tvbe may 2016
DESCRIPTION
UEFA Euro 2016. David Ross, exclusive interview. Mobile World, Congress review. ROI from media tech investment.TRANSCRIPT
www.tvbeurope.com
May 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Inside the production of this year’s
footballing centrepiece
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Business, insight and intelligence for the media and entertainment industry
David Ross, exclusive interview
Mobile World Congress review
ROI from media tech investment
01 TVBE May16 Cover v2.indd 1 15/04/2016 15:30
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TVBEurope 3May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
Modus operandi; code of ethics;
corporate vision. We all have them,
to one degree or another: the ‘about
us’ page of our business proposition. They exist
to educate the marketplace as to who we
are, what we do, why you need us to fi x your
problems or service your needs. In some cases,
you could argue that they exist to remind the
‘us’ what they’re supposed to be ‘about’. It
is a peculiar time to be committing to rigid
business models. For broadcasters and those in
the business of fuelling the consumer’s hunger
for content and ‘experiences’, it’s diffi cult to
be exact on what the mission statement should
be in the years to come. Indeed, what role
will broadcasters play in a future that does
not rely on traditional modes of delivery and
consumption, and in the same breath, the
traditional infrastructures and chains of workfl ow
that the consumer hears little of and cares
nothing for?
Business agility has for some time been a
known necessity – and in many marketplaces
– and we are at a stage in our industry where
such agile thinking will be tested to its extremes
by an unfamiliar ecosystem stretching across
an unknown timeframe. Many organisations
and corporations have seen early and credible
promise in this area, however ‘imperial’ their
ambitions have been translated. But more
generally, the strategies required to engage with
the future ecosystem remain open to debate; a
topic that will be at the centre of our TVBEurope
2020 conference on 28 June. The agenda
addresses the future role of broadcasters in an
IP-enabled world, the value and effectiveness
of common standards across the convergent
IP and UHD ecosystems, and the impact of
market forces on long-term business strategy.
We’re very happy to be in partnership with AIB,
IBC, and IABM in producing this year’s event,
which promises to be the most forward looking
conference programme we’ve put together.
I look forward to seeing you there, but
beforehand, let me nudge you in the direction of
Holly Ashford’s excellent interview with
David Ross, who’s brilliant ‘Code of Ethics’ I
have borrowed (and for the sake of effect,
made more biblical) for the headline of this
welcome note. n
James McKeown Editor-in-Chief
Welcome
Thou shalt not ship crapEDITORIAL
Content Director and Editor-in-Chief: James [email protected]
Deputy Editor: Holly [email protected]
Staff Writer: James [email protected]
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Contributors: Michael Burns, David Davies, George Jarrett, Adrian Pennington, Philip Stevens, Catherine Wright
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US Sales: Michael [email protected]+1 (631) 673 0072
Japan and Korea Sales: Sho [email protected]+81 6 4790 2222
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TVBEurope is published 12 times a year by NewBay Media, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England +44 207 354 6002
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Printing by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YAPhilip StevensProduction Editor
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03 TVBE May16 Welcome v1.indd 1 15/04/2016 15:29
In this issue4 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
In the � rst of a two-part series, Russell Grute looks at the challenging issue of establishing the total return on investment for next generation projects
Uefa reveals its plans for Euro 2016, and Philip Stevens looks at how rights holders will serve their domestic audiences6
32 Interview 41 Data CentreBusiness
23Axonista’s CEO and CTO chart the journey of the Dublin start-up, from initial trials to powering real-time interactive graphics
Mobile World Congress returned to Barcelona earlier this year. Heather McLean talks to exhibitors at the show about the future of mobile TV
TVBEverywhere
Opinion
Production
David Ross speaks to Holly Ashford about joining the family firm, leading the company through a recession, and Ross Video’s unstoppable growth
Ernst and Young’s latest report focuses on Generation Z, and how the group is dictating the strategies of M&E � rms
14
28
04 TVBE May16 Contents v4 HA.indd 1 15/04/2016 15:46
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In our experience, the crunch comes during
the late stages of negotiation, when the
procurement department or the CFO renews
their interest. The situation is already a long way
down the line. The customers’ operational and
technical teams have been prioritising their business
requirements, future plans and securing budget
approval for the investment. Perhaps they have
issued a business-led RFP, whilst competing suppliers,
SIs and service providers have done their legwork
too. Lucky shortlisted vendors may have also hosted
a dreaded proof-of-concept. And then it comes, a
simple enough question from the CFO: ‘so…what’s
our ROI on this project?’
The answer should and can be highly favourable.
After all, the RFP said the project should be business-
led. When investing a million dollars, shouldn’t there
be a higher return? Yes. Defi nitely.
But without identifying a robust, pragmatic and
achievable target from the outset, that return
is easily lost along the way. Perhaps during an
aggressive fi nal negotiation, where cost reduction
replaces the original project vision or key parts
of the supplier’s value-add, or later during the
project delivery where the day to day challenges
in technology-led and operational testing displace
the original business targets.
What do we mean by ROI? Our context is a leading broadcaster, pay-TV
operator, cable, satellite, service provider or telco
investing in new cloud, IP, UHD, MAM and media
logistics processes to drive their onscreen business
and revenue. Let’s focus at a higher level on the
real potential gains to improve their return, and
better secure the project for all parties.
Mind the gapWho is working toward the best overall ROI,
and how? Is there a gap? During 2015, our
engagements moved beyond improved media
workfl ow and better solutions architectures,
and instead looked at more closely integrating
media planning with media operations to
signifi cantly improve the ROI. Great media
services and workfl ow can only do so much
without being driven more directly top-down by
the business requirements.
Using six core areas as shown (ROI potential, p8),
we devised a process to build from technology
foundations, through operational effi ciency, toward
cost reduction and all the way up to onscreen
planning and revenue. This process allowed us
to work together from day one with stakeholders
from media planning, production and operations,
starting as early as possible to secure a positive ROI
from the outset. Using this process whilst prioritising
business-led requirements, workfl ow design and test
planning provided a more informed pre-emptive
estimate of optimal ROI.
Legacy Global video insurgents like Amazon, Apple or
YouTube, alongside new agile local competitors,
use cloud-based SVoD and live OTT to pick
and choose where to grab viewers’ digital and
programmatic advertising pennies. Do these
insurgents accelerate their ROI by leapfrogging
today’s legacy? Have they even heard of a VTR,
VDCP, MXF or LTO? They are sharply focused
on their unique technology stacks, optimising
their content rights, delivering the highest quality
telco-friendly streaming, managing rich content
metadata and crucially, subscriber intelligence.
Netfl ix recently announced it was re-encoding its
legacy content to improve picture quality and
reduce streaming bandwidth.
Following an unsatisfactory RFP, caused by poor
requirements prioritisation and low potential ROI,
a broadcaster recently asked if we could help
make up for lost time with even newer technology.
In reality, the quickest and best strategy was not
Opinion and Analysis6 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
No pain no gain. Maximising the ROI from media technology investment
For many next generation projects, the most challenging issue by far is establishing the total return on investment (ROI), and agreeing how to monitor and deliver it, writes Russell Grute, in the fi rst of a two-part series
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6-8 TVBE May16 Feature ROI v4 HAJMcK.indd 1 13/04/2016 16:58
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to look further forward, but instead to remove 12
months from the past. Systematically reducing
legacy is now a signifi cant contribution to positive
ROI. Without a focused business-led view, and
taking the painful yet necessary steps to discard
legacy integration and ineffi cient manual processes
in media workfl ow, the ROI from new technology
alone is often too low.
More importantly, by 2016 some broadcasters are
encumbered by their actual business organisations.
Are the business and operations optimally
confi gured for the new on-screen challenges
ahead? Does the business really know its best
options, and are those in-house or third party? Are
media planning, production, media operations
and technology in sync or out of alignment? Are
those activities currently split between their legacy
linear channels and growing digital services? How
can branding and promos be adapted from
multi-channel to multi-outlet? These are just some of
the key business challenges that require attention
alongside new technology investment.
Scalability and unit cost reductionMore content for wider audiences means higher
throughput. Growing media businesses need
predictable and cost effective scalability. For new
entrants, their prospective growth may exceed
their practical or fi nancial capacity to invest
pre-emptively in their own infrastructure, whilst
established players may not be able to cope
with peaks in demand, or be able to launch next
generation services from their existing facilities.
A useful KPI to improve scalability is unit cost.
We can’t predict what a new audience might
pay; that’s beyond our equation here. But to
calculate ROI, we can better estimate the unit
costs of producing, packaging and/or distributing
content, or at least fi nd a unit. Using benchmarks
such as media title throughput time, effi ciency per
role or business process versus number of versions,
channels, streams or distribution outlets, that unit
cost must go down. If it doesn’t, proposed new
workfl ows are not yet optimised: try again.
“To succeed, you are either born in the cloud or
legacy” I was told at the recent London AWS Media
and Entertainment Cloud Symposium. That’s quite
a statement, highlighting the crucial importance
of aggressively discarding legacy coupled with a
revolution in the cost base of media logistics and
distribution. Does using AWS give a new type of
benchmark in unit cost? In conjunction with value
added software and services, web services are
rapidly adjusting the potential ROI.
Elsewhere, the current industry-wide thrust to
use IP to control, manage and stream live and
on-demand video and audio for contribution,
production and distribution is also clearly aimed at
lower-cost scalability.
Efficiency and utilisation Working top-down to improve media workfl ow
can dramatically improve effi ciency and ROI.
Removing unnecessary concatenated manual and
replicated tasks and achieving the correct workfl ow
orchestration are crucial areas.
Improved effi ciency is also based on utilisation.
Higher levels of utilisation improve the ROI from both
staff and technology, and this highlights one of the
fundamental differences between the broadcast
and media IT perceptions. Broadcast’s instinctive
feel for the value of live and speed, versus the
digital community’s trust in parallel and on-demand
activities, leads to two very different perceptions
of utilisation and ROI. Both are right, depending on
the logistics, programming and presentation. Multi-
channel and multi-screen challenge this balance,
especially if the audience is on the move.
Alongside interoperability and scalability,
utilisation is actually the key benefi t from the
use of IP; whether it is automatic recognition of
wireless camera contribution sources or the use
of the inherent multicast advantages of IP in task
management, fl ow control, routing and distribution.
If the interoperability is good enough and, as an
industry, we master the skills to command it, the
wider use of IP will dramatically increase utilisation,
and improve the ROI from investment in IP.
Improved utilisation is the key driver toward
virtualisation, cloud and SaaS to improve ROI. Build
a big one for the peak load versus pay as you go.
If the big one is rarely used or you go so often that
you are always paying, then the ROI will be lower.
Defend a business or build a business.
Achieving ROI is not easyFor some media organisations in 2016, technology
and organisational legacy is dramatically hindering
progress, as well as reducing their ROI from new
technology. Crucially, legacy thinking may also be
stifl ing their innovation on screen.
Reducing unit cost improves ROI. Content
creation, media throughput and logistics continue
their inexorable growth, currently driven by VoD and
OTT, so new solutions must increase scalability and
improve effi ciency to reduce unit cost. In well-run
projects, practices such as business process design,
programme management and software integration
are recognised disciplines, yet in few projects is
there suffi cient overall ROI monitoring and control to
secure the potential upsides.
