Capability Report: Audience-Ready Episode Standard
Date: 2026-03-25 Author: Marquee (Media BU Leader) Status: Defining
Capability
A defined standard for when an episode page is "audience-ready" — meaning it can be linked from public posts (LinkedIn, newsletter, social) and provide a complete, valuable experience to the visitor.
Motivation
The /media-prep morning briefing generates LinkedIn schedule posts that include yesterday's shows as "catch up" content. For this to work, each episode page must actually deliver value to the visitor. Without a defined standard, the pipeline treats "Mux asset linked" as "done" — but the audience sees an empty page with a video player and no context.
Chris identified this gap on March 25, 2026: the schedule post cannot include yesterday's shows until the episode pages are verified as audience-ready.
Audience-Ready Criteria
An episode page is audience-ready when ALL of the following are true:
Required (Must Have)
| Criterion | Field | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Video plays | muxPlaybackId |
Non-null, valid Mux playback ID |
| Substantive description | description |
Non-null, >50 characters, NOT boilerplate ("Recording from live stream") |
| Hosts credited | hosts |
At least one host reference linked |
| Status is published | status |
Set to published (not draft or scheduled) |
Desired (Should Have)
| Criterion | Field | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | summary |
Non-null, provides episode overview |
| Key points | keyPoints |
Non-null, at least 3 points |
| Transcript available | transcriptionStatus |
Set to completed |
Nice to Have
| Criterion | Field | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Related links | prepMaterials.resourceLinks |
Links to resources mentioned during show |
| Sponsor shoutouts | Sponsor associations | Credited sponsors visible |
| LinkedIn event URL | linkedinEventUrl |
Links back to the event page |
Verification Command
The /media-prep command should check each yesterday episode against these criteria and classify:
- Ready: All "Required" criteria met. Safe to link publicly.
- Partial: Video exists but missing description, hosts, or still in draft status. Fix before linking.
- Not Ready: No video or fundamentally broken. Do not link.
Only "Ready" episodes appear in the "catch up" section of the schedule post.
Implementation Path
Step 1: Verification Script
Add an --audience-check flag to check-shows.ts (or a new script) that evaluates episodes against the Required criteria. Returns a pass/fail per episode with specific gaps.
Step 2: /media-prep Integration
The schedule post generation in /media-prep calls the audience check for yesterday's episodes. Only episodes that pass are included in the "catch up" section. Failing episodes are surfaced as recommended actions ("Fix Wake Up episode — no video linked, no description").
Step 3: Post-Production Completion Pipeline
The existing run-pipeline.ts handles Mux linking. Extend or create a companion script that:
- Generates substantive descriptions (from transcript or show context) when the description is boilerplate
- Links host references (from show's default hosts if episode-level hosts are null)
- Generates summary and key points (once transcription is working)
- Sets status to
publishedwhen all Required criteria are met
Step 4: Inngest Configuration
Fix the transcription pipeline by configuring Inngest credentials on Vercel. This unblocks summaries, key points, and transcript availability — moving episodes from "Required only" to full audience-ready status.
Dependencies
- Inngest setup (for transcription, summary, key points)
- Mux webhook reliability (for video linking)
- Host reference data in Sanity show records
Success Metric
Every show that airs should have an audience-ready episode page within 4 hours of the stream ending. The next morning's /media-prep schedule post includes yesterday's shows with direct links that the audience finds valuable.