How the National Rugby League reviews videos, fast

Challenge: Messy email chains slow the editing process

The National Rugby League (NRL) runs the world’s premier Rugby League competitions, featuring 17 mens and 10 women’s teams from Australia and New Zealand. NRL games attract more than 100 million televised viewers every year, and its special events regularly rank among Australia’s highest-rated television programs. This activity places big demands on the NRL’s production team, with a potential bottleneck at the video editing stage.

Rachel Jedwood is the production manager at NRL and is responsible for all NRL content. On any given day, she and her team have five projects on the go. Every project involves multiple stakeholders, including external partners like broadcasters, sponsors, and NRL clubs. In addition to regular demands, the team often receives last-minute requests with tight deadlines.

NRL’s cumbersome video feedback process was slowing these projects, as feedback came via email from stakeholders, and Jedwood had to compile everything. “It was frustrating,” she says. “You would get multiple responses from different emails, and it’s all muddled.” Colleagues got missed in the email chain, and feedback could be generic and unhelpful: “Can we cut the shot of the guy running with the ball?”

Trying to make sense of that feedback took guesswork and back-and-forth for editors, all of which took time. And with everything else on her plate, Jedwood didn’t have the time to act as the go-between for all parties.

Results: A streamlined process that everyone loves

Anyone can start using Replay quickly and it works seamlessly with other Dropbox tools, alongside the majority of creative software editors use every day, like Adobe Premiere Pro or Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve. “Replay has made life a lot easier,” Jedwood says. That’s true for editors as well as other areas of the organization, such as the Events team. Now everyone knows where to go if they need to note changes, and consolidating feedback in one place means any contradictory comments can be more easily addressed.

Reducing the complexity has resulted in huge time savings. One of the most-used Replay features is in-video commentary. This feature has led people to be more specific in their feedback, which removes the guessing game for the editor. “We get the job done quicker,” Jedwood confirms.

It also saves her time personally, since she no longer has to act as a liaison between stakeholders. Jedwood sees room for the NRL to expand its Replay use, and wants to start using the tool’s deadline feature. With a single sign-on for all Dropbox products and easy navigation between Dropbox files and Replay, it’s easy to streamline any creative processes.