For the broadcaster, it has been challenging so
far to establish practical media IP solutions with a
positive ROI. This is more than a technology barrier.
In today’s disrupted and opportunistic value
chains, new and existing actors are disrupting,
competing or partnering as never before. Given
suffi cient standard interoperability, the ROI from IP
will increase. If the return on investment from new
services and technology is optimised and based
on practical solutions and safe delivery, then that’s
good for everyone: customers, services partners and
suppliers. Strategic project investment can proceed
securely to enable broadcasters to continue
their innovation in profi table future digital media
entertainment services.
Next month we’ll examine the upsides for ROI
from new on-screen media services driving revenue
growth, and at practical benchmarks and KPIs to
monitor and deliver the required return over the
required duration. n
8 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
ROI POTENTIAL
Legacy
Scalability
Efficiency
Cost reduction
More on-screen
Revenue +
ROI
SIX KEY AREAS TO TARGET AND MONITOR TO ACHIEVE IMPROVED ROI
IMA
GE: B
RO
AD
CAST
INN
OV
ATI
ON
A combined view of the wider potential ROI from media technology investment. Moving beyond legacy technology integration toward greater scalability and the effi ciency in media planning and operations to cost effectively provide new on-screen services and revenue
Opinion and Analysis
6-8 TVBE May16 Feature ROI v4 HAJMcK.indd 2 13/04/2016 16:58
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10 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
Connectivity has enabled operators
to launch multiscreen services and
extend the reach of their TV offering to
connected consumers. However, the increase
in the number of devices is also creating
signifi cant fragmentation challenges. At the
top of the list, operators need to provide a
seamless experience across multiple devices
while ensuring that the content delivered across
each device, sometimes over a wide range of
networks, is protected at all levels of the media
delivery chain.
Using data to better understand viewing and device habitsIDC forecasts that by 2020, there will be 1.7MB
of new information created every second for
every human being on the planet. In addition
to this abundance of information, the plethora
of devices used by consumers has led to an
increase in data points that operators can
collate and analyse in order to develop services
that adapt to the consumer. While this appears
highly benefi cial at fi rst sight, the sheer number of
data points can be overwhelming for operators.
Especially for OTT services, search and
recommendation engines have to become
highly personal to ensure that consumers get the
best value from the service. For example, a fan
of Orange is The New Black is more likely to be
interested in Making a Murderer than cartoons.
However, limiting recommendations to the
‘safe’ options that are immediately relevant
to the consumer can also prevent subscribers
discovering new content, which can have a
negative impact on the user experience. To
avoid this, operators need to be able to expand
their recommendations outside traditional areas
to help broaden the consumer’s horizon.
To meet the data gathering challenge,
many service providers have built their own
data analytics systems. However, multi-screen
services are reshuffl ing the cards: in addition to
accessing a wide range of content, leading to
Dr Neale Foster, COO and VP of global sales, Access, looks at the benefi ts and challenges for service providers of living in an increasingly connected world
Widening the reach of multiscreen
recommendation headaches, one person may
access world news from their smartphone in
the morning but watch content from streaming
platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netfl ix and Sky
Go on their laptop in the evening.
All these points add to the data challenge,
leading operators to look at deploying third
party data gathering and analytics solutions
that integrate with their services to better keep
track of the variations in consumer habits.
These services can bridge the information that
operators receive from multiple devices and
paint a clearer picture of the different types
of audiences and improve the quality of their
recommendation engines. In addition, they
open up new monetisation avenues based on
the consumer’s habits, including highly personal
advertising such as pre- and post roll videos on
the viewer’s PVR content.
‘By 2020, there will be 1.7MB of new information created every second for
every human being on the planet’
Opinion and Analysis
10-12 TVBE May16 Opinion Access v2 HAJMcK.indd 1 15/04/2016 16:48
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Opinion and Analysis12 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
Personalising the consumer experienceMost operators are trying to crack the content
personalisation code, but we strongly believe that
aggregating and analysing data has an added
benefit, helping operators differentiate the
devices used to access content in order to design
experiences that accommodate the interaction
method. For example, subscribers accessing
content via their TV need the interaction to adapt
to a remote, as opposed to a joystick preferred
by games console viewers or the finger tap of
a mobile user.
While the technical challenges associated
with creating a seamless experience for all these
devices can appear daunting at first, they can
be solved by utilising standards. At present, the
responsive design features of HTML5 provide a
solution to reducing development time for the
user experience as they automatically scale
to the device and screen, while the Digital
Living Network Alliance (DLNA) facilitates
interoperability between devices for secure
media sharing.
As players outside the traditional broadcast and
video industry enter the market, and with names
like Amazon and Apple becoming leading actors
in the conversation, we can expect that multi-
screen services will soon have to accommodate
smart watches and other smart devices.
Operators looking beyond the living room can
find another major revolution in video technology:
delivering content to the car.
The connected car conundrum Interestingly, these data lessons can be extended
outside the living room, particularly as our vehicles
become connected and able to gather data
themselves. Gartner estimates that by 2020, 90
per cent of cars will be connected to the internet,
and car manufacturers have recognised that
this opens the door to more entertainment, and
the advent of driverless cars means that we can
expect video delivered to passenger screens.
At CES earlier this year, car manufacturers
demonstrated how the automotive and
communication industries are becoming
intertwined, with panoramic screens providing a
range of infotainment to the passenger seat or
enabling consumer smartphones to interact with
the vehicle. This reinforces the idea that cars have
the capacity to evolve into real life companions
to support our day-to-day lives.
Connectivity plays an ever more central role,
and it is now up to service providers to ensure that
they harness the power of data to ensure they
can bridge the gap between connected devices
and entertainment. For pay-TV operators and
OTT providers, this means utilising consumer data
to ensure they deliver a first class experience to
subscribers, while it provides the first step for the
automotive sector to launch services that deliver
a highly personalised experience. n
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10-12 TVBE May16 Opinion Access v2 HAJMcK.indd 2 13/04/2016 17:02
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Both the BBC and ITV will be showing the
Euro 2016 tournament for viewers in the
UK, although only the final will be shown
simultaneously. Phil Bigwood, executive producer,
BBC TV Sport explains that the Corporation’s
presentation will centre on studio facilities in
Paris with a spectacular view of the iconic Eiffel
Tower. “We will be part of a studio complex
that is being built by the German company,
Plazamedia. This facility has the full support of
both Uefa and the city of Paris authorities and will
house various broadcasters. By sharing facilities
with broadcasting partners we can deliver value
for money, as well as provide a location that is
readily recognisable.”
Bigwood says that he plans to build on the
production model that the BBC has utilised
successfully for the last World Cup in 2014 and at
previous Euro finals. “Subject to the conditions
laid down by Uefa, we will be placing unilateral
cameras at the games involving the three home
nations and some of the bigger matches. As
well as providing addition stadium presentation,
these will provide ISO footage and allow us
personalised interviews. Because of the extremely
comprehensive coverage plan from Uefa, only
a minimal number of these dedicated cameras
are necessary.”
At those venues, the BBC will utilise a simple
SNG solution, where the producer will be calling
and cutting shots. These will be fed back to the
Paris gallery where a programme editor and
director will oversee the main output. “We will also
have the services of ENG crews around France to
collect other content for interviews and so on.”
In common with other broadcasters, the BBC
will have access to the UEFA Livex server and its
wide range of available content. “By carefully
managing our facilities and making use of the
material on offer, we have been able to reduce
our location commitment, again allowing us to
provide value for money for the Euro coverage.”
Alongside the extensive live match coverage,
the BBC will be providing Euro 2016 services such
as catch-up programming, online features, TV
highlights and analysis sequences. “The BBC
has rights to broadcast all matches online. This
coverage will be enhanced with data analysis
and social media interaction. On the Red Button
there will be different audio options, such as the
Radio 5Live commentary or language services.”
He concludes, “With such a major
undertaking, it is obvious that our plans have
been reformulated on a number of occasions.
But now we are ready with what we believe is
a strategy that will provide our viewers with the
most comprehensive coverage of the upcoming
tournament in France.”
German plansBroadcasting rights for Germany are being
shared by ZDF, ARD and SAT1/Pro7, marking the
first time the broadcaster will show live games
from a Uefa European football championship.
Coming on the heels of its World Cup success,
Germany, alongside hosts France, is being
placed as joint favourite for the tournament.
“We, together with ARD, will be showing 45 of
the 51 games,” says ZDF’s head of sports, Dieter
Gruschwitz. “To enable us to provide the most
comprehensive coverage, ZDF will be utilising
the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) to a
considerable extent. Our plans call for not just a
studio, but also offices and extensive technical
facilities.” Those ZDF facilities will receive a dirty
feed for its live programmes. “For every match,
we will utilise the ISO feeds being offered by
Uefa. In addition, there will be a clean feed and
that, along with the ISOs, will be used in post
production where we can add our own graphics
for the studio experts when they analyse action
and incidents. When it comes to dedicated
coverage of the Germany matches, we will be
using a production truck with additional cameras,
and this facility will supplement the international
feed. We will also utilise bookable stand-up
positions at each ground, as necessary. All the
signals will be sent to our own gallery at the IBC
where our directors will have a good choice
of content to help tell the story of the game.”
Gruschwitz reports that his presenting team
will be Oliver Welke and Oliver Kahn. The ZDF
lead commentators will be Bela Rethy and
Oliver Schmidt. Each match day, ZDF will
broadcast a highlights programme showing all
games played earlier. “We will also be using three
crews in France to collect stories and reactions,
especially from the German training camp. We
will also be using a special studio for interviews.”
Production14 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
Personalising the coveragePhilip Stevens asks several Euro 2016 rights holders how they are planning to serve their domestic audiences
14 15 16 TVBE Uefa Production_v3 HAJMcK.indd 1 13/04/2016 17:04
Production TVBEurope 15May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
Maintaining the Swiss watchSRG SSR is Uefa’s broadcasting partner for
television coverage in Switzerland. Because the
country is multi-lingual, this will involve providing
three language versions of the games from its
various broadcast outlets. Sven Sarbach, head of
major events SRG SSR, business unit sport explains
more. “SRF will provide the German language
output, RTS for the French speakers, while RSI will
serve the Italian speaking viewers. Each unit will
send its own presenters and commentators to the
stadia around France.”
Those main commentators include Sascha
Ruefer, Daniel Kern and Daniel Wyler for the SRF
broadcasts, Philippe von Burg, Jean François
Develey and David Lemos for RTS and for
RSI, Armando Ceroni, Omar Gargantini and
Severino Piacquadio.
Sarbach reports that all 51 matches of the
tournament will be available to Swiss viewers.
“With so many different nationalities living in
our country, viewers have different loyalties,
so coverage of all games is important. When
matches kick off at the same time, we will choose
the most important for the live transmission,
and then replay the other a little later.” The
broadcaster will utilise a small office and a control
room within the IBC. “Our plan is to use the main
stadium world feed with the provided graphics,
plus stand-up positions at each venue and then
add our commentaries. For certain games, we
will be using our own unilateral camera. However,
for those games which involve the Swiss national
side, we will add our own production vehicle.”
