ISAN is a fundamental tool for the audiovisual industry, contributing to efficient content management, rights enforcement, and global recognition. ISAN federates a large community of 25'000+ users from the diverse ecosystem of audiovisual professionals and organizations.
Click on the tabs below to discover how they benefit from ISAN.
For producers ISAN is not just a number; it is a strategic infrastructure that secures revenue, simplifies global distribution, protects intellectual property, and future-proofs your catalog in an increasingly complex digital marketplace.
The International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN) serves as the permanent, unique, and globally recognized "DNA" for your audiovisual works.
For producers, it transforms content management from a reactive administrative task into a strategic asset that secures revenue, streamlines operations, and maximizes global reach.
ISAN provides a unique, ISO-standardized reference for every production and its specific versions (theatrical cuts, TV edits, dubbed versions, etc.). This uniqueness is crucial for distinguishing your work in a crowded market, ensuring that your specific asset is never confused with another, regardless of title similarities or format changes. It creates a single source of truth that travels with the content throughout its entire lifecycle.
At its core, ISAN is a financial tool. By providing a standardized identifier accepted by collection societies, broadcasters, and digital platforms, it eliminates ambiguity in licensing agreements. This precision is essential for:
ISAN acts as a universal key that unlocks interoperability across the audiovisual ecosystem. It allows producers, distributors, and streaming platforms to automate workflows, from cataloging to delivery. By aligning with industry standards, ISAN facilitates smoother collaboration, reduces manual data entry errors, and accelerates the time-to-market for your productions. It turns metadata into a structured, machine-readable format that powers efficient supply chains.
In the digital era, being found is as vital as being created. ISAN anchors rich metadata to your work, securing key details like cast, crew, release dates, and localization. This enhanced profile maximizes discoverability across databases, EPGs, and streaming services, ensuring audiences and buyers can effortlessly find and engage with your content.
The permanence and uniqueness of the ISAN make it a powerful tool in the fight against piracy. ISAN ease precise monitoring of content usage across linear and digital platforms, helping to identify unauthorized distributions and verify legitimate registrations. ISAN is key to build this protective layer that safeguards your intellectual property and ensures that only authorized versions of your work are circulated.
For producers operating in or distributing to Europe, ISAN has become a critical instrument for asserting rights in the age of Artificial Intelligence. Under the EU Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) Directive, a general exception allows Text and Data Mining (TDM) unless rights holders expressly reserve their rights.