2nd ANNUAL MEDIA CONTENT WORLD SUMMIT
LONDON
Courthouse Hotel 26th February
2009
Commercialising Digital Media
“The commercialisation of digital
media will be dominated by the fact that
relevance is absolutely individual and that
consumer behaviour and consumer expectation
have changed and continue to do so ....
“
MPEGIF is playing a significant role in
facilitating the widespread adoption and
deployment of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 as the
industry's standard video compression
technology powering next generation
television and most mainstream content
delivery and consumption applications
including packaged media
"We are now reaching a point in human
development in the West where many of the
fundamental economic problems have been
solved. Unless you are unusually
acquisitive, the answer to many problems
may not be more stuff or even better stuff
but a greater appreciation and enjoyment of
the stuff we already have.
There's already a way to do that. It's
called a brand and the good news is, there
are now more ways of building them than
ever....."
Rory will share his long experience in the
advertising world and provide his insight
on how the new technology landscape has
change the way ad agencies look on new
approaches and money spinners on getting
consumers more engaged.
Advertising, in the age of Web 2.0 and
multi-channel TV, has undergone seismic
change in recent years, forcing the
industry to come up with ever more creative
ways of reaching consumers, he says.
"In a sentence I'd say media has gone from
being scarce to over-abundant." comments
Sutherland.
Ross Biggam, General
Director, Association of Commercial
Television Europe (ACT)
“The next generation television
experience, regardless of format, requires
that we learn from the success of the
internet and the continuing progress and
evolution of technology. By ensuring the
availability of more personal, intuitively
selectable content running of relevant and
transactional targeted advertising, amongst
other things, the industry is set to adopt
a much more sophisticated perspective.
Content will always be king and in this
context only a consumer – driven
business model with all paramount interests
of consumers taken care of can ensure
recurring and transactional revenues paired
with maximum retention of customers.....
“
The Association of Commercial Television
in Europe (ACT) is a trade association
representing the interests of the
commercial broadcasting sector in Europe.
The ACT has twenty eight member companies
active in 34 European countries. Our
members are operating more than 400
free-to-air and pay-tv channels and
distributing several hundred channels and
new services.
This Panel will
discuss the commercial implications of
Video on Demand (VOD) and IPTV, define
market opportunities and challenges from
different perspectives including technology
platforms and whether there is a business
case. Participants will include Hollywood
studios as they embrace and restructure
their distribution strategies to adapt to
the changing habits of consumers. The
discussions will centre on monetisation and
on the developing business models which
companies are adopting in their search for
“gold in the digital
world”.
Turning digital media into money is one of
the great challenges of the new digital
ecosystem. Even Google is figuring out how
to turn You Tube from money pit into a real
business. Estimates for the channel’s
revenue potential continue to climb to
around the $100 million range with 350
million or even $ 500 million predicted
next year.
Content owners and new IPTV players are
anxiously searching out new methods to
deliver their programs to the public and
generate revenue from these valuable assets
and in turn, advertisers are seeking
greater ROI for their advertising dollars.
The elusive “killer app” and
the right business models have prompted
many executives in the industry to utilise
a variety of metrics, metadata and even
online surveys to turn their business
around and find profit. But where is the
money?
Chair & Moderator: Richard Broughton, Analyst Screendigest Participants:
- Dr. Myles Macbean, VP Disney Online, Walt Disney Internet Group Europe
- Alain-Gabriel Courtines, Investment Director, Intel Capital
- Stuart Collingwood, VP Europe, Slingmedia
- Errol Barran, Head of New Media and Advertising Sales, Channel 4
- Richard Gale, Sales and Marketing Director, Playboy TV
THEMES:
- Commercialising digital media using new technologies and distribution capabilities.
- Delivery of digital content and business models that generate revenue streams.
- Defining the market for global digital content & distribution including: IPTV, VOD, DTH, DVR, Mobile, Internet TV, & Wireless Broadband.