A special studio will be built at the Swiss base
camp in Montpellier, but for the Swiss matches
a presentation studio in the stadium will be
used. Montpellier is also the location for the
broadcaster’s three Sony XPRI edit suites.
Sarbach concludes, “There will be different
feeds from each game that can be used
for second screen purposes. Whatever their
nationality, viewers back in Switzerland will be
treated to the most comprehensive coverage
from this festival of football.”
Checking out the Czech coverageFinishing top of its group in the qualifiers, the
Czech Republic will meet Spain in the first of its
Finals game at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse.
Covering the games for viewers in the Czech
Republic will be Uefa broadcast partner,
Ceská Televize (CT).
“We will be showing all 51 games in the Euro
2016 tournament,” reveals Vladimir Drbohlav,
head of international transmissions department
at the broadcaster. “Our main commentators in
France will be our popular team of Jaromir Bosak
and Vlastimil Vlasek.” CT has no plans to operate
through the IBC, but will rely on the international
feed with the provided English language
graphics. “CT’s own ENG crews will be on hand
for games that involve their national team, and
for those matches we have booked stand up
positions.” Its main presentation studio for all the
matches will be located at its broadcast facility
in Prague.
“Where our own graphics will help to tell the
story, we will add those back at our studio base in
Prague,” states Drbohlav. “And when it comes to
utilising statistics, we will be using those provided
to us by Uefa.”
Beyond covering the games, CT will broadcast
a special highlights programme on each
match day. “Our crews will prepare reports,
www.asperasoft.commoving the world’s data at maximum speed
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interviews and profiles concerning the Euro 2016
atmosphere and the participants’ preparations
and reactions.” The material from these ENG
crews will be edited in France, with distribution
via the internet. CT also plans to offer matches
through its websites and on mobile phones.
Covering the Red DevilsAll 51 matches will be broadcast live in Belgium,
with coverage by RTBF in the French language
and VRT for the Flemish speaking audience.
Bart De Lathouwers, producer VRT Sport says
that its main studio presenters will be Maarten
Vangramberen and Karl Vannieuwkerke, with
Ruben Van Gucht as the anchor at the venues
where the games involving Belgium are played
and at their training camp.
In France, VRT will share facilities within the
IBC with RTBF and NOS, the Dutch national
broadcaster. The Belgian broadcasters will
each use two edit suites, although there will be
additional edit facilities at the journalists’ desktops
in the office area. Linking these facilities will be
a shared Avid production network and storage
system. “Our live transmissions will be centred on
the dirty feed from the host broadcasters, but
there will be a clean feed for our studio in Brussels
and we will add in our own language graphics
for our unilateral pre and post-match statistics,”
states De Lathouwers.
He continues, “Our OB van will be present at
all the national team’s games, and this will allow
both us and RTBF to use additional cameras for
a combined production. There will be a director
from RTBF, Thierry Delrue, who will carry out his
own vision mixing, and me as the producer in
the OB van.”
VRT will employ two ENG crews at the
Bordeaux training camp. Again, the two Belgians
will share facilities offered by an SNG vehicle,
supplied by RTBF. An additional ENG crew will
travel around the country collecting stories about
Belgium’s opponents at their training camps and
providing reports on matches.
Each evening will conclude with a talk
show programme which will cover post match
analysis and highlights.
“We will also work with a studio audience
and create special events for up to 300
spectators when the Belgian matches are
on the schedule.” n
Česká Televize‘s main commentators will be Jaromir Bosak and Vlastimil Vlasek; Phil Bigwood, executive producer, BBC TV Sport; and Dieter Gruschwitz, ZDF’s head of sports (Copyright SRF Oscar Alessio)
14 15 16 TVBE Uefa Production_v3 HAJMcK.indd 3 15/04/2016 16:27
new tvbe template remade.indd 1 13/04/2016 12:50
Production
For the first time in Euro history, 24 teams will
contest for the UEFA Euro 2016 trophy in
France during June and July. The estimated
two billion viewers, wherever they may be in the
world, are set to be provided with even more
televised content than ever before.
Kick-off for the finals takes place on 10 June at
the Stade de France in Paris. Here the host nation
will take on Romania in the first of 51 matches
that culminate in the same venue for the final
on 10 July, which is expected to attract a global
viewership of around 300 million people.
UEFA Euro 2016 will represent the third
tournament in a row that Uefa has overseen
the host broadcast (HB). Using the services of
five outside broadcast (OB) providers; Telegenic
(from the UK), Outside Broadcast (Belgium),
Euromedia and AMP Visual (both based in
France) and Mediatec (Sweden), the HB will
provide live HD coverage, encoded with Dolby
5.1 surround sound, of all matches. All replays will
be housed outside the OB trucks via a centralised
solution provided by EVS.
As always, the priority for Uefa is the live match
coverage, but Uefa Broadcast Partners (UBPs) will
also receive a wealth of additional programming
material before and after games. Twenty-four
dedicated teams will follow each completion
nation, providing daily team reports, highlights
and cultural features. UBPs will also have access
to other footage, including the teams’ arrivals
at the venues, the various pre-match press
conferences and post-match interviews.
UBPs will also have the option to receive all
broadcast quality video content via the Euro
2016 Livex broadcast media server, based on
EVS server technologies. Livex is Uefa’s content
publication and distribution platform that
stretches across the dedicated cross-France fibre
network. Through this platform, broadcasters
will have access to video and audio clips, data,
graphics and statistics as well as all the additional
programming provided by Uefa.
Overseeing the production will be a team of
around ten producers and five match directors.
A minimum of 38 live match cameras will be used
at each match, which will include three aerial
systems; spidercam, helicopter and external
beauty shot. Implemented since Euro 2008, these
provide priceless footage of the match and
atmosphere around the stadium.
Uefa continues to innovate in 4K production,
having first tested the technology at the 2014
Lisbon Champions League final. At Euro 2016,
alongside the HD output, the opening match,
quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will also be
covered by 12 dedicated 4K Ultra HD cameras,
overseen by a separate production team.
Other innovations for Euro 2016 will include next
generation tracking and the use of unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) for pre-tournament filming
above the host cities. Outside of the venues,
the focal point of the entire HB operation is
the International Broadcast Centre (IBC). This
will be custom built for Uefa by host broadcast
services (HBS) at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles
exhibition centre. Construction of the IBC
18 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
A festival of football in FrancePhilip Stevens talks to Uefa about its plans for the upcoming Euro 2016 finals
Uefa’s plans call for 38 cameras to be used during the games in France
18 19 TVBE May16 ProductionUEFA_v2 HAJMcK.indd 1 14/04/2016 10:07
Production
begins on 28 March and the facility will be fully
operational by 6 June, a day before it officially
opens. More than 800 UBP and Uefa staff will
call the IBC home during the tournament, which
also houses studios, commentary booths and
office space. The IBC will take on the feel of a
small village complete with restaurants, laundry
and postal services, and even a tourism desk for
visiting broadcasters.
The production galleries within the IBC will
be equipped with Sony and Barco solutions,
with Adobe used as the edit system. Once the
tournament is underway, UBPs will be able to
enhance their coverage by booking unilateral
services at each match to give their own
programmes a unique look and feel. These
unilateral facilities include camera positions,
studios, announce platforms, TV compound
stand-up positions and pitch reporter positions.
A team from Uefa TV will be on hand at each
venue to oversee both the unilateral and
multilateral coverage.
Uefa has invested heavily in digital media
services, and Euro 2016 will see a roll-out of
several new services, delivered by deltatre,
including a live match streaming player and
separate video streams, match-highlight clips,
data feeds and VoD solutions for tablets and
smartphones. These will allow UBPs to further
exploit their media rights and augment the
digital footprint, across all platforms, in their
respective markets. Uefa’s unprecedented HB
delivery to UBPs for Euro 2012 included more
than 15,000 hours of production. Uefa’s industry
benchmark coverage before, during and after
the tournament will dramatically increase for
UEFA Euro 2016, bringing the fans even closer to
the tournament, the cities and the players. n
TVBEurope 19May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
Poland is one of the teams taking part in the tournament
‘Innovations for Euro 2016 will include next generation tracking and the use of
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for pre-tournament filming above the host
cities’
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20 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
“We see a lot of grading now in
standard television programmes,
and there is a very clear push
towards more a artistic, more fi lmic look to it,”
says Wolfgang Lempp, CEO of FilmLight. “It’s also
fed of course by the modern cameras which
have fantastic dynamic range, that allow you
to play with lighting and grading in a way that
wasn’t possible before. And anyone who has
seen HDR realises very quickly that is more of a
pull for the consumer than Ultra HD.”
“More and more mastering at 4K is taking
place outside of DI for theatrical features,”
says Simon Bartlett, marketing and business
development EMEA for post production at
SAM. “The main driver for this is the new breed
of broadcasters such as Netfl ix and Amazon
commissioning 4K work. 4K HDR will be a natural
extension of this and will help up-sell 4K or Ultra
HD consumer displays from HD.”
“Although there are challenges, mainly the
cost investment and client education, the
benefi t of both 4K and HDR is increased viewer
enjoyment as well as revenue for the post
house,” says senior colourist and MD of The
Look, Thomas Urbye. “As a colourist, I relish the
opportunity to grade in HDR as the contrast
range, and in some instances saturation, in Rec
709 can be restrictive. It’s not all about super
sharp, super bright and highly saturated colours,
but a more immersive viewing experience by
creating visually stunning images. 4K and HDR
helps to do that.”
Colourist and colour scientist Dado Valentic is
the founder of Mytherapy, and after working on
Netfl ix’s HDR production of Marco Polo, is very
well placed to talk about the opportunities and
challenges offered by cameras and monitors
supporting higher dynamic range and wider
colour gamuts. “HDR is giving us incredible
precision in shadows that we didn’t have before.
HDR screens offer a very high contrast and a
larger amount of colour. You can also use much
more available light on set. Because we have
screens that are now able to display that light
sensitivity, we can actually work [on set] more
naturally. You don’t have to limit yourself by not
being able to display what’s interior and exterior.
You can see what’s out through the window.”
“We are able to expose more detail, but also
sometimes unwanted detail, and problems
that the camera might have captured,” he
continues. “Any grading tricks that we
were able to get away with in the past are
becoming more visible. We have to work with
much higher precision.” The colourist also advises
moderation in HDR. “I don’t want people to have
their eyes fall out just because of how bright I
can make something on the screen. Or skin to
look like a cherry, because it can be as red as
you want it. It’s more about creating beautiful
images, using all the available data.”
Talking specifi cally about colour “Before 4K HDR television, colourists graded in
Rec 709 with a 2.2 Gamma curve; it was pretty
simple, but now there is more choice and
more deliverables.” says Bartlett. “Therefore,
the main challenge is not in the grading itself,
but understanding the choices you have when
working in a specifi c colour space with an
appropriate transfer curve that is required by the
different deliverable formats. Otherwise clipping
and other artefacts might appear when colours
can’t be reproduced on a particular display
device. Post production pipelines will also need
to gear up to effi ciently service an increase in
4K demand and also to handle the increased
number of deliverables from a 4K HDR master.”
“A lot of customers are playing with HDR, but shy
away from it in the end,” says Patrick Morgan,
product marketing manager for Digital Vision.
