Amazon Web Services has announced that Turner has named AWS as its preferred cloud provider.
Turner is moving thousands of virtual machines to AWS and creating cloud-native applications that meet the evolving business and technology demands of its broad portfolio of brands and partners, including TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CNN, NCAA, and NBA. By leveraging sophisticated analytics and machine learning on top of AWS, Turner aims to reimagine the TV viewing experience for its fans and achieve deeper insights into their preferences.
“We’re seeing media and entertainment companies leverage the on-demand, pay-as-you-go benefits of AWS to scale and cost effectively stream videos across a variety of devices, broadcast programs, and publish content around the world”
Turner has reengineered its end-to-end media supply chain on AWS for a more secure, cost effective, and elastic way to distribute digital content to its customers. As part of this effort, Turner is moving decades of content to the cloud—including a 15-petabyte-sized library of archived CNN videos—and is using AWS for a wide variety of services spanning compute, storage, networking, databases, developer tools, analytics, and machine learning. AWS’s machine learning capabilities, for example, will allow Turner to analyze and extract video metadata to make decisions about how to best optimize content delivery systems for more personalized viewer experiences, and better inform advertisers, content creators, and media research analysts on viewing trends.
“We’re going through the largest technology transformation since Ted Turner started the company, and the advancements we’re making today are enabling us to reimagine what television can be for our viewers,” said Jeremy Legg, Chief Technology Officer at Turner. “We’re changing our broadcast technology stack to a fully digital, cloud environment built on AWS, which will enable us to adapt to new video delivery models, as well as provide our viewers with more personalized content and advertisements. Our relationship with AWS and the services they provide are essential to our success. Given that we reach over 80 percent of adults and 70 percent of millennials every month, we needed a cloud provider that has the ability to support massive-scale media businesses like ours which often have spikes in demand across our diverse portfolio.”
“We’re seeing media and entertainment companies leverage the on-demand, pay-as-you-go benefits of AWS to scale and cost effectively stream videos across a variety of devices, broadcast programs, and publish content around the world,” said Mike Clayville, Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Sales at AWS. “AWS is enabling industry leaders like Turner to experiment and innovate at a rapid pace with less financial risk. Turner is delivering more relevant and meaningful content to its viewers using AWS to offer tailored viewing experiences and targeted advertisements across every screen. We look forward to seeing their momentum continue as they leverage AWS to create new media and entertainment experiences in the cloud.”
Turner joins a growing list of media companies and broadcasters running their media supply chains and Over-the-top (OTT) delivery pipelines on AWS, including Amazon Video, AOL, BBC, Channel 4, C-SPAN, Daily Voice, Discovery Communications, Flipboard, GoPro, Guardian News & Media, Hearst Corporation, Hulu, LIONSGATE, NDTV, Netflix, News International, News UK, Newsweek, PBS, Simfy Africa, Sony DADC, SoundCloud, Spotify, Time Inc., and United Daily News.