In Conversation with Take 1

In this IABM TV interview, we meet Dom Bourne,  the Founder and President of Take 1, who tells us about their recent acquisition by Verbit, including his thoughts and what it means for the future of the business. The new wider group includes VITAC (the largest captioning provider in North America) and Dom explains what this means for Take 1.

Darren Whitehead, asks what we should expect to see in the months to come following the acquisition and what is in the pipeline for Take 1. Darren also asks how being part of the wider Verbit family can benefit their customers and make them more appealing to those partners looking to scale their operation.

In Conversation with Metabroadcast

In this IABM TV interview, we meet Jamie Mackinlay,  the new CEO at MetaBroadcast, who tells us a little more about his recent appointment and  what opportunities he sees ahead, as he directs MetaBroadcast through the current changes within the media market. He explains what technologies they historically have provided and where they are currently focusing their efforts; this includes their cloud based active MetaData platform ‘Atlas’ and how they distribute this MetaData effectively to broadcasters.

Importantly, Jamie explains what benefits MetaData can offer their customers, such as including improving Content Discovery and Monetization. He also shares his insight into what might be in the pipeline at MetaBroadcast and what the future trends might look like.

MediaTech Spotlight: AI/ML

MediaTech Radar

October

MediaTech Radar is a monthly newsletter put together by IABM’s Head of Knowledge Lorenzo Zanni. It focuses on a spotlight topic in MediaTech and reflects on a series of past, present, and future business developments in the industry. In this edition, our spotlight topic is the AI/ML.

MediaTech Spotlight: AI/ML

A spotlight topic in MediaTech.

  • Manage and Produce remain the main deployment areas for AI/ML technology in the broadcast & media industry.
  • Most AI/ML use cases in content management systems are to automate routine tasks such as metadata tagging, image recognition, audio/video recognition, and speech-to-text.
  • Data availability is growing, and the cost of data training is declining with wider technology deployment, resulting in more a predictable ROI.
  • Media businesses prefer internal deployment of AI/ML technology, which requires recruiting talent with specific skills, making talent scarcity one of the main challenges for AI/ML adoption.

MediaTech Watchlist: Gen Z, Netflix, ABC News and more…

A watchlist of selected past, present and future business developments in MediaTech.

  • According to research conducted by quantilope and reported by WARC: “a third of Gen Z and a third of Millennials in the UK are considering cutting their streaming video subscriptions in the next three months.” This is consistent with the increasing pressure on streaming we reported in a previous newsletter.
  • Netflix announced that it would launch its ad-supported streaming service in November at a $6.99 monthly price for the US market. Netflix has taken only six months to prepare this launch although, according to reports, it still only provides only basic targeting tools based on geography and genre to advertisers. The company plans to gradually improve its targeting technology over time. The revenue-generating potential of this move is highly uncertain as this is the first time a pure SVOD player pivots to ad-funding.
  • ABC News has revamped its app with the support of Disney’s proprietary technology. The revamp includes an enhanced video experience, new UI features such as a “dark mode” as well as improved discovery capabilities for viewers to find relevant news stories. This announcement shows two things from my perspective. One is the continued focus on digital for news brands, even more so than other sectors in M&E, as news consumption habits have shifted quite dramatically in the last few years. The other, perhaps more interesting, thing that this announcement illustrates is that consolidation and the creation of large M&E conglomerates coupled with the rise of digital is a catalyst for in-house technology development, as often argued by IABM research. This is happening also as technology becomes more generic and applicable to different use cases. ABC News is owned by Disney and has taken advantage of technology developed by Disney for its DTC proposition.
  • In September 2022, Adobe acquired Figma in a deal valued at about $20bn. This acquisition is the most expensive ever of a US private company, surpassing Facebook’s $19bn takeover of WhatsApp in 2014. Financial markets didn’t take the acquisition well due to its price tag, sending Adobe’s shares down and producing the steepest decline in its stock since 2010. Figma is a cloud-based maker of collaborative design tools and remote collaboration was a driver for Adobe’s $1.275bn acquisition of Frame.io in 2021 as well. Although that price raised some eyebrows too, Adobe’s shares did not go down which reflects the current downturn in digital tech stocks we reported in our State of MediaTech report.
  • In past newsletters, including the last one, we talked about the increasing pressure on public broadcasting in European countries such as the UK and France. In the UK, the new government may make a U-turn on this after it announced it would review the planned privatization of Channel 4 and scrapping of the BBC license fee.