“One of the big issues is standardisation; there’s
no real [display] standard. The BBC and NHK
pushing their Hybrid Log Gamma curve, and
you’ve got Dolby pushing PQ [SMPTE 2084].”
“We’ve kind of future-proofed ourselves [with
Nucoda],” he says. “We’ve been working with
DolbyVision for a long time, such as on Pixar’s
Inside Out and Disney’s Tomorrowland. We
changed our keyer, so that you can key on value
as opposed to luminance. We changed our
Post Production
Camera technology is driving and exploiting demand for higher resolution and high dynamic range, expanding creativity on the acquisition side, writes Michael Burns. However, opportunities and challenges at the fi nishing end are also growing
20 21 TVBE MAY 16 Post Production_V3 HAJMcK.indd 1 15/04/2016 16:29
Post Production TVBEurope 21May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
colour curves to be able to work in extended
range. We changed our clipping tool, so we
can tell it at what level to clip. We’ve got the PQ
curve in our matrix. So we did a lot of stuff that
people can now use to work in HDR. Standards
will make it easier for the customer.”
Thomas Urbye says he has concerns about
going from a committed Rec 709 project to Rec
2020: “To offer a truly great visual experience
I think its necessary to grade for both, grading
within the same system and using a special
set of highly specialised grading transforms to
get from the grade for Rec 709 to P3 or Rec
2020, all signed off by myself and my clients.
To just use a simple linear transform seems an
unsophisticated and poor approach to the true
visual opportunities offered by HDR.”
“Originally when we first started working with
HDR, we would receive an SDR grade and
repurpose the grade and make it HDR,” recalls
Valentic. “I found that was not really giving me
the best results. HDR images can look absolutely
stunning and beautiful, and just taking an
SDR master and stretching it to be HDR is not
the way to do it. The best way for me was
actually to grade in HDR and create a SDR
master in parallel.”
Holistic thinking in colour“One of the really important things for us, and
it’s particularly true for television, is productivity,”
says Lempp. “That’s why we’ve always pushed
this idea that we should start grading early.
There’s a lot you can do on set, or as part of
post production and visual effects, if there is
consistent way of viewing colour.”
Mytherapy follows a colour managed
workflow, working with the DoP before shooting
starts. “We develop what we call a show LUT,”
says Valentic. “We can track the metadata for
the looks that were implemented on set to the
grading suite, so when I conform, I don’t just
conform the picture and sound, I also conform
the colour metadata as well. I’m not inventing
and creating a look at the end of the job.”
“I wouldn’t do HDR in any other way,” he adds.
“I really do not want to do a job where it’s just
shot and given to me for grading, that’s almost
like rescuing something. In HDR we have to know
what we’re getting, when they shoot it.”
Valentic says his biggest bugbear is time: “To the
producers, if you’re going to be working in HDR,
give us more time. It’s not necessarily that we are
slow in working with HDR, it’s just that we need to
be more precise in what we’re doing, and that
needs more attention to detail.” n
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Thomas Urbye, The Look
20 21 TVBE MAY 16 Post Production_V3 HAJMcK.indd 2 15/04/2016 16:29
AMOS-6Coming in 2016
new tvbe template remade.indd 1 13/04/2016 12:52
Walking away from an interview with
Claire McHugh and Daragh Ward, I
couldn’t prevent myself from singing
‘When Irish apps are smiling’. Respectively CEO
and CTO, and driven to be in the vanguard
of where all video is intuitively interactive, this
successful Dublin start-up already counts QVC,
Viacom, AOL and Qyou amongst its clients, and
now it has the Ediflo Pro platform, a cloud-based
SaaS system that allows the user to add video
services via Object Based Broadcasting (OBB).
The message to the likes of BT is simple: when
you have finished fussing over 4K and HDR,
interactive video apps distributed on multiple
platforms are the next big thing. In fact they are
here now, but where did Axonista come from in
terms of its pedigree?
“I worked for a number of years as a sports
broadcaster, and Daragh’s background is in
enterprise development. It happened in typical
Irish start-up fashion, created over a few pints
in a pub,” said McHugh. “There was the very
experimental stage, before the ubiquitous mobile
device became what we have today.
“We did trials with Irish broadcasters. We
produced companion apps for specific shows,
and looked to see how we could help the
editorial flow,” she added. “And then we did a
project with TV3 which was pretty ambitious for
2013. It was a completely synced companion
app for TV3’s entire primetime schedule of 40
different shows. That project gave us a really
good understanding of what worked and what
did not work with second screen. We also learnt
what sort of assets were available, and how
editorial could shape interactive experiences.”
What McHugh and Ward discovered was
that anything in a live setting, such as sports,
shopping, fashion, news and current affairs,
worked brilliantly.
“If you were a little bit removed from the
content it was difficult to create an experience
that actually added any value for the viewers.
So we have concentrated on, and have
developed our product to target it towards
live shows,” said McHugh.
This is not about creating more than a
two-screen experience, but a single unified
experience. “If you are watching on a mobile
device, it works perfectly for that device. If there
is a caption that looks like it should be tapped, it
is tap-able and it does something, but it does not
interrupt the editorial of the show itself,” she said.
Innovate or die awayJump forward three years from the TV3 trials
and Axonista has several core products; Ediflo
Live (scheduling and playout), Ediflo Library
(DAM), Remoco (interactive video), and now the
professional version of Ediflo. Its mission statement
could be, ‘We create interactive apps that
can be distributed on multiple platforms, and
managed by producers’.
“If you are in TV and you are not innovating,
you are not going to be around in ten years from
now. We work with innovators who can look
forward and see how the market is shifting, and
Intuitively interactive television
Business TVBEurope 23May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
George Jarrett met the co-founders of Axonista, a Dublin start-up going beyond the two-screen experience
Daragh Ward, Axonista
“So many technology companies just try to put widgets everywhere and say how clever
they are. This is just intuitively perfect” Daragh Ward, Axonista
23 24 26 TVBE May Business_v4 HA.indd 1 15/04/2016 16:34
be there at that time,” said McHugh. “For people
like QVC and the big global broadcasters, this is
a no brainer. And then there are the new digital
natives, and a large version of those is AOL.
It has lots of different video properties and is
really open to doing new and interesting things
because its target market is people who have
maybe never actually had TV or cable, and are
used to viewing on different mobile devices.
“And then we have the people who are
getting into broadcasting for the first time and
don’t have all that legacy stuff,” she added.
Ward contributed: “We still want to be working
with broadcasters and other companies who are
influencing the editorial. We always like to take
video from the broadcaster we are talking to
and say, ‘Here’s your content and this is what it’s
like if you use our system to make it interactive on
devices. We are not going to change editorial’.
The content has come off the screen now
and has come onto all the little screens, and
it is about that intuition of how it works on
different devices.”
McHugh said: “It could eventually come
completely off the screens and just be on any flat
surfaces or in VR environments. Anywhere video
can play it can be interacted with, and that’s
where we want to be.”
Axonista is six years old. The three products
were created by just 15 staff. How will it find the
talent and funding to expand?
“That is a big issue,” said McHugh. “Luckily
enough I have a technical co-founder who has
built good software teams before. This is Daragh’s
third company.”
Ward added: “Dublin has a vibrant start-up
community that is technically heavy. Google,
Facebook, Twitter and many Silicon Valley
companies have European HQs there, and they
attract large numbers of engineering talent.
“In some ways that is difficult, because we
are not competing with those guys, but nobody
spends their entire career at Google. They come
out the other side and look for a new challenge.
We are able to tell the story of what we are
doing and attract people that way,”
he continued.
Axonista raised its seed money and it has
become profitable. The next step after growing
the team will be penetrating the American
market more competitively.
“We are looking right now for a really good
venture capital partner who will inject the right
amount, but also give us good connections and
the ability to fill gaps in our team,” said Ward.
This is a sensible foot in the past, foot in the
future thinking. “We continue to work with
Businesswww.tvbeurope.com May 201624 TVBEurope
“If you are in TV and you are not innovating, you are not going to be
around in ten years” Claire McHugh, Axonista
Claire McHugh, Axonista
23 24 26 TVBE May Business_v4 HA.indd 2 15/04/2016 16:34
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TVB_220x290 SAM Innovation 2.indd 1 10/04/2016 19:33new tvbe template remade.indd 1 13/04/2016 12:53
Irish broadcasters, TV3 particularly; we do all
its free player stuff on different platforms from
IOS, Android and Roku to Xbox,” said McHugh.
“Ireland is a great market to test things because
it is a kind of mini UK market and a very mini US
market in terms of demographic breakdown. The
QVC Apple TV app has got us the most attention.
When we got to do that it enabled us to show
what the future of TV really looks like.”
Everywhere video can be playedAxonista started as a services company doing
second screen apps and developed by taking
all the technology it had been building for apps
creation and coalescing it into solid product.
It had been selling an enterprise version of
Ediflo, meaning involvement in the customer
implementation. The new professional version
is something users can set up for themselves.
It has a creative team that handles design to
prototype, and a development team that builds
the prototype out.
“We work everywhere where video can be
played. Our product side is broad: there is the
asset management, which you could use on
its own to create an OTT service. We work with
partners where we have features we don’t want
to build ourselves. We want to focus on the
interactive graphics part of it,” said Ward. “We
work with Yospace for ad insertions at TV3. We
work with Pay Wizard for payments, and
for automated content recognition we work
with Civolution.”
Axonista software is a cloud-based subscription
deal. Ediflo is all about workflow, and the new
professional system hits the market in Q3.
“It is an editorial workflow system but is
designed to be incorporated into your existing
workflow. We do not want to ask you to
change anything around, so we have very easy
integrations. We can integrate our scheduling
piece into your scheduling system, and you
don’t necessarily have to use Ediflo to create the
schedule. You would use it to drive the digital side
and drive the apps,” he added.
Axonista is working with a number of customers
to build out Ediflo Pro and make it 100 per cent
ready. Ward went into demo mode.
“This is the asset library of Qyou, and you can
see we can store the content and metadata for
all of the videos these guys use to comprise their
offering. They are both linear and on-demand so
they use the library to manage their digital assets
in the cloud,” he said.
“On the scheduling side Qyou curates short-
form content for the web, so lots of really good
youth oriented short-form video, and they put it
all together as shows with presenters who call out
what’s happening and the content makers as
guests. They make a whole show out of it.”
The point here is that the run down of media
assets in an hour-long show were there to
frame accuracy, and played out from the
cloud. The interactive TV part of the Axonista
strategy is Remoco.
“It’s an SDK that you can drop into your own
apps,” said Ward. “And we can build an app for
you based around this. You can have interactivity
against one show out of your schedule or around
anything you want.”
This led to QVC as a user. “It is really simple.
That’s the real killer thing about it. So many
technology companies just try to put widgets
everywhere and say how clever they are. This is
just intuitively perfect,” said Ward.
In the prototype seen (QVC had baked in
the sell data panel on its pages) the Axonista
replacement panel is an interactive overlay
offering many more benefits. These can be partly
identified from a demo experience with presenter
Craig Doyle.
“Craig is going to start by asking his audience a
question, and he will encourage them to engage
on Twitter to reply. The question is, ‘which is more
important, performance or victory, and why?’
