New Way Now: Backlight sharpens media workflows with Google Video Intelligence API

*Featured in this video:* Kathleen Barrett, CEO, Backlight *Executive summary:* Media teams face pressure to create more content with less budget while diversifying distribution channels as margins shrink. Backlight makes complex media workflows simple for teams of all sizes, from production through monetization. Built on Google Cloud with the Video Intelligence API, Backlight's Iconik platform automatically adds searchable metadata upon upload. Customers see up to 50% shorter production cycles and save up to 60% on storage by deeply understanding their media libraries, reducing duplications, and optimizing asset placement. *Challenge:* The media industry demands more content with smaller budgets and faster timelines while diversifying distribution channels. This means teams often spend excessive time on administrative overhead rather than creative storytelling. Without tools to understand their media libraries, these companies experience duplicative content, inefficient storage costs, and difficulty finding inspiration from existing assets. Backlight turned to Google Cloud to help media companies, from smaller creative shops to major studios and streaming platforms, without compromising speed, deliverability, or global user experience. *Solution:* Backlight built a cloud-first platform on Google Cloud infrastructure that enables global content accessibility without compromising performance. The company’s Iconik platform integrates the Video Intelligence API from Google Cloud to automatically process assets upon upload, adding metadata for searchability. AI-driven search enables teams to search by emotions, story arcs, or themes rather than just keywords, informing inspiration and facilitating more interesting storytelling. This delivers enterprise-grade tools powerful enough for the world's biggest studios and teams of all sizes. *Result:* Customers using Backlight’s Iconik platform achieve up to 50% shorter production cycles and save up to 60% on storage cost