How to find a logo or brand in video footage

The short answer

For logos with words in them, on-screen text search (OCR) finds many appearances for free. For symbol logos, or to catch small and angled appearances, use logo detection, which looks for the brand's mark itself. Either way, you get timestamps to review instead of watching everything.

Common approaches

For a complete picture, combine them: visual appearances, on-screen text, and spoken mentions.

• Manual review. Watching at speed with a notepad works for one short video and nothing more.
• Search the text on screen. OCR reads text in frames, so a wordmark on a banner or jersey is searchable like any word. It misses logos that are pure symbols, and struggles with stylized lettering.
• Search what was said. Sponsor reads and product mentions are in the transcript, which covers the spoken side of a deal.
• Logo detection. A visual model looks for the mark, by the brand name or by a reference image. This catches symbols and partial views OCR can't.

Why brand search is harder than it looks

Logos rarely sit still and square to the camera. They appear on a sleeve that folds, a car that drives past, a cup half-hidden by a hand, or a screen at the back of a stage. Lighting changes their colors, and brands update their marks every few years, so a detector trained on this year's version may be weaker on an old one.

That's why a single method rarely gives a complete answer. Visual detection is strongest on clear, reasonably sized marks; text search is strongest on printed names; the transcript catches mentions that never appear on screen at all. Running all three and merging the timestamps is the practical way to get close to complete.

How to do it in MediaFind

Brand-logo detection is a Pro feature. On-screen text and transcript search are in the free plan.

1. Add your folders of footage and photos to MediaFind.
2. Search for the brand by name, e.g. a sportswear brand, to find where its logo appears.
3. For a less common mark, upload a sample image of the logo and search with it.
4. Run a text search for the brand's name too, to catch wordmarks on signs and screens, and spoken mentions in the transcript.
5. Review hits by clicking through to each timestamp. Put the confirmed shots into a collection (Pro), or export them as an FCPXML or EDL timeline (Pro) for your editor.

Tips and limitations

Logos that are tiny, blurred, partly covered or seen at a steep angle are the hardest for any detector, so treat results as a strong shortlist, not a legal record. For a sponsor report, check each hit and note the in and out points yourself.

A crisp, front-on sample image works better than a photo of a crumpled bag. If a brand has several versions of its mark, search with each. Everything runs on your computer, which matters when footage is under embargo or NDA. See also finding b-roll by description and event videographers.

Frequently asked questions

Can I search video for a logo without watching it?

Yes. Logo detection finds the mark visually, and on-screen text search finds wordmarks. Both return timestamps you can review.

What if the logo is just a symbol with no text?

Text search won't find it. Use logo detection with the brand name, or with an uploaded sample image of the symbol.

Is logo detection free in MediaFind?

No, brand-logo detection is part of Pro. Searching on-screen text and speech is free for up to 10 files.

Is my footage uploaded for logo detection?

No. MediaFind runs logo detection on your computer; nothing is sent to a server.