He wants people to call the show and include
the hash tag, and this is fine for TV again, similarly
to QVC. But in a device what you are actually
asking people to do is leave the app they are
watching and go to twitter and launch. They
then have to remember how to spell the hash tag
and try to remember the question, just as a friend
posts a crazy picture of his cat,” said McHugh.
Clean feed without the graphicWhat Axonista worked out, which it has presented
to BT as an idea was: “Why not give us a clean
feed without the graphic. This is a very similar
graphic but it is native. The guys in the studio
do not have to change what they are saying,
change the editorial or change the production.
“We can take the data they are sending
the Chyron and funnel it down to the app and
display it in a way that looks the same. But when
you tap it you can respond to that poll, put in
your bit of guff and Tweet, and you have not
missed a beat or left the show,” said Ward.
“This really increases engagement: when we
talk to our users about the results that came
out, some of them are pretty astounding,” he
continued. “For QVC it is a natural progression,
but not yet for broadcasters and BT. Those guys
are focussed on 4K and HDR but there will be a
thing that will be next after that, and what we are
trying to do with Ediflo Pro is to drive that market
and to put it in front of decision makers and say
this thing is possible now.” Axonista does not
make the mistake of claiming it is unique. “There
are other people doing what we are doing, and
if there wasn’t I would be worried. It is always a
good indication you are doing the right thing if
somebody has also thought of it,” said McHugh.
“The difference is our keen focus on the user
experience and also on the editorial experience.
Producers are the storytellers; so enabling them
to use more ways of telling their story is really
the thing for us. OBB is the next phase in video
delivery for content makers who want to stay
ahead of their competitors.” n
Businesswww.tvbeurope.com May 201626 TVBEurope
The Dublin start-up counts QVC among its clients
23 24 26 TVBE May Business_v4 HA.indd 3 19/04/2016 11:03
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TVBEverywhere
Chem Assayag, EVP
marketing and sales
at Viaccess Orca,
commented that the term ‘mobile
TV’ does not accurately refl ect
the television landscape today.
He noted that, “instead, it refers
to the mid-2000s when specifi c
technologies such as DVB-H were
being used to deliver video to
mobile devices”.
Assayag explained: “At that
time only broadcast-dedicated
technologies were capable of
delivering a decent viewing
experience on mobile devices. This
approach had shortcomings and
has since been replaced by mobile
video experiences allowed by 3G
and 4G networks, dynamic bitrate
technologies, Wi-Fi hotspots, new
devices such as smartphones and
tablets with good memory capacity
and processing power, and
mobile-friendly content formats.
Now, video on mobile is part of a
comprehensive ‘TV everywhere’
experience from a viewer
standpoint, and TV everywhere
solutions from a vendor standpoint.”
TV on mobile everywhere“The last 12 months have been
absolutely amazing for mobile
TV,” agreed Iddo Shai, director
of product marketing at Kaltura.
“First, we saw much more content
becoming available on mobile. In
2015, users with a mobile device
and no TV or TV subscription device
had access to much more premium
content. The biggest move was
HBO going direct to consumer with
a $15 per month SVoD service in the
US. Others soon followed like CBS
and Showtime. Some of the most
popular sports are now available
via apps like Sling.TV (ESPN), MLB.
TV, NBA League pass, NHL Mobile
and more. Even the Super Bowl, the
biggest sporting event of the year,
was streamed on Yahoo.
Heather McLean spoke to attendees at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona about how the market has evolved in 2015, and where they expect it to go over the next year
TVBEverywhere28 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
“Mobile TV” is old hat
28 30 31 TVBE MAY16 TVBEverywhere_V3 HAJMcK.indd 1 15/04/2016 16:25
Witness key trending technologies
OTT Video over IP
Audio over IP Digital Media Asset
Management
Be sure to check out the theme
specific technologies in
www.Broadcast-Asia.comThe 21st International Digital Multimedia & Entertainment Technology Exhibition & Conference
INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES, EXPERIENCING CONTENT
31 May - 3 June 2016 Level 4 & 5
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@ Level 4Hear from award-winning / well-known directors and DOPs who will be sharing
their experience and insights on the different equipment / solutions and best practices when addressing the different
challenges in their work.
Network with over 600 leading brand owners and solution providers across the
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Endorsed: Supported by:A Part of: Hosted by:
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Hear experts from Amazon Web Services, Astro Radio, Discovery Communications,
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broadcasting industry.
Azran Osman Rani Chief Executive
Officer iflix Malaysia
Chris Fetner Director of Global Content Partners
OperationsNetflix
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Officer Hulu Japan
(HJ Holdings)
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Director of Audiences
BBC
Shane Mitchell
Head, DigitalMediaCorp
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TVBEverywhere30 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
“With so much premium content
available online, it’s safe to assume
that we will continue to see more
‘cord-nevers’ that don’t see a need
to subscribe to traditional pay-TV
and wonder if they should even
own a TV,” said Shai.
Shai pointed to a Research Now
study released in January by pay-TV
provider, Paywizard, which showed
that 66 per cent of consumers
globally prefer to access internet
TV via a mobile, tablet or laptop.
Recent launches of 4K screens
on mobile devices and debuts of
new Airplay-, Chromecast- and
Miracast-enabled devices support
research findings that younger
audiences (18-34s) now use almost
twice as many devices as over
55s to watch TV. In fact, the study
showed that the 18-24 year-old
group is most likely to watch TV
on mobile (35 per cent), whereas
25-34s are the most likely group to
watch TV on tablets (32 per cent).
Michal Fridman, VP of marketing
at Comigo, commented that
things are getting exciting: “With
the younger generation changing
viewing habits, both in terms of
multi-tasking and decreasing the
amount of time spent on the main
TV screen, it is not surprising that
mobile TV has been the fastest
growing form of TV watching in the
past 12 months. We’re also seeing
that viewers are demanding a
television experience that is more
contextual and personalised on
every screen.”
Going mainstreamOn how the mobile TV landscape
evolved over the past 12 months,
Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, co-
founder, corporate development at
SPB TV, said: “The mobile TV business
has [gone] mainstream, a service
that is offered almost everywhere
today. The difference in services
can be seen by the quality and
quantity of offerings, which vary
a lot. We have also seen that the
most advanced operators, who
started years ago with mobile TV,
have reached market saturation,
[whereas] newcomers in the field
can reach new heights if they
implement [their] service [smartly]
and market their solution well.”
Shai also said that live streaming
has been a big change in
mobile over the past 12 months.
“Twitter’s Periscope was one of
the most talked about video
apps of the year. It’s not surprising
that Facebook also added live
broadcasting capabilities to its app.
Google already offers a somewhat
The global resource portal for media technology content
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NewBay Connect HP.indd 1 15/04/2016 12:17
The world’s largest gathering for the mobile industry returned to Barcelona in February
28 30 31 TVBE MAY16 TVBEverywhere_V3 HAJMcK.indd 2 15/04/2016 14:09
TVBEverywhere TVBEurope 31May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
similar option via Hangouts.
“We are about to experience
a boom in mobile companies
going into the TV market,” said
Shai. Vodafone Ireland and Spain
launched services recently and he
predicted other countries should
follow. “Telcos are in a position to
launch the TV services of tomorrow
with a mixed business model of
advertising, subscriptions and
transactions. I expect that they will
deliver on the promise of OTT TV to
allow watching content anywhere
and any time in a personalised
experience,” Shai said.
In terms of what’s next, Shai
referred to new TV devices such as
Apple TV, while Google is pushing
Android TV and Chromecast.
“We should expect a more fluid
TV experience in the near future,
in which our mobile devices will
work in unison with our iOS or
Android devices. Bringing mobile
to the living room is a revolution
waiting to happen.” Yet he added:
“The most interesting mobile TV
player these days is Facebook; it is
adding more video capabilities. It’s
likely to become a mobile video
powerhouse, especially when you
consider its reach.”
Interactive personalised servicesOn what is missing, Schmidt
commented that, “targeted
advertisement has still not arrived
in the heads of the decision
makers, although the technology
is available”. He added: “But the
most stunning service and the next
real evolution will be interactive
services. Content producers
who are looking for new ways of
engaging with their users will define
new formats which will further
change the way people consume
content in future.”
As to what Assayag sees
as the future business model
for mobile TV, he stated: “The
majority of video content viewed
on mobile devices is sold as a
component of a TV everywhere
package, and we should expect
this trend to continue. With the
increase of mobile bandwidth
around the world, consumers
will be more willing to pay for or
subscribe to premium content
on mobile devices, particularly
in emerging countries. A rise in
mobile TV subscriptions will lead
to a significant increase in pay-TV
revenues, globally, over the next
few years.” However, he observed
that specific advertising funded
models have also emerged. “In this
case, it becomes important to find
a way to deliver advertising in a
targeted, smart and non-intrusive
way. The beauty of mobile devices
is that they are personal devices.
Finding the right advertising formats
on mobile devices have become
the Holy Grail for all companies.
In the video space, pre and post
roll ads have become the norm,
allowing advertisers to keep
changing the formats.”
Indeed, personalisation is the next
trend, Ed Barton, practice leader
for TV at research firm, Ovum,
commented: “Ovum believes
that operators must progressively
transition the TV experience from
addressing households, as it has
since the 1950s, to addressing
individuals. TV service providers
must gather data about their
customers and their viewing
behaviour through set-top boxes
and other screen-based viewing
devices and video apps. This will
put them in a potentially very
powerful position as the segment
of the value chain with the highest
visibility of the audience, the
household subscriber relationship,
and the ability to gather and
subsequently interpret the data on
viewing behaviour. However, we
have so far seen little evidence of
operators leveraging the wealth of
data available.”
Meanwhile, Fridman said: “The
evolution of internet and video
technology enable contextual
enrichment capabilities to be
introduced to the mobile TV
experience. As such, we’re seeing
pay-TV and content providers
developing applications that
are contextual, dynamic, and
interactive, complementing the
mobile TV viewing experience. An
operator’s subscribers can engage
with these applications on top of a
video stream or broadcast, opening
up new and innovative revenue
sources, based on contextual
relevancy of the application.” n
www.mediagenix.tvwww.mediagenix.tv
SCHEDULING
Streamline your
Model your schedules from the concept up to broadcasting and beyond over multiple media.www.mediagenix.tv
“A rise in mobile TV subscriptions will lead to a
significant increase in pay-TV revenues, globally, over the
next few years” Chem Assayag, Viaccess Orca
Top to bottom; Chem Assayag, Viaccess Orca; Iddo Shai, Kaltura; Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, SPB TV; Michal Fridman, Comigo
28 30 31 TVBE MAY16 TVBEverywhere_V3 HAJMcK.indd 3 14/04/2016 10:26
Feature32 TVBEurope
Many senior figures in the broadcast industry claim to be experts in the field, but after chatting with David Ross I couldn’t think of a more fitting tagline when he tells me his is a company of “production technology experts”, writes Holly Ashford
Inside the chief executive’s office
Ross Video was founded by John Ross in
1974, who was joined at the firm by his son,
David, in 1991. Still a family business, Ross
the younger now heads up the company and
owns close to 90 per cent. I spoke to Ross just
two weeks before NAB, surely one of the busiest
and most stressful periods of the broadcast year.
