TVBEurope 2020 is over for another year after the second annual conference took place at BAFTA last week.
The one-day strategy summit, which took place on 28 June, featured over 30 speakers from some of the biggest players in the broadcast industry.
Following a welcome speech from NewBay Media content director and TVBEurope editor-in-chief James McKeown, conference chairman John Ive – director of technology and strategic insight for the IABM, kicked off proceedings with an introduction addressing the state of the market.
Ive said, “We’re going through one of the biggest changes in many decades. This is not evolutionary; it’s very revolutionary and disruptive.
“It’s not just a swap-out of equipment: every aspect of the business is changing. It affects everyone. I don’t think I’ve seen such a radical change affecting so many aspects of our industry before.
Following Ive was keynote speaker Tom Toumazis, MBE, who gave an overview on the big question: ‘Do we need broadcasters in an internet enabled future?’
He explained, “If I was in the broadcast business what would keep me up at night? What are the challenges? There are four: paucity of data and the way audiences are measured: who’s watching the commercials and what are they doing when they’re watching the commercials?
Those are the two fundamental questions that brands, advertisers, agencies are seeking to try and discover.
What we face is a real challenge with how we view data, in the broadcast industry, and how the technology industry views data.”
Over 140 industry figures were in attendance to witness a further four panels, three masterclasses and two presentations in a day filled with intensive analysis of an ever-evolving SDI/IP landscape.
Speakers included Keith Underwood, Channel 4; Adi Kouadio, EBU; Andy Beale, BT Sport; Russell Grute, Broadcast Innovations and Simon Frost, Ericsson.
Looking ahead to next year’s third annual conference, to 2020 and beyond, Ive concluded, “Going forward, I think the only way to find our way through this is through collaboration. It’s not just about collaboration between vendors, between vendors and end users: we need a much broader-based collaboration.”