Thank you for reading this newsletter. If there are topics you would like me to cover or have information/ideas you'd like to share, please get in touch with us.

Lorenzo Zanni

Head of Knowledge

IABM

In conversation with Loosegoose Technologies

In this IABM TV interview, we meet Brian Huang, Sales Director at Loosegoose Technology – a new member of The IABM, who tells us a little more about the company, including their position and vision for the broadcasting industry.

Brian shares his thoughts on current and future industry trends specifically within the field of OTT video and provides advice for traditional TV operators. He explains how Loosegoose can help traditional TV operators evolve in this market.

In conversation with Agama Technologies following IBC 2022

In this IABM TV interview filmed just after IBC 2022, we meet Johan Görsjö, Co-founder and VP of Product and Engineering at AGAMA Technologies, who tells us a little more about Agama and what he thought of the show. He also shared what they showcased at IBC and what was of particular interest to the attendees.

Johan went on to explain some of the new products that they launched at IBC 2022 and how they could help their customers. He touched on their Elastic Analyser which won an award at the show.  Johan also explains what they mean by the phrase ‘Video Observability’ which they use on their website and also touches on the latest developments in the cable market and how they are assisting their customers on this front. We also hear more about ‘sustainability analytics’ and how Agama can help the sector reduce its carbon footprint with this service.

In conversation with farmerswife following IBC 2022

In this IABM TV interview filmed following IBC 2022, Darren Whitehead from IABM interviews Stephen Elliott, CEO at farmerswife and finds out more about the company and what they have been working on during the pandemic.

We learn more about their new task management platform ‘Cirkus’ which the showcased at IBC 2022 and how it evolved. Stephen explains how Cirkus works alongside the existing farmerswife toolkit but can also be used as a stand-alone product. We find out what differentiates their company offering against their competitors and how Cirkus offer a collaborative solution for their customers. Stephen offer insights into the future road-map for the farmerswife and Cirkus, and reflects on how the pandemic has affected the business as a whole.

For more information about framerswife and Cikus, please visit their members profile here on www.theiabm.org or  www.farmerswife.com and www.cirkus.com.

IBC 2022 – Hyperconvergence – It worked for the cell phone; how about media?

Todd Riggs, Director-Product Management-Hyperconverged Solutions,  Ross Video

Hyperconvergence is the combining of many capabilities under a single umbrella. Remember when you used to have to carry a phone, navigation GPS, camera, computer, and who knows what else everywhere you went? Hyperconvergence takes this idea and brings it to our business. It not only helps simplify operations, but brings with it significant savings in operational costs (fewer rack units), greater flexibility, and is greener (huge power savings). Learn how Ross Video’s brand new hyperconverged offerings can provide things like routing for audio and video, mutiviewers, frame syncs, and audio processing in a single frame, and what this can mean for you.

In conversation with Kiloview Electronics at IBC 2022

In this IABM TV interview filmed at IBC 2022, we meet Judy Zuo, VP for Marketing and Sales at Kiloview. As new members to IABM we find out a little more about the company and what new products they are bringing to IBC this year. Judy shares her thoughts on what have been the driving force that has made Kiloview develop so fast in recent years and what is in store for the company in the future?

In conversation with Imagine Communications at IBC 2022

In this IABM TV interview filmed at IBC 2022, we find out from Glodina Lostanlen, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Imagine Communications what it is like to be back at IBC after an enforced 2-year break due to the pandemic and what themes and trends have resulted over this period. Glodina shares her thoughts on the biggest challenges facing the M&E sector at present and how Imagine Communications are offering solutions to their customers to overcome these.

The Aviator platform was launched at NAB, Glodina takes us beyond the headlines and highlights their customers response to the platform. She also shares some of the many other news stories that Imagine Communications have released at IBC 2022

In conversation with Divitel at IBC 2022

In this IABM TV interview filmed at IBC 2022, Hans Kornmann, CEO & Founder tells us a little bit about Divitel and how they differentiate themselves from their competitors. Hans discusses the  main challenges facing video service providers in distributing their content and how he believes the video distribution technology ecosystem evolving in near future.