Yet this CEO seemed decidedly upbeat and
collected, something I should have gleaned
from his Twitter picture; bedecked in sunglasses
and lei, cocktail in hand, backed by a blue,
sunny sky. And it’s no wonder: Ross opened our
discussion by sharing “one really exceptional
success story”; that the company has
experienced “Twenty-five consecutive record
years with no down years, and an average
compounded growth of 17 per cent year over
year.” Most companies have their ups and
downs, but this one seems to be heading in just
one direction, an extraordinary feat considering
the volatility of the market in the late 2000s:
“Growing in the recession was an interesting
trick.” admits Ross.
The company of “production technology
experts” offers a vast range of products and
services: production switchers, social media
management, robotic camera systems, control
and monitoring, graphics and routing systems,
signal processing, video servers, teleprompter
software, newsroom computer and master
control systems. “We have 17 product lines at this
point, with lots of sub-products underneath that,”
explains Ross. And if this wasn’t enough, “We also
sell art!” Ross Video also specialises in graphics
for TV and sport, and its creative services include
Rocket Surgery, a ‘one-stop-shop’ for design and
API development. “If you’ve got a stadium or
a news programme and you want to get your
election package together, or the game day
experience, what it looks like on the big screen,
we have artists that do all that work for you,”
says Ross. The company has a Rocket Surgery
Election 2016 package, promising to ‘make your
coverage #1’.
Doing it allRoss continues: “We also own and operate five
broadcast production trucks across the states,”
with Ross Mobile Productions (RMP), which
provides a full-service solution with equipment
rental and crew, “so there’s Ross cameramen,
Ross producers, Ross directors.” RMP has
produced live sports for the likes of Fox, ESPN
and NBC. It’s not an exaggeration when Ross
states “we do it all”, but how does a company
which offers such an array of products
and services covering almost every
facet of the broadcast industry,
maintain a high level of quality and
customer service?
“There’s a lot of method to
making all that work,” admits
Ross. Inside Ross Video there
are product line managers
“who are experts in both the
customer application and
the technologies involved,”
he continues. “They make
sure the quality is there,
that we’re using the right
technologies.” There is
also standardised quality
across the company, and
everything is manufactured
in the same factory, in the
same way, in-house. “That’s
another cool thing about
Ross,” its owner explains,
coolly. “We have 70,000sqft of
manufacturing capability that’s
running 16 hours a day, every
day.” There are also business
www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
32-35 TVBE May16 Feature David Ross v4 HA.indd 1 15/04/2016 15:39
TVBEurope 33
Feature
development managers that look at customer
applications and make sure that the company
offers “constellations of products” for various
applications. “We look at the Lego blocks that
we have, and then we design interconnects
between them to make them work extremely
well inside of those applications.” The company
creates products which work together, rather
than just offering a big checkout: “We’re more
Apple than Walmart.”
Growing a global forceIn an industry which has seen consolidations and
takeovers continue apace, Ross seems to be
in a rare position, maintaining majority control
of his family business. Even more surprisingly, his
employees own the other ten per cent. As a high
school and university student Ross undertook
internships at his father’s firm, which started life
as a “small 25-person company that my dad
had been struggling with for a few years.” His
background is in computer engineering and
business, and while in high school, he won three
major engineering competitions at national level
with projects involving real-time programming
and computer graphics. He admits that he “had
the basics…of what you need to eventually
become a business manager” though at the time
he graduated, was considering a career at NASA
or IBM. Taking on the family business “just didn’t
seem like a lot of fun.”
The company was “up and down” since it
was founded in the early ‘70s and over the first
15 years or so would “wobble anywhere from
20 people to 100 people and crash back
down again.” So what led Ross to step in,
and help out? “I like building things, so I
guess I convinced my dad and my dad
convinced me that maybe I should give
it a shot.” It was only after Ross joined in
1991 “that we hit sustained growth”, he
says, though when pressed on what he
brought to the company, he hesitates.
“I think I have to be careful with what
I say. If I say I brought something it
means it wasn’t here, and I don’t
want to say anything bad about
my father.” The perils of working in
a family business! “It was a good
combination of my father’s grey
hairs and experience, and maybe a
little bit of youthful energy that was
injected in,” he concludes.
This experience resulted in an
increased focus on marketing and
sales, re-aligning the company from
an “engineering-driven” one to a firm
which Ross himself was very much a
part of, getting involved in “demonstrations,
product comparisons, making sure that we had
good sales and marketing, making sure that
we had processes for growth.” Ross also played
a significant role in the company’s financial
strategy. Ross the senior was “a big believer” in
being debt-free, having steered the company
through a number of recessions. After he came
on board, Ross was able to convince his then-
CEO father that “a little bit of debt could go
a long way to investing in the company.” Ross
Video did not – and still does not – rely on any
external investors, but by “taking advantage of
some of our line of credit that we had to push”
was able to add more sales people in a particular
field, more engineers to a certain project, and
after a while “that becomes ten more, and 100
more”. Ross happily describes how the company
now has manageable debt, which is “continually
swamped by our growth”. This strategy has
obviously paid off; the company now employs
over 500 people, invests heavily in R&D, which
it does itself in house, and manufactures and
markets its products
worldwide through a
global sales force.
Mess and disruptionRoss’s positive disposition
is no surprise considering
the financial stability and
unstoppable growth
of his company, yet
what he has less control
over is the state of the
industry. “We’re in a
bigger mess than we’ve
ever been in our history,
in more ways than you
can count.” He gives it
a go though, naming
the development of and
indecision around 4K,
HDR, and IP, proprietary
systems vs COTS, the lack
of standards, traditional
facilities vs virtualised facilities, remote
production vs on-site production, and at the
same time “we’ve got a whole advertising
and revenue model somewhat in question,
with the advent of OTT and Netflix and
YouTube and all the other things that are
screaming for eyeballs.”
All of these factors throw up a significant
dilemma for just about every business operating
in the market: “On one side you’ve got a need to
evolve” as well as “a desire to go to 4K and IP”,
which will require significant investment, and are
“fabulously more expensive”. On the other side
there is less money to do it with, “because of the
fragmentation of the audience.”
Rather than floundering in the middle of this
mess, however, Ross Video aims to “guide a
path” and provide clarity amidst the “epic battles
going on for standards” the industry is currently
embroiled in.
How does Ross Video achieve these aims?
It makes alliances, and hopes it is on the right
team. Ross likens the company to a customer,
who sometimes has to make purchases and
hope that what they’ve bought today isn’t
obsolete and unsupported in two years. However,
as a global company with fingers in many
broadcast pies, “we can do something that
maybe our customers can’t do, and place our
bets in multiple places.” The company is involved
in IP, 4K, is “looking at” HDR and workflow
improvements, and is trying to make sure it offers
solutions to support the “dizzying number of
directions the industry may go in.”
www.mediagenix.tvwww.mediagenix.tv
WORKFLOW
Optimize your
Optimize linear broadcasting and on-demand services in a single system and streamline your workfl ows company-wide.www.mediagenix.tv
“My father started the company in 1974 and we would wobble anywhere
from 20 people to 100 people and crash back down again”
May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
32-35 TVBE May16 Feature David Ross v4 HA.indd 2 15/04/2016 15:40
I spoke to Ross before the circus of NAB,
which would involve 160 of the Ross (Video)
family descending on Las Vegas for “our most
exciting NAB ever.” Maintaining this verve is
commendable, considering this is Ross’s 28th
time at the broadcast show. Rather than trying to
promote any single strong point, the Ross Video
stand would feature an information section,
offering an unbiased view of “what everyone’s
doing” and “explain(ing) what it actually all is
on a one-on-one basis.” Like a ringmaster in a
confusing and eclectic NAB tent, who better
than a company that has so many products on
a global reach to be able to say, in Ross’s words:
“if you’re confused, we’re not surprised! Let me
lay out the facts right now of how things stand, so
you can make a choice.”
Despite the considerable “mess” of the
industry, Ross Video has continued to grow;
how does the company evolve its products and
services in uncertain conditions? David Ross
has retained the engineering base of the firm,
investing in research and development, and
avoiding “science experiments”. There are a
lot of companies, he concedes, which spend a
lot of engineering money developing products
which are not part of an ecosystem and not
standardised. Instead, Ross Video has been head
down, designing things, gauging the changes
in the industry, and partnering with companies
including Evertz and Hitachi, to ensure what they
produce serves their customers. In short, as its
Code of Ethics states: ‘We will not ship crap’.
Ross is in the somewhat unique position of
having had the broadcast industry as a backdrop
to his life, from a very early age. Is the rate of
change in the industry over the past decade –
and the resulting mess – dramatically faster than
the previous decade? And how will the industry,
and Ross Video, cope with the challenges if these
uncertainties continue for the decade to come?
First of the two major inflection points in Ross’s
Feature34 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
“We do something that our customers can’t, and place our bets in
multiple places”
2016 will see an even greater commitment from TVBEurope to cover more of the pressing areas of concern, challenge, and opportunity within our burgeoning marketplace. The biggest change for this year will be the introduction of new sections to enable us to provide greater coverage to specific business areas. Our Workflow section will now be divided into two new sections: Production, and Post Production. We will also be introducing a new Business section to follow the increasing acquisition and investment activity permeating the sector, and are also introducing a dedicated Audio section to bring regular insights and updates from an often overlooked strand of our industry. These new sections will be manned by a team of section editors.
Issue Exhibitions present at Feature Editorial Close date Advertising close date
June • TVBEurope Strategy Week • TVBEurope 2020 preview 12th May 5th May • TVBEurope 2020 Conference • RIO 2016 Olympic feature: live production • Broadcast Asia • Visions of the future: the connected world
July • OTT feature 10th June 3rd June
• Automation and playout
• RIO 2016 Olympic production feature:
August • IBC thought leadership insight and 12th July 5th July
product preview
September • IBC • IBC 2016 Show issue: thought leadership 19th August 12th August insight and product showcase
October •TVBAwards • Audio for broadcast 23rd September 16th September • IBC Best of Show Winners • IP technology
EDITORIAL PLANNER 2016
Europe Ben Ewles: +44 (0) 20 7354 6000 [email protected]
Richard Carr: +44 (0) 20 7354 [email protected]
Nicola Pett+44 (0) 20 7354 [email protected]
USA Mike Mitchell +1 631 673 0072 [email protected]
For all advertising and sponsorship opportunities, contact the sales team:
TVBE Editorial Planner 2016 half page.indd 1 15/04/2016 11:04
32-35 TVBE May16 Feature David Ross v4 HA.indd 3 15/04/2016 16:30
life, he says, was going from analogue to digital
video which brought about “a lot of benefit and
not too much confusion.” The second, the move
from SDI to HD similarly “wasn’t too painful” and
didn’t change workflows too much. The current
move to IP, however, is somewhat different: “It
has the potential to be quite disruptive and
difficult.” All the knowledge which those working
in the industry have acquired concerning “how
to connect things and make them work” no
longer applies to IP. “The knowledge you need
to have goes beyond just broadcast, workflows,
and technologies, and the needs of putting
a production on the air,” Ross continues. “You
need to know some extremely sophisticated
networking information,” which, for a while, he
admits will become “an almost superhuman task
for chief engineers everywhere.”
