It's time for digital usage rights management

28 Apr

A survey we conducted at the end of 2019 showed that over 85% of brands and advertising agencies surveyed manage their usage rights either not at all (27%) or only very rudimentarily with the help of a spreadsheet program such as Excel (61%). With the enormous amount of fragmented content and the ever-increasing variety of channels and platforms, managing it in Excel is a mammoth task, which is error-prone and risky, even with careful maintenance and the greatest accuracy.

Clients and agencies waste time and money due to uncertain and unsustainable usage rights management.

How do you archive and manage your usage rights?

Do you know any cases of use without existing rights?

But why is the maintenance and storage of important data so neglected or underestimated? Probably because nobody needs this data after a campaign is finalized. The main thing is that the campaign is completed to everyone's satisfaction, on air and is well received by the target group. Afterwards, it's off to the next project; we all know that.

But what happens if people forget to take the content 'off air' in time? Or if after two years the campaign is to be relaunched or additional types of use are to be purchased? Most of the time it is only then that the usage rights data becomes relevant again and they are annoyed that they have not documented and filed them more precisely. In a best case scenario, you have a halfway well-filled out Excel spreadsheet or you have a colleague with a good memory. But it is bad practice to trust in such an unreliable construct in the digital age, and it is certainly not a sustainable solution.

Often, it is not even known how much time is spent in companies and agencies searching for the usage rights information of their projects. First, the colleagues are asked if anyone can remember, then if necessary the agency is consulted, but they don't know much more either, and in an emergency, even the production company is contacted. But they often can’t help either. Only the client knows when and in which channels a spot went to air. And the lack of data is often a problem for the purchasing department too, because how can an adequate price be determined if you lack references?

In other words, without the systematic and correct management of the usage rights and the associated data, not only do you risk costly rights violations, but you also waste valuable staff time and money.

According to our survey, 13% of clients and advertising agencies surveyed have their own content platform, some of which they use to manage usage rights. On closer inspection of these platforms, however, there is also a large discrepancy between what the platforms are actually able to do and what they should actually be able to do in order to adequately store and sustainably manage usage rights and all their complexity. Apart from these proprietary solutions, which are very much tailored to individual needs, there is hardly any software on the market; because as simple as usage rights data may seem at first glance, the demand for a completely digital solution is complex. If one considers the numerous connections and dependencies that the various rights holders have to the work, to different media and different durations, it quickly becomes clear that only intelligent software can provide efficient administration and a high level of security. Moreover, and despite its complexity, such software must be easily accessible and suitable for everyday use. One that can save time and increase productivity.

In our work as consultants and producers for content productions, we have encountered these problems over the years again and again; important usage rights data is simply lost or has not even been archived in a central location or stored in a way that can be understood by everyone. Changing agencies, campaigns that go back a long time, or ambiguities due to loss of information between partners involved do not make things any easier.

We therefore committed to creating a consistent and reliable platform for clients and advertising agencies to close this gap.

Through automated warnings about expiring usage rights, simplified post-purchase processes and precise and clear data archiving, as well as intuitive workflows, we want to establish a digital solution that offers customers and agencies legal security and a sustainable structure on a central platform.

On the basis of these findings and with a view to the near future, it is clear to us that advertising companies and agencies should manage their usage rights digitally, centrally, and software-based in order to better protect themselves and their intellectual property and to be able to meet the requirements for more effective handling of their own content in a modern way.

This blog will be updated regularly with posts on the topic of usage rights. We will also report on broad range of other related topics, invite experts for guest contributions, and share helpful tips on how to deal with usage rights in today’s advertising industry.