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 Talent.
MediaTech Spotlight: Sustainability
A spotlight topic in MediaTech.
- IABM is about to publish a report focusing on Sustainability in MediaTech. Here, I wanted to share a selection of the main highlights of this report (there will be much more in the full report):
- Sustainability is a complex topic: This research highlights that Sustainability is a complex topic requiring MediaTech organizations to frame the objectives they are trying to pursue clearly.
- Sustainability requires organizational advocates: Be it a team in a large organization or an individual with a passion in a smaller business, Sustainability strategies require advocates to champion the alignment of different business functions with Sustainability objectives.
- Sustainability is tied to regional challenges: The development of sustainability strategies depends on local natural resources and the availability of people and talent.
- Sustainability attracts talent: The younger generation of talent is more likely to be attracted to companies that are taking up Sustainability development and integrating sustainable policies into the company culture.
- Sustainability has grey areas: The discussion around the impact of software and hardware lacks clarity because of its complexity and the level of responsibility and ownership it implies as part of the Sustainability discussion.
- Sustainability is an ongoing journey: Tracking Sustainability performance is mainly pushed by carbon footprint measures, but its measurement could develop into other solutions and metrics to become more effective.
MediaTech Watchlist: Convergence, Netflix, Hollywood Strikes and more…
- I participated in UpStream, an event produced by IABM and AVIXA, at the end of June 2023. The event focused on the convergence between MediaTech and pro-AV technology. As part of the event, I delivered a presentation on technology convergence and chaired two panels focused on technology trends and NDI applications respectively. The event showed that the technology conversations that pro-AV professionals are having strikingly resemble those we are having in MediaTech, which reflects the increasing technology convergence we have seen in the last few years. Topics discussed at the event included consumer viewing habits, streaming technology, virtual production, AI/ML, skills shortages, and IP standards.
- In the three months to the end of June, Netflix added 5.9mn subscribers due to its crackdown on password sharing (FT, requires subscription), one of the policies it adopted along with AVOD to counter a decline in subscribers.
- Last month, we reported the news of Hollywood writers going on strike due to concerns over salary and safeguards following the sudden rise of Generative AI. In July, actors joined their colleagues due to concerns that they will be replaced by their digital likenesses without compensation. The Milken Institute estimates that the Hollywood strikes’ economic impact could be up to $4bn. This is not good news for MediaTech as the strikes will disrupt new content releases as the production shutdowns caused by COVID-19 did.
- ITV abandoned its plans to purchase All3Media in July, which would have expanded its production business.
- The battle for Generative AI supremacy continued in July as Meta announced it would release its open-source Llama 2 LLM.
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