Going mobileAs well as growing profits, Ross Video keeps
growing its family with a flurry of acquisitions
over the past eight years, including Dutch
graphics specialist Media
Refinery, Australian
comms equipment
company Codan and
more recently, AR and
VR set solutions provider
Unreel. Ross remains coy
about his company’s
future buying strategy. He
confirms that “we’re not
done yet” and that there
are more acquisitions
in the pipeline. Perhaps
most interesting of Ross
Video’s buyouts has
been Mobile Content
Providers (MCP), turning
the mobile sports
production packager
into a national mobile
production company,
Ross Mobile Productions.
The unit has covered
basketball, hockey, wrestling and a number of
live events; 64, in fact, this February alone. One
of the reasons for the move, says Ross, was that
he “wanted to have a deeper core confidence
in Ross, making sure our products worked.”
Now, he guesses that the company may be the
second largest production company based out
of Canada. Clearly things are working just fine.
Ross Video has gone from strength to
strength, the company is still in the family, (his
father sits on the board of directors), and is not
driven by “ruthless investors” and “maximum
quarterly profit”. In addition to his role of CEO
and chairman of the board, Ross continues to
work as product manager for production line
switchers, his original gateway into the business.
Ross Video’s technology, and Ross himself, is
award winning, he values “consistency of vision”,
and engineering. He competes in triathlons, is
happily married, has a ‘cute’ rescue dog as a
pet and uses NAB as an excuse to drive into the
mountains to go hiking. The “exceptional success
story” seems far from ending. No wonder his skies
are so sunny. n
TVBEurope 35May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
www.mediagenix.tvwww.mediagenix.tv
VODStreamline your
from content acquisition over
scheduling to publishing and
package your content using
miniplaylists or render channels.
www.mediagenix.tv
For its election coverage, Belgium’s RTBF used Ross Video’s newsroom content and editorial
system Inception, which places social media integration at the heart of news production
“We look at the Lego blocks that we have, and then we design interconnects between
them to make them work extremely well inside of those applications”
32-35 TVBE May16 Feature David Ross v4 HA.indd 4 15/04/2016 15:41
36 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
Audio
The presence of huge outdoor stages and
halls stocked full of PA and equipment
geared towards the live and install markets
mean that Prolight + Sound hasn’t always been
perceived as a must-attend for broadcast
professionals. But with an increasing number of
vendors working successfully across all of these
areas, its coverage of broadcast technology
continues to expand with every passing year.
As might be expected, many of the most
exciting developments at this year’s event –
which took place at usual venue, the Messe
Frankfurt, from 5-8 April – pertained to networking
technology. Consider, for example, the
showcasing of products that support Ravenna:
ALC NetworX’s low-latency, IP-based networking
technology that was primarily devised with
the broadcast market in mind. More recently,
the technology’s compatibility with the AES67
standard has been widely highlighted.
An extensive selection was to be found
on ALC NetworX’s own booth and individual
company stands, and included the
groundbreaking Genelec 8430 IP network
compatible SAM studio monitor. Incorporating
Smart Active Monitoring and GLM AutoCal
automated system adjustment, the 8340A’s
Ethernet audio streaming capability is compliant
with AES67 and Ravenna, and supports all
the typical standard audio sample rates. The
resulting system is suitable for settings including
digital edit suites, radio, TV, outside broadcasting,
post production facilities and music studios.
“With the technological progress that
has been made in the field and the serious
involvements with AoIP by broadcasters and
other customers, we feel there is potential for
a well-engineered monitor to provide both
convenience and high performance benefits
that IP networks can deliver,” said Siamäk
Naghian, managing director of Genelec. “We
think that the 8430 is exactly that monitor and
I anticipate an enthusiastic reception of the
product amongst the audio community. Audio
over IP is no longer the future of monitoring – it
is here now.”
But Genelec’s new monitor was by no means
the only Ravenna-related product development
on show at PL+S, with other notable items
including: the GigaCore 14R Gigabit Ethernet
switch from Luminex; Omicron Lab’s OTMC-100
antenna-integrated PTP Grandmaster clock;
Merging Technologies’ Hapi networked audio
interface; Neumann’s DMI-8 digital microphone
interface equipped with a Ravenna card; and
Boldburg’s Galileo range of Ravenna-enabled
modular multi-core devices.
‘Indisputable extra value’Another Ravenna technology user, Lawo brought
a very extensive selection of its latest and
greatest products to Frankfurt. These included
the mc²36, an all-in-one mixing desk ‘built to
broadcast standards’ but with a feature-set
that also makes it suitable for theatres, houses
of worship and more. Also in the spotlight were
the mc²56 and mc²66 mixing consoles, as was
the Nova37 hybrid Ravenna/MADI plug and
play audio router for instant set-up of small-sized
audio networks with a maximum of 1536x1536
crosspoints. Lawo also showed its range of video
tools, including V__pro8 and V__link4.
With Lawo’s Kick automated, close-ball
audio technology continuing to make an
impact throughout the broadcast sector, the
company’s innovative credentials remain as
robust as ever. As Christian Struck, senior product
manager audio production at Lawo, told
TVBEurope: “Lawo has always been a driving
force of the development and adaption of
new technologies, and the latest technologies
Further signs of the audio revolution at Prolight + Sound 2016
The annual Prolight + Sound exhibition in Frankfurt plays host to an increasingly strong contingent of broadcast technology suppliers. David Davies reflects on some of the highlights of this year’s show
36-37 TVBE May16 Audio v1JMcK.indd 1 15/04/2016 16:45
AudioAudio TVBEurope 37May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
[surrounding immersive audio and other
next generation audio techniques] are no
exception. We pushed the development of
early 3D mixing for broadcast some years ago,
and we actively follow the latest developments
around object-based mixing, personalisation
and so on. When the market embraces the
technologies we will be happy to support it.”
With regard to forthcoming developments,
Struck confirms that “the usability and
additional benefits [brought to the
production]” continue to underline Lawo
R&D for broadcast.
“Without revealing any secrets, it is clear for
Lawo that new and innovative technologies
with an indisputable extra value always have
a substantial position in our development
plans,” he says.
Processing progressThe continued evolution of digital mixing
technology was another recurring theme at
Prolight + Sound ’16. One of the most notable
developments came from DiGiCo, which
presented an SD7 desk installed with the new
Quantum 7 processing engine that is scheduled
for release in spring 2017. Developed with
seventh generation FPGA devices, Quantum
7 is set to deliver a number of enhancements.
These include Nodal Processing – which means
that processing can be applied to any node
on the auxiliary section of the console, allowing
engineers to send unique processing on each
send from a single or multiple channels – and
the True Solo system, enabling the operator’s
monitoring system to replicate almost any
section of the console.
Finally, the show provided a basis to mark
several significant company anniversaries,
not least the 20th birthday of networking
technology Optocore. Two decades on
from the first Optocore product being made
available, its networks are used in OB vans,
studios, stadiums, theatres and more. In 2012,
the company founders created a separate
company, BroaMan, to focus on the
broadcast and AV markets.
On a busy PL+S stand, Tine Helmle, who was
Optocore VP of sales and marketing from 2001-
2012 and now serves as BroaMan’s managing
director, reflected: “A lot of this success is down
to the fact that the technology is rock-solid,
user-friendly, long-lasting, and involves low
power consumption; the green aspect of our
products is very important. We have great
clients worldwide, a great worldwide portfolio,
and brilliant projects to work on. So yes, we
are very happy with our current position.” An
example of vibrant attention to detail and
cutting edge R&D characterises the Optocore
and BroaMan stories. Fortunately, there
were plenty of other examples to be found on
the showfloors of an event that is now
on the calendar of many broadcast
professionals as they gear up for the
frenetic period that commences with
NAB very shortly afterwards. n
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7680 4320 120/119.88 80 [8] 160 [16] 160 [16] 160 [16]
7680 4320 100 67 [8] 133 [16] 133 [16] 133 [16]
7680 4320 60/59.94 40 [4] 80 [8] 80 [8] 80 [8]
7680 4320 50 34 [4] 67 [8] 67 [8] 67 [8]
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7680 4320 25 17 [2] 34 [4] 34 [4] 34 [4]
7680 4320 24/23.98 16 [2] 32 [4] 32 [4] 32 [4]
3840 2160 120/119.88 20 [2] 40 [4] 40 [4] 40 [4]
3840 2160 100 17 [2] 34 [4] 34 [4] 34 [4]
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3840 2160 50 9 [1] 17 [2] 17 [2] 17 [2]
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The Award winning Qx UHDTV1 4K and UHDTV2 8KThe Award winning Qx UHDTV1 4K and UHDTV2 8KQx UHDTV
36-37 TVBE May16 Audio v1JMcK.indd 2 14/04/2016 10:27
Xxxxxx n
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38 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
Data Centre
Across the world, we all have our
differences over what makes good
television, but it seems the one thing we
all agree on is that we want to watch it on the
move. Ooyala’s recent Q4 2015 Global Video
Index has taken a look at the recent trends
which appeared in the past few months across
the world, and what have we discovered? Well,
we’re all on the same page (or device). By
zooming in on the APAC region, it seems we’ve
concluded that these countries are consistent
with the rest of the world in terms of using mobile
devices to watch video, with nearly half of all
video views on smartphones and tablets.
The most recent version of our report, which
looks at the way 220 million users watch video
by collecting data from more than 3.8 million
video events a day, also showed strong growth
in programmatic advertising, a bump in viewing
on tablet devices, and a marked homogeneity
worldwide in how long-form video is consumed.
It’s a millennial thing Baby boomers may be loath to pass the torch
to another generation, but the reality is that the
millennials are behind all of this. They’re the cord-
nevers, the mobile-first generation and the former
pirates driving this global phenomenon. They’re
also universal. Millennials in Los Angeles, Berlin,
São Paulo, Bangkok, Singapore, London and
Moscow are, essentially, the same; at least when
it comes to mobile devices and the video they
watch on them.
In this quarter’s video index, Ooyala looks at
video consumption in 15 countries from within
in the APAC region. When compared with our
previous European report (Q3 2015), the results
from APAC were, perhaps unsurprisingly, the
same as what is happening in Europe, US
and the rest of the world; mobile is slowly but
steadily becoming the dominant form of
video consumption.
Mobile video in APAC makes up nearly 50 per
cent of all video plays, in line with the global
trend. As in other regions, mobile devices are
popular for consuming all kinds of video content,
both long and short, with smartphones being the
most dominant device.
Tablets everywhereThere is, however, one significant difference
Tablets are more popular for content
consumption in APAC than anywhere else in the
world. The rest of us may use smartphones more
than six times as often as tablets to watch video,
yet in APAC it’s less than four times this figure.
At the moment, the trend can be put down
to those adopting tablets early on. However,
the use of tablets is sure to grow even more as
the generations following the millennials adopt
tablets more and more.
