Content Model Checklist

Content Type Decisions

• Movies — single asset per title
• Series — series → seasons → episodes hierarchy
• Seasons — numbered, optional (some series are flat)
• Episodes — sequentially ordered, numbered
• Channels / EPG — yes/no. If yes: live stream + schedule grid required
• Clips / trailers — free preview assets associated to paid titles

Audio & Subtitles

• Number of audio tracks per asset (single vs. multi-language)
• Subtitle formats required (SRT, VTT, burned-in)
• Closed caption compliance (CVAA / jurisdiction-specific)
• Default language logic (browser locale vs. account preference)

Availability & Rights

• Content windowing — does content expire or become unavailable?
• Geo restrictions — which titles are available in which territories?
• Device restrictions — any titles limited to web-only or specific platforms?
• TVOD window — rental period and re-watch logic

Metadata & Taxonomy

• Genre / category taxonomy (flat list vs. hierarchical)
• Tags (free-form keywords for editorial curation)
• Collections / playlists (manually curated groups)
• Content ratings (MPAA, BBFC, or custom)
• Cast and crew metadata (needed for search / detail pages)
• Release year, country of origin

Ingest & CMS Workflow

• Who ingests content? (internal team vs. external operator)
• Video file formats accepted (MP4 H.264 minimum; H.265/HEVC for 4K)
• Encoding profiles needed (360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K)
• Thumbnail / poster image requirements (aspect ratios, minimum resolution)
• Review / approval workflow before publishing

Collections & Editorial

• Homepage rails (e.g. "New releases", "Trending", "Continue watching")
• Static vs. dynamic collections (rules-based vs. manually curated)
• Featured / hero content rotation

Key insight: The difference between a flat movie catalog and a series/seasons/episodes hierarchy is architectural, not cosmetic. Changing from one to the other mid-build typically requires a CMS rebuild and re-ingest of all content.