U.S. programmers approach the annual IBC convention in Amsterdam with largely the same, increasingly urgent objective for which they attend NAB in Las Vegas each spring — find practical technology solutions that serve content and ad-delivery systems that have reached record levels of disruption.
Further, IBC is “even larger and more dynamic” than NAB, according to Joel Espelien, senior analyst for The Diffusion Group. Thus, the European show stands as an essential tech shopping destination for companies like NBCUniversal, which — like most big American programmers — attends IBC through its European operation NBC International.
Even though Western Europe is a long way to fly, such a tech market comes in handy for programmers like CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc./HBO, which are bypassing traditional distribution methods and delivering content and advertising directly to consumers via their own SVOD/OTT outlets like CBS All Access and HBO Now.
From backend services support specialists including Verizon Digital Media Services, CSG International, Deluxe and Amazon Web Services, to hardware/software makers like Arris and Harmonic, IBC provides the global programming market with perhaps the biggest bazaar of current technologies.
The show has become a leading destination for providers of video delivery infrastructure for emerging television and video services.
“A company like Harmonic will have a huge booth,” added analyst Alan Wolk.
This year’s conference program reflects this demand to better understand shifting video delivery methods and audience demands. For example, the Sept. 8 keynote will feature Vodafone Germany’s Manuel Cubero and Vivendi’s Dominque Delport discussing content monetization in a mobile world at an event titled “Mad Men, Mobile and Media.”
Also on Sept. 8, executives from Akamai and Discovery Networks, among others, will discuss the delivery of content in a world in which apps are replacing channels, in a talk titled “The Big Discussion: Business models and breaking into the future.”
Executives from BBC, GfK and MTM, meanwhile, will convene on Sept. 10 to discuss changing TV consumptions patterns in a panel called “What Do Audiences Really Want? The truth about Changing TV Consumption.” Also on Sept. 10, Shahrzad Rafati, founder and CEO of BroadbandTV, will appear on stage to talk about the building of her multi-platform digital video delivery company.
And on Sept. 11, execs from NBC Universal, Canal+, The Weather Channel and OMD will convene for the straightforward “Storytelling in a Multiplatform World.”
Advanced advertising technologies that enable monetization across myriad platforms will also be a big top at IBC this year. Reps from Unileer, DataXu and AppNexus will convene on Sept. 9 to ponder the “Ad-Blockers, Bots and Fraud: Can Internet Advertising Be Fixed?” Later that afternoon, executives from Sky Media, MTM and Channel 4 will talk about “New Developments in TV and Video Advertising Technology.”