HOT TOPICS:
- The growth of Video on Demand (VOD) and IPTV: Cost Benefit Analysis of these new platforms vs. the traditional DVD retail. Is Video on demand (VOD), digital downloads or Blue-ray replacing the DVD cash cow?
- Is VOD doomed to remain a customer retention strategy for Telcos and cable companies, or is there actually profit in the business?
- Monetising Online video including UGC
- Is there a room for the adult sector to monetise content through the “Tactical Retail targeting” model
- Hollywood’s changing the day and date release window. Is there still money in syndication? Adopting to the new game
- Personalisation of VOD Services, will it work? The importance of user’s privacy and data protection.
- The Advertising Mix: The need for greater personalisation in advertising and content to get closer to the Consumer. How much are consumers prepared to pay?
Geir Bjorndal, COO, Sales and
Marketing Director, CONAX
“The best
insurance for the future success of digital
media industry is helping to ensure the
profitability of the content providers.
Film studios procure revenue based on the
distribution of the content they produce
and will always look for the best ways to
protect their revenue streams. In turn,
content security providers will constantly
develop new levels of security to protect
content - thereby securing the
studios’ revenue streams. The film
industry has had the opportunity to learn
from history and will not make the same
mistake as the music
industry!”
Illegal Digital TV redistribution and
piracy are just two of the many challenges
that Content providers and operators face
in a new ecosystem where access to digital
content is everything. Identification and
validating consumer device information
allows for a technology that uses chipset
pairing and watermarking that can authorize
a unique subscriber identity to deny
further content access once theft is
detected.
With the advent of Triple play, IPTV and
HDTV, securing one’s digital assets
remains the top of the list of
Operators’ priorities in a world
where hacking and piracy are threatening
their revenues. Conax with its 20 years of
experience in Digital Access and security
technology takes these threats very
seriously and can provide some solutions to
deal with them.
- Identifying new threats due to the development of infrastructure.
- How to make sure that the value is protected?
- Schemes like Good old Conditional access in combination with secure STBs and Watermarking
- Benefits of commercialising a technical solution to these security threats
This part of the Summit will feature a
one on one interview on stage of Peter
Bazalgette, a well-known British media
expert and former Chief Creative Officer of
Endemol Group, the company that brought us
Big Brother and Deal or No Deal, which were
hits around the world, by also an
outstanding well-known Newcaster Jon Snow
of Channel 4 News.
Over a career that began at the BBC, Peter
Bazalgette was behind the creation of hit
shows such as Food and Drink, Ready, Steady
Cook, Can’t Cook Won’t cook,
Ground Force and Changing Rooms. Since Big
Brother first aired in the UK in 2000, he
has become the chief champions and
defenders of the reality TV genre. As one
media analyst puts it, Bazalgette was
responsible for "changing the agenda for
entertainment - combining his traditional
TV shows with internet content and creating
a whole new demand for live feeds and
clips".
Jon Snow has been the main presenter of
Channel 4's award-winning evening news
programme since 1989.
As the main presenter of Channel 4 News,
Jon continues to anchor the flagship
programme from wherever major world events
occur, and his journalism has received high
praise over the years. In February 2007 Jon
was awarded the Royal Television Society
award for news Presenter of the Year for
his contributions to the Channel 4 News
during 2005/06. The preceding year, he won
the RTS award for Journalist of the Year
(for the period of time 2004/2005) - an
award he had last won in 1980 - and an
award rarely won by a studio presenter. In
April 2005 Jon was awarded the prestigious
Richard Dimbleby BAFTA award for
contributions to factual programming and
news.
The main focus overall of this interview
is on Commercialisation of Digital Media
and what future lies ahead as the industry
is heading for a downturn in revenues in
the light of change in technology and
distribution landscape.
