For multinational groups: one identity across every entity you own
This is where Common ID solves a problem that grows with the size of the organisation. A large international group rarely has one ID system — it has many. The headquarters uses its own identifiers, each national company or subsidiary uses its own, and acquired businesses arrive with theirs. The same film can sit under a different ID in every market the group operates in, which makes group-wide reporting, content sharing and consolidation a constant manual reconciliation.
Common ID assigns one shared identity to each piece of content across every entity in the group — headquarters, every national company, every subsidiary — while every local system keeps its original identifiers intact. The two sit side by side: one common identity for working across the group, and each legacy ID preserved exactly as it was for the systems that still depend on it.
For the most demanding multinational operators and broadcast groups, that means three things at once:
- No database rewrites. You don't migrate or replace any existing ID system — Common ID maps to them, so nothing breaks and there is no costly re-platforming project.
- One source of truth across the group. Content can be matched, shared, reported and consolidated across all markets and companies, because everyone resolves to the same identity underneath their own IDs.
- Far simpler management of a complex structure. The bigger and more fragmented the group, the larger the saving — what used to be repeated manual reconciliation between entities becomes a single shared reference layer.
In practice, international groups have used exactly this to unify separate country-specific catalogues onto one common reference across all their markets, without disturbing any of the local systems underneath.
Why it's more than a cross-reference table
A mapping is only as good as the records behind it. Common ID sits on the MP Platform, so every identity is tied to a validated master record, matched and quality-checked, not just a list of codes pointing at each other. Because the identity is permanent, it holds even as broadcasters, distributors and platforms change their own identifiers over time — which is what lets a title be followed through its entire history, no matter who is pointing to it.
The same permanent-identity approach runs through the wider catalogue: people (real and fictional) and franchises carry their own stable IDs too, so a title connects cleanly to its cast and to the brand or universe it belongs to.
What's included
Per title
- One permanent ID per object — film, series, season, episode or event — that never changes, even when source identifiers do
- Mapping to external identifiers — yours and your partners' IDs, plus industry standards (IMDb, EIDR, ISAN), broadcaster IDs and VOD platform IDs
- Full content hierarchy — Series → Season → Episode, so a show and each of its parts stay correctly connected
- Version linking — a single parental identity that ties every variant of the same work (theatrical cut, director's cut, extended edition) together, each keeping its own ID
- One ID used for both the linear EPG listing and the streaming asset
Who it's for
Why it's more
It's a mapping, not a migration.
You keep your own identifiers. Common ID maps to them rather than replacing them, so nothing breaks and there is no re-platforming project. Legacy IDs and the common identity sit side by side.
It holds even as others change.
Because every identity is tied to a validated master record, it stays stable even as broadcasters, distributors and platforms change their own identifiers over time — which is what lets a title be followed through its entire history.
It scales across the whole group.
The bigger and more fragmented the organisation, the larger the saving. What used to be repeated manual reconciliation between entities becomes a single shared reference layer — one source of truth across headquarters, national companies and subsidiaries.
FAQ
How is Common ID different from our own internal ID?
Your internal ID identifies content inside your systems. Common ID is a shared identity that maps your IDs and your partners' IDs to the same title, so everyone is talking about the same content across organisations — not just within one.
Do we have to replace our existing identifiers?
No. You keep your own identifiers. Common ID maps to them rather than replacing them, so it sits alongside what you already use and connects it to everyone else's.
Does it work at episode level for series?
Yes. Common ID covers the full hierarchy — series, season and episode — and links version variants of the same work, so the identity is precise down to the individual episode or cut.
Does Common ID cover more than titles?
The product itself unifies titles and their hierarchy. It also connects to the wider relational model: people (real and fictional) and franchises hold their own permanent IDs, so a title links cleanly to its cast and to the universe it belongs to. People data is delivered through Celebrities & Cast Data.
We're a multinational group where every country and subsidiary uses different IDs. Can you unify that?
Yes — this is one of Common ID's strongest uses. It assigns one shared identity to each title across your headquarters, national companies and acquired businesses, while every local system keeps its own original identifiers for legacy use. You don't rewrite or migrate any database; the common identity sits alongside what you already have, so the group gets one reference to work from without breaking a single existing integration.
Get started
See Common ID in action
Book a demo to see Common ID mapped against your own catalogue.