TEMS will provide the fundamental framework to redefine the European media industry

The TEMS project (Trusted European Media Data Space), developed by 43 partners from 11 European countries, will implement the European Media Data Space (EMDS) through cross-border collaboration and innovative technology

The innovative potential of data spaces is key for the European media sector, often overshadowed by the US media industry when it comes to technology and maket share. The European Media and Audiovisual Action Plan (MAAP) defines data spaces as tools capable of transforming collaborations and synergies between creators, producers, and distributors. According to MAAP, a Europe-wide Media Data Space could host relevant content and audience data, as well as other data on user behaviour that could be useful to create content that is better adapted to consumers’ needs and which could be distributed more efficiently.

This ambition has culminated in the creation of TEMS (Trusted European Media Data Space), in the context of the European Strategy for Data approved by the European Commission in 2020. This project is to be carried out by 43 large public and private companies, SMEs and research centres from 11 different EU countries. The TEMS vision is based on the implementation of an interoperable, sovereign, secure and trusted European data space that could lead to competitive and transformative opportunities for federated exchange of audiovisual content.

Media industry is always changing, new windows open as years go by, but the current transformation is especially relevant and will define the future of the whole industry in many ways. Online services and emerging sectors, such as cloud gaming or immersive content, are leading the way while other formats struggle to adapt to the new customer demands and habits. It is for this reason that TEMS aims to serve as a lighthouse for projects that are not only disruptive but also profitable and beneficial to the industry as a whole.

Besides, globalisation and technological advances allow the creation of synergies between industry players and even with other creative industries, such as cultural heritage. Filmmakers or advertisers, but they have also caused the audiovisual industry to move towards an unstoppable atomisation. It should be noted that 99.8% of media companies in Europe are SMEs and it is essential to count on them in this transformation that TEMS is leading. TEMS will therefore define a common pre-established licensing framework for data sharing, with the aim of boosting data reuse and availability for both public service media and commercial media operators, regardless of their size. The goal is to reduce the competitive weakness of these small companies and ensure the complete digital transformation of the industry.

Conducting the TEMS mission will prompt a true revolution in data spaces. The development of data spaces is still at an embryonic stage and moving forward in the TEMS vision of a complete, sovereign, secure and trusted European Data Space that can generate competitive and transformative opportunities for federated exchange of audiovisual content will require substantial improvements, which will contribute to push further both the data space services and the maturity of the data exchange principles.

That is why TEMS will start by bringing together existing data platforms and projects that are already allowing data sharing between media stakeholders, such as the DRIVE initiative designed by the German news agency (DPA). As the CEO of Innovalia Association, Óscar Lázaro, explained in the kick-off event, «data moves at the speed of trust and collaboration is key to develop this project, which can’t be implemented by a single sector, a single company or a single country».