In 2016 Discover Digital developed a bespoke digital content rating platform to assist regulatory organisations in their work to rate, regulate and classify media content, impose age restrictions and issue consumer advice.
Initially created for South Africa’s Film and Publications Board (FPB), pioneers in this space, the new content rating platform allowed the FPB to transition away from lengthy manual processes for submitting content for review and determining the appropriate ratings for each programme and movie.
The DRS enables content owners to submit content in a secure, encrypted digital environment, where content reviewers will access and assess the content. Essentially reverse engineering video on demand (VOD) technology, the DRS is an end to end solution which allows the producer or content owner to go onto a highly secure portal to transfer the digital file and submit it for rating, and complete relevant payments online. Content is encoded and encrypted in line with digital rights management (DRM) best practice. Authorised reviewers can watch the content on their PCs or mobile device within the office environment and the entire process can be tracked online.
DRS
Once the film/program has been rated and approved, the content owner receives a toolkit including the official rating and an organisation-specifc pre-roll containing the copyright warning and rating information.
The DRS is an effective, efficient and highly scalable system, benefitting key stakeholders in a territory, such as film distributors and content producers by reducing the rating timeframes and streamlining the overall process, thereby increasing workflow by rating a greater quantity of content, more timeously. Ultimately the DRS assists organisations and public service entities to be as effective as possible in protecting consumers, particularly children, and empowering the public.