Blinx launches the world’s first digital-native storytelling hub with NDI

Seamlessly connecting content creators across the globe using NDI and an IP-based infrastructure, Blinx delivers news that resonates with young people throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Taking a streamlined, cost-effective approach to disrupting the news industry status quo, Blinx is changing the way content is produced and consumed.

Challenge

Blinx is reinventing the news industry to reach Gen Z and millennials throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Prominent journalist Nakhle Elhage launched the Dubai-based startup after serving as Director of the Al Arabiya news channel for 16 years, and Blinx is blazing new trails.

Intent on cutting through the noise of the traditional news cycle and providing relevant stories to their audience, the team at Blinx set out to build the world’s first-ever digital-native storytelling hub. In other words, unlike established outlets that have adapted traditional broadcasting for online consumption, Blinx decided to build a cloud-based newsroom designed to reach all the major online media platforms.

Chief Creative Officer Fadi Radi knew this would require flexible technology that could:

• Allow content creators in remote locations to stream content with a hassle-free setup
• Produce content automatically formatted for every platform, adapting to different aspect ratios and switching seamlessly between horizontal or vertical viewing
• Deliver responsive graphics across all platforms
• Harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to recommend content to viewers that matches their interests and keeps them engaged

Based on these goals, Fadi and his team made the bold decision to design their entire infrastructure using devices integrated with NDI. That meant using no leased lines or fiber-optic cables for real-time streaming or transmissions.

Solution

As a digital-native startup, the Blinx team had the unique opportunity to start from scratch and opt out of traditional solutions. Using nearly 100% NDI-enabled devices, from cameras to mixers, they built an infrastructure that was cost-effective and easy to use. For any non-NDI-enabled devices, they used Kiloview NDI converters to create an entirely IP-based infrastructure.

Enabling remote reporters and content creators to stream content anywhere in the world—from Cape Town to Los Angeles—is simply a matter of sending an NDI link. Content creators can film and stream from a laptop or mobile device with minimal latency and virtually no loss in fidelity.

The power of modular workflows

Even more revolutionary is the ability to work with remote production teams across the globe. Thanks to the modular setup and workflows made possible by NDI, a director in Mumbai or Hollywood could perform their entire job from start to finish, no matter where the rest of the team was based.

Fadi explains the power of a modular setup and workflow through an analogy. Compare the keyboards of today’s mobile devices to manual Blackberry keyboards from many years ago. If Blackberry manufacturers wanted to provide a different keyboard for a new language, that meant changing the layout for each version.

By contrast, today’s phones and tablets use a virtual keyboard with hundreds of layouts for languages around the world. Similarly, with modular configurations made possible through an IP-based infrastructure and NDI technology, Blinx attained the flexibility to support fully distributed productions.

Finally, the two-way communication between devices, including metadata — made possible by the NDI standard — lets them collect and process viewer data using AI-based tools. This allows the Blinx team to understand their audience and hyper-personalize each user’s experience with content they’re likely to engage, share, and love.

There’s a lot of cost savings, functionality, and added value, which encouraged us to go with NDI technology. NDI is one-tenth the cost of SDI or any other solution available. Lots of cameras, mixers, and other technology are using it, so it’s getting easier and easier.

Fadi Radi, Chief Creative Officer (CCO)

Outcome

Thanks to their IP infrastructure powered by NDI-enabled devices, Fadi and his team achieved the flexibility necessary to launch a truly innovative storytelling hub—something they believe will be the future of news and information.

Rather than a one-to-many model of disseminating news, Blinx hopes to shift the paradigm to a many-to-one model, where content creators around the world can tell their stories, and Blinx can follow their lead. Plus, with actionable data and AI-based insights that only a cloud-based infrastructure can offer, it’s easier than ever to support that viewer-driven, many-to-one model of storytelling.

Fadi estimates that his team built the infrastructure at one-tenth the cost of a traditional setup, allowing them to focus their creative energy on designing the future of news and storytelling.

He says that once they’ve established their brand, perfected their metadata processing, fine-tuned the AI, and optimized their cloud integration, they will be in a position to build on their success. Telecommunications will improve, telecommunication will improve and get faster, and NDI will enable seamless growth and scaling for this innovative startup.

We’re breaking the norm of all the television stations’ technology and going into the next level of the digital era. Our brand positioning is ‘more story, less noise,’ and with NDI technology we can achieve this.

Fadi Radi, Chief Creative Officer (CCO)