CASE STUDY

THE LIONS RUSHING DIGITAL YARDS: THE ’ ACCELERATED APPROACH TO MEDIA DISTRIBUTION

The Detroit Lions have an uniquely loyal fan base whose character reflects something in the team itself. Well known for their resilience and dedication, Detroiters — like the team they love — seem to be able to overcome any setback. Whatever it is, Lions fans feel a deep connection to the team, watching countless hours of TV and online coverage every year, from the draft to the final whistle of the season.

However, for Bryan Bender, the Lions Director of Broadcasting and Production, and team, getting edited footage to fans efficiently has been a journey. Prior to the 2013 draft, they really had no good way to deliver content to TV stations and online outlets. After repeated delays and transfer failures trying to send large video files with their FTP system, Bender recalls that his team had “given up on it” but had yet to find an adequate FTP alternative.

Instead, each local station had to travel to the stadium to capture footage. And getting video to stations in other parts of the country in time was expensive and nearly impossible.

Still, the dedicated Lions media team continued to capture their own content. In addition to regular game highlights, they were filming training camps, practices, press conferences, regular practices and interviews of players and coaches; all of which both local and nonlocal stations wanted to air.

+781.221.4051 | WWW.SIGNIANT.COM PROBLEM: ➜➜ Rapid distribution of premium Lions video content from stadiums and other remote locations to broadcast partners and internal customers ➜➜ Inability of FTP solutions to provide efficient, fast or reliable deliveries resulted in expensive, slow and unsustainable workarounds SOLUTION: FINDING AN FTP ALTERNATIVE: SENDING LARGE VIDEO FILES FAST Media Shuttle - the easiest and In preparation for the 2013 draft, the Lions started using Signiant’s Media Shuttle, a SaaS most reliable way to send any size (software as a service) solution for quickly sharing large media files. With Media Shuttle, file, anywhere, fast. they were not only able to reach local and nonlocal stations, but many smaller stations with BENEFITS: limited budgets around the nation. ➜➜ Improved reach to TV Their experience using Media Shuttle for the 2013 draft “sold” them, said Lions Director of stations, including smaller, Broadcasting and Production Bryan Bender. geographically dispersed “We’ve received unsolicited compliments from stations about receiving content,” Bender stations with limited budgets said. ”Media Shuttle has been a big win for us. It was well worth the investment based on ➜➜ Streamlined process of exposure.” distributing timely content to major sports TV networks Soon after installing Media Shuttle, Lions video footage became so popular that every increased national exposure national sports network began contacting them including the NFL Network, ESPN, NBC for the team Sports and Fox Sports. ➜➜ Activity data reporting provided business intelligence for IMPROVED VISIBILITY AND AD SALES ad sales and sponsorship On the operations side, Lions media managers especially appreciated the visibility they programs gained into which stations downloaded content. With data gathered by Media Shuttle, they were able to quantify impressions of the sponsored backdrops featured in player interviews and improve ad sales.

Since then, other than the off-season, the Lions’ Media Shuttle has been in constant use.

“During training camp, we use Media Shuttle every day to distribute material to our media members. It’s a big plus for stations to be able to turn clips around quickly and put them on their evening newscast,” said Bender.

Internally, they also move content back and forth between and their Allen Park headquarters and training facility.

2 | +781.221.4051 | WWW.SIGNIANT.COM FEATURES & CAPABILITIES: ➜➜ FILE ACCELERATION: Proven, secure, reliable acceleration technology ➜➜ BRANDABLE PORTALS: Unlimited of portals in any of three modes: Send, Share, Submit PHOTO BY KENA KRUSTSINGER/GETTY IMAGES ➜➜ FTP AUGMENTATION: No need to migrate content or FILE SIZES HAVE ONLY GROWN WITH 4K recreate folder structures from existing FTP systems Since 2013, the popularity of televised and online football coverage has continued to ➜ DELEGATED ADMIN: Assign grow and — with the trend towards 4K video capture and 4K televisions — video files ➜ day-to-day portal management have grown as well. But Media Shuttle can handle any size file, so the Lions team didn’t to operational team leaders have to worry when files grew from 4K capture, and they won’t have to worry when 8K becomes standard either. ➜➜ CHECKPOINT RESTART: Automatically retries or With Media Shuttle and a hard working media team, the Lions have reached more resumes failed transfers viewers each year, growing their loyal, resilient and dedicated fan base that is so uniquely ➜➜ AUTO DELIVERY: No waiting, Detroit. unattended transfers ➜➜ And more! Interested in learning more? Visit the Media Shuttle product page.

ABOUT SIGNIANT

Signiant is changing the way businesses move large, high-value digital assets around the world and into the cloud. Their on-premises software products were originally adopted by Media & Entertainment enterprises, pioneers in the electronic transport of large files. Over the last decade, Signiant has embraced cloud technology to create next- generation SaaS file transfer and cloud upload solutions with scalable, reliable, cost effective, and easy to deploy capabilities. Today, Media & Entertainment are no longer alone in the need to move massive files, and Signiant’s rapidly growing customer base includes companies with digital assets ranging from satellite imagery and big data analytics to genome sequences and biotech research. Signiant’s technologies work for every size company to provide: accelerated file delivery up to 200 times faster than standard internet transfers; enterprise-class security along with full visibility and control of transfers and storage; and simple user-friendly tools. Find out more at www.signiant.com.

3 | +781.221.4051 | WWW.SIGNIANT.COM