MediaTech Radar
December 2022
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 Blockchain.
MediaTech Spotlight: Blockchain
A spotlight topic in MediaTech.
- IABM has just published a report analysing the adoption of blockchain in the broadcast & media industry. Below, I have included some of the main highlights of the report.
- Blockchain adoption in the sector has grown significantly from 4% during the pandemic to 16% post-pandemic (2021-2022).
- IABM data also shows that while blockchain is/can be deployed throughout the content supply chain, most use cases are in Monetize and Produce.
- In content creation and production, blockchain gives content creators more control over their digital assets. Deployment areas in these segments include activities such as verifying user-generated content and combating fake news.
- In content monetization, blockchain allows for content optimization through data analytics.
- In content delivery, blockchain-based decentralized CDNs allow content providers to spread the downtime risk across network nodes run by independent companies and optimize storage space by utilizing the shared unused storage.
MediaTech Watchlist: Disney, Sustainability, Amagi and more…
A watchlist of selected past, present and future business developments in MediaTech.
- Disney brought back Bob Iger as CEO of the company after Bob Chapek was ousted in a resounding move. Chapek’s departure was due to a mixture of factors including the company’s worsening financial performance, his focus on cost-cutting, his handling of the creative side of the business and his response to Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Although Iger promised to put decision-making back in the hands of creative departments in a note to staff, he also highlighted that Disney’s focus should remain on cutting costs to make sure that the profitability targets in the streaming division are met. Consistent with this, he confirmed Chapek’s hiring freeze.
- In this TVBEurope article, BBC Studios’ Head of Sustainability Sally Mills spoke about the importance of working with MediaTech suppliers on sustainability: “We need to work closely with our suppliers to make sure they’re on the same journey as us. That means looking at working with them not just in relation to what their sustainability strategy is, do they have science-based targets, are they looking to decarbonise, but also looking at the products that they supply.” This is consistent with sustainability becoming a more important factor influencing MediaTech purchasing decisions.
- In November, Amagi announced that it had raised over $100m in funding from equity firm General Atlantic. The company’s CEO and co-founder Baskar Subramanian said that the funding will allow the business to develop: “futuristic technology solutions that can help media companies deliver premium personalised content and engaging advertising experiences to their consumers.” Amagi also acquired Streamwise later in November. Streamwise focuses on: “automating and standardising data collection across streaming platforms.”
- Digital TV Research predicts that AVOD revenues will grow more than SVOD revenues by 2028. This is on the back of major streamers’ focus on AVOD to alleviate the impact of churn.
- Netflix opened five more studios at its Tres Cantos production hub in Madrid while Sky opened an innovation centre housing 600 tech staff.
- Roku cut about 200 staff in November, consistent with the slowdown in the wider technology sector reported by our State of MediaTech report.
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