Yaki Sfadya, AVP of New Market Opportunities, ECI TELECOM
It's all about "Media Aware" delivery networks
It's all about "Media Aware" delivery network.
Most users and content providers focus on the content
and the associated services, and usually are less
interested to know what is happening "behind the scenes"
with their content delivery network technology. However,
their quality of experience including how fast they get
the service, zap between channels, availability of the
service, picture quality and of course how much they pay
for that, are heavily depend on delivery infrastructure
network. Service providers and network owners, should
plan and deploy content delivery networks that are
"media aware" making the “behind the scenes” scene,
optimized to deliver the designated content, to be
future proof, reliable and cost effective, to allow
users the quality of experience expected from such
services.
New video and multimedia services pose new
bandwidth requirements and challenges to
service providers. It seems that the
bottleneck resides at the last mile,
connection to the end user, but apparently,
without careful design of the distribution
network, starting from the core, transport
network might not be able to handle the
extra load.
By introducing planning tools, network
analysis and unified management system
across different network domains, transport
networks change their role from enablers or
supporters of technology, to a key factor
to its success.
- Transport networks – much more than plain infrastructure
- Smart design of video distribution network – a key to success
- Dealing with Bandwidth shortage – from access to core
This Panel
will discuss the impact of Quality of
Experience (QoE) in reducing churn and
driving ARPU. As customers expect a certain
level of quality from a technical
perspective, what does this mean in terms
of service? If QoE implies the overall end
user experience, can service providers
improve the quality through greater
personalisation and leverage on targeted as
well as viral marketing? Social networking
communities and social network analysis
have proven to be very effective tools to
achieve greater Internet usage. Can this be
applied across the triple screens in order
for service providers to customise their
content offering and boost revenues?
In light of intense competitive
environments, service providers are being
forced to offer a promise of better QoE.
Providing a better quality of experience
has so far primarily been about improving
technical performance and trouble shooting
capabilities. At the same time, operators
are now aggressively lining up strategic
partners and/or acquiring across the value
chain to be able to provide a richer
content suite and innovative product
bundles. These somehow have not enabled
them to command a greater share of the
consumer’s wallet.
As consumers engage in greater
interactivity and expect more personalised
services, service providers are looking to
offer seamless services across different
devices and at the same time, leverage on
social networking capabilities to increase
stickiness and grow revenues.
Here we invite panellists to share their
experiences in driving revenues through
better QoE.
- How important is QoE across the value chain? Is it currently being factored into the pricing models?
- What are your thoughts on net-neutrality in the European market? Should there be service level differentiation?
- How does Ofcom's recent decision on Kangaroo affect the growth of online media consumption and competitiveness within the field?
- Who do you see as shining stars in the end-user media service provider space - can you share with us a few examples?
- Do you see Google as a potential player in this digital media space i.e. going beyond advertising?
Chair &
Moderator: Sharifah Amirah,
Principal Analyst, Frost &
Sullivan
Participants:
- Simon Protheroe, Online Publishing Director, Eidos
- Ashley Mackenzie, Chief Executive Officer, Myvideorights.com
- Jason Binks, VP of Digital and New Media, ITV
- Rob Edwards, Head of Online Video Sales, UTARGET.FOX
- Philip Bourchier O'Ferrall, SVP Digital Media, MTV NETWORKS
Joe Trainor, Senior
Director Broadcast & Content Offer,
Level 3
Communications
The growth and popularity of digital media has
created a new set of challenges for
today’s web-based businesses. The
quantity and large file sizes have dramatically
increased, along with the consumer expectation
for a richer web experience, driving rapid and
unpredictable growth in site traffic.
Traditional delivery methods are less
effective, more costly, and put unacceptable
risk into ensuring exceptional end-user
experiences. Level 3 Communications has CDN
offerings, leveraged against an
industry-leading IP backbone.
- avoid costly capital investment
- take advantage of cost efficiencies
- enjoy the flexibility of moving between network services at different phases.
