I am honoured to chair the return of MediaTech 360 next month.
In helping to shape content for this event, I am drawing on my 30-year career in the media business juxtaposed against the knowledge people need today to successfully take advantage of new revenue opportunities during an era of mass disruption. This second annual conference will feature experts who will share valuable information on media distribution solutions, new advertising technologies and concepts, the emergence of eSports and Generation Z, emerging cloud solutions, and innovative ideas for data, machine learning, and AI. The TVBEurope team have a great talent for finding hidden avenues to thought leadership that help us gain a better understanding of our industry’s potential.
The future vision of the media industry expands upon our networked society, where globally connected, digital, always-on consumers are more sophisticated and demanding in responding to media consumption trends. This phenomenon has been a huge challenge for every mature industry to address, but I believe the media industry, in particular, has turned the corner from thinking “this is hard” to understanding and embracing the opportunities for new businesses and revenue streams.
All providers of media content, subscription services and connectivity, have to rapidly accelerate their digital propositions that leverage data insights, machine learning and analytics, and combine those technologies with cloud-based approaches in order to effectively scale into tomorrow. The media industry is somewhere in the middle of this massive content transformation, with much we can learn from other kinds of data-reliant industries.
While media has the luxury of the knowledge that in an all-digital ecosystem the most compelling programming can reach global audiences, we have also learned that the mass distribution, one-to-many approach, is slowly coming to an end. Advertising and content is expected to be relevant for each viewers’ tastes and wants, which requires a plethora of technology to achieve smart new sales and distribution approaches. There are so many new technologies that create different ways of working and thinking for content creators, distributors, and advertisers, that we must take opportunities like the MediaTech360 Summit to think through how these new concepts could open more opportunity for our businesses.
With a view to addressing many of these ideas, the first day of MediaTech360 will feature a keynote that will take a good look at the holistic, human aspect of technology’s influence. Following this will be an industry panel of respected analysts jumping right in to discuss the next iteration of cloud technologies and issues of media distribution. These experts will address the balance of ‘hype vs reality’ of scale vs customisation: What is possible today and what can we do to prepare to take advantage of new business opportunities coming down the road? We will expand our cloud discussions by taking a look at how content distributors can balance availability against costs associated with cloud infrastructures. And finally, we will round out the morning with a practical look at today’s best practices in cloud-based tools and services for a variety of media applications.
In the afternoon we will hear from experts discussing innovations in dynamic advertising, how augmented and virtual reality ideas can change the nature of advertising, and then dive in to sports, esports, and the great expansion of tech infrastructure that sports tends to push first. Finally, we will cap day one with a fantastic discussion on OTT distribution considerations such as network infrastructures, rights management innovation, and interesting new business models.
As an author and leader of change management in media businesses, I help companies get out of their assumption ruts and look afresh at workflow and revenue opportunities. On the theme of letting go assumptions and investigating possibilities openly, we expand into day two with a deep dive into data, connected devices, “data casting,” and examine the many pitfalls of treating data lightly.
We will continue our discussion of the power and promise of data in media in the afternoon of day two with a fascinating discussion of transformation through artificial intelligence concepts. Next, we will turn our attention to experts sharing their successes in harnessing AI in streaming workflows and operations. Finally, our day will round out with a keynote presentation on a look into the future. Our industry expert will showcase the impact of technology on human resources, improvements in strategy with big data, and a review of which emerging technologies should be attracting the most attention from investors.
I am excited to hear what all of these esteemed panelists and presenters have to share with us about the future of media. The content of MediaTech360 is a natural extension of the curiosity we all share in our industry as we drive forward toward positive change.
See you there!
Tickets for MediaTech 360, which is on at Grand Connaught Rooms in London from 20th – 21st June are available here.
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