Introduction to Collections

Many times programs are aired based on specific themes, genres, or artists. For example, during weekday evenings, music for children might be aired. Every night, music for relaxation or sleep might be played. Instead of playing a specific title, a group of titles that fall under a category is played on repeat every day. To aid in scheduling titles that can be classified by a specific genre artist or theme, we can create a collection.

A collection is a group of assets that allows for efficient planning and delivery of short-form content like music, documentaries, short videos, etc., or long-form content such as movies, e-books, etc

Collections can be curated in two distinct ways according to your requirements and can be further used to create programs.

• Shuffle: To play the content in a random order.

• Sequence: To play the content in the order you specify.

Once you have created an automatic curation collection, it is stored under Collections in the Content Manager. You can then use this collection to schedule as a series (with seasons), open series (without seasons), and single programs in either specific or random sequences.

The Automatic curation collection is labeled as MASTER, and you can view it under the Collection tab in the Content Manager. You can schedule programs multiple times as either fixed or flexible duration programs.

The editorial curation collection is a type of collection where you manually select assets to create a playlist in a specific sequence. It further allows you to insert ad breaks and add specific ad media into the breaks. Ad breaks can be added before or after an entire asset but not between individual titles.

The Editorial curation collection is labeled as NONEPISODIC, and you can view it under the Collection tab in the Content Manager. Once you create the collection, you can schedule it as a fixed or flexible duration program, just like any other single program without episodes.

Understanding Collection Terminology

To better understand how collections can be played out, let us understand a few terms associated with them.

Asset Order

This defines how the media is played out within the collection. It can be in a sequence or random order.

1. Sequence - Choose this option to play the selected media in the same order as it appears in the collection during playout.

2. Shuffle - Choose this option to play the selected media randomly during playout.

Asset Pinning

If you wish to consistently play one or more specific asset(s) in the collection at a fixed position, you can pin these assets. For example, you can pin media X to the third position. Even if the asset order is set to Shuffle, media X will always play in the third position.

During pinning, you can set the asset position to:

• Top of the program

• Bottom of the program

• Customised Position: This can be at the top, bottom, or any other position as per your requirement.

Note
Pinned assets will appear in all the programs created from this collection.

Metadata

Metadata is concise information that describes and provides context for other data or content. It includes titles, descriptions, authorship, dates, and other attributes that help organise, search for, and understand the associated data or content more effectively.

You can define the metadata required to schedule a series, season, and episode from the automatic curation collection.

1. Series, Season, and Episode Metadata: This metadata is particularly valuable when scheduling a series-season within the automatic curation collection.

2. Series and Episode Metadata: These details become particularly handy when scheduling a season within the collection.

3. Episode Metadata: Episode-related metadata is instrumental when scheduling individual items from the collection.