Profuz Digital Reports Successful 2024

CEO of Profuz Digital, Ivanka Vassileva reflects on the past year, sharing her vision ahead.
"Profuz Digital has over 30 years of experience in the broadcast media industry. Throughout ongoing development of subtitling platform SubtitleNEXT and digital asset management system Profuz LAPIS, our innovative team combine their expertise and talent to create solutions that empower organisations to work at their very best.

"Broadcasters are benefitting long-term by investing in our Profuz LAPIS system – its openness and flexibility sits comfortably within the infrastructure that most broadcasters and TV channels possess. LAPIS is designed to adapt and evolve. It’s capable of supporting entire workflows, as it centralises and streamlines broadcast operations. LAPIS also does not require lengthy training, and on average, teams can be up and running on the system, with all training accomplished within a day.

"As members of TPN, Profuz Digital completed the self-assessment process in early 2024, demonstrating our commitment to constantly prioritise customer content security and consistently meet high industry standards.

"Over the past year, we continued to support existing customers and welcomed new significant customers too. Companies that continue to rely on our software include the likes of the Council of Europe, CANAL+, Euro Media Group Belgium, IT Pros Italy, Universities of Ghent and KU Leuven in Belgium and many others. These steadfast relationships are the result of our proven technology, dedicated support and close ties with industry technology partners.

"We were very proud to work with the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) last year, where we were called on to help integrate enormous data workflows by upgrading the organisation’s entire infrastructure. Profuz Digital's customised scheduling module, based on Profuz LAPIS software, was implemented across all of BNR’s national and regional centres, including world service Radio Bulgaria.

"Another crucial project that stood out for us in 2024, was collaborating with a major global broadcaster to upgrade their scheduling capabilities. Profuz LAPIS' playlist scheduler has been developed to enable the creation and management of multi-channel daily playlist and advertising playlist for promotional channels and all broadcasting needs. Profuz LAPIS can provide customised timelines that prepare playlists for TV show promotions, trailers, ads or screenings, for example, across various channels that are scheduled to go live across different time zones. The 'time zone awareness' mode in LAPIS for both scheduling and airing, is used to automate time zone oriented trailer graphics, logos and visual clips to inform viewers about upcoming programmes covering genres such as live sports events or show previews packed with information that includes broadcast times and dates.

"We like to set our sights on being a beacon of corporate responsibility as a tech firm that regularly gives back to society. We recently sponsored the Bulgarian Fund for Women’s 20th Anniversary event, donating our SubtitleNEXT platform for free live subtitling support to help make it more inclusive and accessible for hard of hearing attendees. The prestigious Sofia International Literary Festival also called on us for a second year running, to provide live subtitling support using SubtitleNEXT allowing attendees easy access to selected events. Tech companies can set an example by helping to shape a decent society through ethical business values that include sustainability, equality, and promoting employee wellbeing.

"SubtitleNEXT and Profuz LAPIS continue to make a mark in the live events sector, proving their worth as useful and affordable platforms that event organisers can rely on for live transcription. We feel privileged to help various events over the year to be more inclusive. We continue to raise awareness of our technology at important forums, seminars, and tradeshows such as NAB Show in Las Vegas, and IBC in Amsterdam.

"We had an incredible IBC2024, receiving positive feedback regarding the latest versions of SubtitleNEXT and Profuz LAPIS, and overall, turnout was greater than previous years. Our IBC stand provided a front-row seat for industry professionals to explore how our AI-enabled Profuz LAPIS system bridges the gap in workflow infrastructures. Our CTO Kamen Ferdinandov attracted a lot of interest in how a flawless workflow should work. He is the genius behind the software and feels passionately that true innovation starts with listening to clients and understanding their goals, as well as being able to predict their needs. Innovation is not just about the latest technology, but the right technology for the client's goals. If the technology doesn't exist, our CTO's attitude is that we should create it.

"This coming year is a crucial and exciting time for all of us as the industry turns a rapid eye to AI. Profuz Digital has already developed many new features in Profuz LAPIS using advanced AI to speed up or replace manual processes and offers innovative tools to manage, search, edit and even create media content from any device, from desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile phone. Key technological breakthroughs include semantic search features, advanced speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities, and much more. The LAPIS system is designed with the unique capability to connect to multiple local or cloud AI engines in order to enhance content and data processing. These enhancements include automatic metadata extraction from audiovisual content such as face recognition within the client’s own database, object recognition, brand recognition, imaging and audio automatic annotation, description and classification. LAPIS can also extract text from video and images as well as refine audio transcription which includes speech to text processing in all languages; translation from audio and much more.

"SubtitleNEXT's latest version now integrates audio description capabilities into its existing subtitles preparation tool. Organisations that have invested in the SubtitleNEXT system include EMG, where SubtitleNEXT was used for the localisation of well-known TV series such as Big Little Lies, Dexter: New Blood, including other HBO productions such as Euphoria.

"Broadcasters are having to look at new ways of tackling challenges, and it is essential our customers are well supported. We look forward to working with our brilliant team to provide cutting-edge solutions for freelancers and companies of all shapes and sizes, that help them navigate a dynamic mediascape, equipped with the best technology for them to achieve success. We will stay true to our user-focused approach in everything we do, reflected in the latest versions of LAPIS and SubtitleNEXT."

www.profuzdigital.com