AI-Powered Scheduling

Designing the Smart Scheduler: An AI-Powered System for Effortless Programming

Helping media teams automate repetitive scheduling tasks and focus on strategy.

COMPANY

Amagi

ROLE

Lead UX Designer

EXPERTISE

Workflow Automation
& UX Strategy

YEAR

2025

“Scheduling FAST channels used to feel more like an art than a science. We needed a data-driven way to make smarter programming decisions in less time.”

— James Patrick, Co-Founder, OTT Studio

Description

Programming content across 20+ FAST channels was once a manual, rigid, and time-consuming task. Schedulers and media managers were stuck in spreadsheets, dragging assets across timelines, and adjusting last-minute changes by hand.

We reimagined the experience by integrating AI into Amagi PLANNER—enabling users to automatically generate dynamic, data-informed schedules while retaining full editorial control.

The Problems

Schedulers faced daily bottlenecks while programming for dozens of linear and FAST channels:

  1. Time-intensive workflows:
    Programming each channel took up to 5+ hours/week.

  2. Ad break overload:
    A single user scheduled 190+ ad breaks per day across 50 episodes.

  3. Manual drag-and-drop scheduling:
    Included verifying segmentations, avoiding expired content, and managing promos.

  4. No support for templates:
    Limited experimentation across audience types or programming styles.

"To schedule a day for a single compilation channel takes up to 90 minutes. I wish I could just focus on strategy."

— Scheduler, Samsung TV Plus

Primary Users

Schedulers / Curators

Responsible for daily programming, filler scheduling, playlist health.

Programming Leads

Review, optimize long-term strategy, maintain tone and timing.

My Role

As the Lead UX Designer, I drove the full design process—from research and discovery to wireframing, prototyping, validation, and handoff. I led a small team with one senior and one junior designer, and collaborated closely with product, engineering, and our managed services division.

Process

Research & Workflow Mapping

We mapped scheduling operations in detail by speaking to internal and client-side users. We learned:

Every channel had to be scheduled 2 weeks in advance.

Template rules varied by platform, genre, and timezone.

Most channels used a mix of binge and compilation formats.

Segmentation errors and ad gap handling added unnecessary mental load.

Wireframe Testing

We tested with managed services and onboarding teams—using real-world workflows involving:

  • Auto-schedule generation

  • Playlist validation

  • Rule-based template reuse

  • Ad and filler planning

Key Design Principles

  • Automation with guardrails:
    AI supports, doesn’t override.

  • Clarity and transparency:
    Show why content was placed.

  • Speed for the small teams, strategy for the large ones.

Key Decisions

  • Prioritize a 1-click scheduler MVP.

  • Build confidence scoring for trust.

  • Delay multi-channel batch execution until phase two.

Solution

  1. One-Click Schedule Generation ("Magic Button")

    - Instantly generates a schedule with no setup required.

    - Most loved by smaller teams with limited ops support.

    - Generates optimized programming based on engagement signals, time of day, and social trend correlation.

"We hit ‘Generate Schedule’ and the day’s content is placed in seconds — high confidence shows, great pacing, no gaps."

— Scheduler, OTT Studios

  1. Confidence Scores & Justification

    - Each program has a visual score (e.g. “90% confidence”)

    - Users can hover to see metadata: asset duration, break count, segment structure

    - Tags show why the asset was selected
    (e.g. “trending,” “high engagement,” “recent rotation”)

  1. Schedule Rule Templates

    - Ideal for large clients (like Samsung, Banijay) with recurring structure.

    - Create reusable rules by genre, duration, freshness, and rotation.

    - Assign templates to multiple channels for scaled experimentation.

  1. Cron-Based Automation

    - Rules can be scheduled to auto-run via cron (e.g., every Monday 6 AM).

    - Enables hands-off playlist generation across entire channel clusters.

We can now test multiple strategies across markets — without redoing every schedule.

— Scheduler, OTT Studios

  1. Adaptive Fillers & Ad Placement

    - AI auto-fills gaps using compatible promos and reruns

    - Break templates (e.g., 4×90s + 1×60s for a 44-min asset) handled
    behind-the-scenes

    - Ad slots can be auto-balanced based on CPM value or filler density

Results

Banijay Rights

  • 80% increase in scheduling efficiency

  • 5 hours → 1 hour to program a weekly schedule per channel

  • Enabled scaling from 10 → 25+ channels

  • Improved creative output via freed-up ops bandwidth

OTT Studio

  • 85% time reduction across 20+ FAST channels

  • Real-time, event-based programming improved engagement

  • Strategic AI-led scheduling led to more monetized viewership windows

This tool helped us move from reactive to proactive programming.

— Scheduler, OTT Studios

Platform-Wide Outcomes

  • 145+ customers using Smart Scheduler

  • 840+ channels actively scheduled

  • 2+ hours average daily usage per user

  • 43% reduction in operational costs (one customer saved $1.3M/year)

  • 80% faster turnaround enabled by AI-driven curation

  • 109 new channels launched → $3.3M in indirect revenue influenced

External References