But why is this the case? The younger
generation is the most tablet-penetrated ever,
many having been given tablets on their first day
of school. Globally, tablet ownership is surprisingly
homogeneous by region. In the US, 53 per cent
of respondents to a recent GlobalWebIndex
survey said they owned a tablet, followed by
consumers in Latin America (50 per cent), Middle
East and Africa (48 per cent), Asia Pacific (45
per cent), and Europe (42 per cent). Nearly
half of global internet users aged 16 to 64 own
tablets (47 per cent of males and 46 per cent of
females), with (surprise!) millennials more likely to
own a tablet than ‘Gen Xers’ or baby boomers.
Perhaps a surprising statistic is that 60 per cent of
Singaporeans own a tablet.
A pirate’s life for me?With regards to pirating content, there is no
point any more. Millennials grew up in an age
of early streaming, when there was little to
no content worth watching that was legal to
stream. Nowadays, those same millennials have
realised that it is much easier to pay a fair price
for content from a reliable source – not only is it
higher quality than illegally streamed content,
but it is also virus free.
To give an example of the impact of high
quality, legal streaming on the pirating industry,
illegal downloads dropped by 29 per cent six
months after Netflix launched in Australia, a
country notorious for pirating.
Content owners, meanwhile, have begun
to discover that making content available
at a reasonable cost also has other benefits:
a revenue line can be created where there
was not one before, and if your content is
good enough, you create a reliable and
lasting fan base.
Mobile use continues to growMobile video views topped 46 per cent in the
fourth quarter, an increase of 35 per cent in the
past year, and more than 170 per cent since
2013. And, while the explosive period of growth
that mobile experienced two years ago has
slowed somewhat, it’s far too early to say mobile
has plateaued. In fact, a number of factors point
to a slight pause – or shifting of gears – before
mobile accelerates anew. These take into
account some recent announcements by major
wireless carriers rolling out expanded mobile
video services, publishers increasingly turning
to video as a way to grow their businesses,
expansion of faster 4G wireless networks and
cheaper data and devices point.
The changing rules of engagement
The face of the broadcast industry is changing, but just how quickly are millennials altering the rules? Jim O’Neill, principal analyst for Ooyala, investigates
38-39 TVBE May16 Data centre Ooyala v3 HAJMcK.indd 1 15/04/2016 16:44
TVBEurope 39May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
Data Centre
For only the second time in the past five years,
video views on tablets increased their share of
mobile plays, something we’ll continue to see as
trailing millennials and digital natives move more
forcefully into the space with tablet devices they
have grown accustomed to.
In APAC, tablets are already making their mark,
contributing up 22 per cent of all mobile views,
with usage in Australia topping 29 per cent,
behind just New Zealand (31 per cent) and the
Philippines (32 per cent).
Programmatic adoption on the riseBeyond video consumption, key indicators from
our video index also demonstrate the continued
growth in programmatic advertising that the
industry has seen consistently quarter over
quarter for the past year. Programmatic has
gained huge traction across the whole industry
over this period. Nearly two thirds of marketers
plan to increase programmatic ad spend in
2016, which is more than twice the number of
marketers who had this intention for 2015.
US programmatic digital video ad spending
topped $2.91 billion in 2015, a number expected
to increase nearly 85 per cent to $5.37 billion
in 2016. The figure for specific mobile video
programmatic spend is expected to reach $3.79
billion by 2017, more than three times as much as
was spent on the same thing in 2015.
Research group MediaMath suggests growth
is expected globally, forecasting that the
programmatic share of digital video ad spend
will increase more than 24 per cent in 2016 in
EMEA. With 79 per cent of APAC ad professionals
saying that they already use programmatic ad
technology for video, a huge proportion (90 per
cent) are using it for mobile. In Brazil, nearly 40 per
cent of marketers say they plan to increase their
spending on data-driven marketing this year, up
from 22 per cent a year ago.
It is undeniable that the trend for video viewing
on mobile is expected. What Ooyala’s Q4 Video
Index report shows, however, is the consistency
in its growth over the past year, highlighting how
important it is for content providers to recognise
this, and act on creating high quality content,
going into the remainder of 2016. Programmatic
spending has also increased significantly, with
the focus of the investment naturally focussing on
mobile devices, another area that the industry
needs to concentrate on in order to capitalise
on this growth. n
ENGAGEMENT BY DEVICE FOR COUNTIRES WITH THE MOST VIDEO VIEWS, APAC Q4 2015
THE RISE OF THE MOBILE VIDEOQ4 2015
JUL2013
JAN2014
JUL2014
JAN2014
JUL2015
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
SHARE OF PHONE VIDEO PLAYS nSHARE OF TABLET VIDEO PLAYS n
SUM OF PHONE + TABLET VIDEO PLAYS n
AUSTRALIA JAPAN MALAYSIA SINGAPORE INDIA PHILIPPINES VIETNAM NEW ZELAND INDONESIA SOUTH KOREA
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
PHONE nTABLET n
DESKTOP n
38-39 TVBE May16 Data centre Ooyala v3 HAJMcK.indd 2 15/04/2016 16:56
Save the DateIBC2016
IBC.org
Conference 8 – 12 September 2016Exhibition 9 – 13 September 2016
RAI, Amsterdam
Where the entertainment, media and technology industry does business
new tvbe template remade.indd 1 13/04/2016 12:54
Data Centre TVBEurope 41May 2016 www.tvbeurope.com
Much has been said of millenials, but it is
a new breed of consumer which media
and entertainment (M&E) leaders need
to turn their attention to: enter Generation Z. In its
recent report, ‘From innovation to expectation
– how M&E leaders are responding to Gen Z’, EY
defines the group as digitally native, social media
savvy, and the first to grow up immersed in mobile
technology and mobile video. The entrepreneurial,
innovative Generation Z plays an active part
in content discovery and creation, and seeks
immersive experiences.
Future consumersThe report defines Generation Z, sometimes
called the iGeneration, as those born since the
mid-1990s, representing about 25 per cent of
the US population. Ninety-one per cent of teens
(a core part of Generation Z) have access to a
smartphone, 65 per cent have access to a tablet,
90 per cent watch YouTube daily, and in just four
years time the group will make up as much as 40
per cent of the US consumer market.
In a rapidly progressing digital world,
technologies such as virtual reality, driverless cars
and 3D printing no longer surprise Generation Z,
who have moved ‘from innovation to expectation’
and no longer see tech as disruptive.
M&E leaders must respond to changing
consumption models, capturing consumer insights
and translating them into viable products, services,
business models and investments.
“Understanding the post-millennial consumer
can prove challenging, but thanks to data
analytics and sensor technologies, we now
have more insight into customers than at any
time in history,” said Martyn Whistler, EY media
and entertainment lead analyst. “Media
and entertainment companies struggling to
understand their customers need to see this as a
call to action, and to translate this information into
viable products, services and business models.
The industry as a whole is quickly shifting from
B2B to B2C models, which makes understanding
customers more paramount to success than
ever before.”
To better understand where investments are
being made, EY conducted proprietary analyses
of two groups. These included today’s leading
telecoms, technology and media companies but
also the next generation of companies in those
sectors. An analysis by EY of revenue streams,
as well as investments and deal activity, reveals
how the top ten in each of telecoms, technology
and media remain leaders in core areas, but
it also shows where overlaps are increasing.
Convergence is happening in six principal areas,
and by far the three most common are: digital
advertising, electronic games, and cable, pay-TV
networks and internet broadcasting (OTT).
Unicorns existThe analysis focuses on 60 ‘unicorns’; the world’s
most value, privately held companies that are
less than ten years old with market valuations
greater than $1 billion. ‘Decacorns’ have a market
valuation of $10 billion or greater. Incumbents are
taking positions in unicorns and creating a web of
investments: Vice Media has received two rounds
of investment from Disney; NBCUniversal holds
stakes in BuzzFeed and Vox Media; Comcast also
has a stake in Vox Media, is an investor in ftiness
tracker creator Jawbone, social network Nextdoor
and fantasy sports provider FanDuel. Leaders
are investing in unicorns to limit disruption, open
up new distribution channels and capture new
technology, as well as to and retain customers
and access new ones.
The outlook is positive, according to the report,
with 81 per cent of M&E executives saying the
global economy is improving, compared with
52 per cent who said that a year ago. In the
year ahead, 73 per cent of executives indicate
the M&A market will improve, up from 49 per
cent last year.
Capitalising on IoTThe Internet of Things (IoT) will play a significant
role in how companies obtaining and monetise
on customer data, according to EY, allowing
M&E companies to capture information about
their customers and deliver relevant content
accordingly. Success relies on combining
three efforts: doubling down on data; telling
stories and building experiences; and partnership
and acquisitions.
The humble set-top box can, and should, be
utilised as a data-collecting device. Its capabilities
are demonstrated by Comcast, which collects
viewing data from almost 90 per cent of its
subscribers, and monetises this with personalised
ad solutions, and by making data available to
third parties.
Telling storiesThe second focus for M&E companies needs to
be on storytelling. Generation Z are interested
in seamless experiences and building ongoing
relationships, which M&E companies must
capitalise on. Sky’s Sky Q box is an example of
this, designed to create a TV viewing ‘ecosystem’
in the home. The service enables users to watch
EY’s latest report explains the nuances of Generation Z and how their preferences and habits are dictating the strategies of M&E companies. Holly Ashford investigates
Move over millenials Enter Generation Z
‘Seventy-three per cent of executives indicate the M&A market will improve,
up from 49 per cent last year’
41 42 TVBE May16 Data Centre_v2 HAJMcK.indd 1 14/04/2016 10:31
Data Centre42 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2016
content around the home on different devices,
as part of what the company has dubbed
‘Fluid Viewing’. Sky Q allows users to control all
connected devices, and offers, according to Sky’s
Jeremy Darroch, “a brilliant new way for customers
to experience TV on their terms”.
Seeking a partnerPartnerships and acquisitions are the fastest
route to expanding capabilities, accessing new
business models and achieving scale, according
to the report. In order to reach new customers,
technology, media and telecommunications
companies are investing in common areas:
voice/data connectivity and multichannel video
distribution, cable pay-TV networks and internet
broadcasting and digital advertising. In addition
to telco and tech specialists, M&E leaders are
seeking partners in cyber security services, health
providers, automotive companies and appliance
manufacturers. NBCUniversal’s Syfy Channel
recently partnered with technology firm Philips,
and is using its app to integrate programming with
Philips’ Hue smart lighting system. Shows are synced
to lighting, with changes in the storyline reflected in
changing colours and brightness. Such partnerships
show what can be achieved by combining two
elements of IoT, and offer a starting point for further
development through novel collaborations.
It is vital for M&E leaders to acknowledge
and better utilise data on Generation Z, an
increasingly dominant proportion of consumers.
It is only by gaining a better understanding of
data on Generation Z’s behaviours and desires,
EY reports, that M&E will win against emerging
competitive threats. n
“We now have more insight into customers than at any time in history”
Martyn Whistler, EY
US
UK
India
China
Australia
Top investment areas include China, the US, the UK, India and Australia
Digital continues to have the greatest impact on M&E companies’ core business and accquisition strategies
81% of M&E executives say the
global economy is improving
73% say the global M&A will stay
strong in the year ahead
Capital confidence continues to rise
41 42 TVBE May16 Data Centre_v2 HAJMcK.indd 2 15/04/2016 16:46
A joint venture partnership of
See you again next year
in Amsterdam.
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