreads.

Mercedes’ experience with streaming has clearly demonstrated the potential for positive ROI. Other enterprises may soon realize that streaming media can be a valuable tool for just about any company that fixes, assembles or installs sophisticated machinery. It may not be surprising that the early adopters of streaming have been technology driven companies. But after spending its early years on the high-tech fringes of corporate America, it appears that streaming media is about to make a run for America’s industrial heart.