IBC- Day Two Highlights

From over 1,2000+ exhibitors showcasing cutting edge-technology to structured networking opportunities and unparalleled content programme, there was much to see at IBC2023 Day 2.

Broadcast & CableSat is the exclusive media partner from India for the Show.

The IBC Conference explored AI and supercharged storytelling whilst free-to-attend content included the showstopping Keynote session delivered by Marco Tempest, as well as a full-day of AWS sessions in the Showcase Theatre and much more to explore.

IBC2023 Day 2 Conference recaps
SMPTE President Renard T. Jenkins hosted “How to approach AI and gain a competitive edge” to look at the areas where businesses can see the most value from AI. “From development through physical production to post production and distribution, I believe [machine learning and AI] has the ability to help our industry advance,” said SMPTE President Renard T Jenkins. “That said, I feel we need to make sure that we see this technology as a tool, and not as an entity. The human and computer interaction is key to success in the space for the long term.”

Use cases were discussed by a panel featuring Lewis Smithingham (Media.Monks), Maria Ingold (mireality), Quincy Olatunde (Peacock TV, NBC Universal) and Samira Bakhtiar (AWS).

In this year’s IBC Conference keynote, Marco Tempest, Director’s Fellow Alumni, MIT Media Lab, Creative Technologist for NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Founder of MagicLab.nyc joined The Forum virtually for his anticipated talk on “Virtual Production & the Metaverse: A future where everyone is invited to play.” Merging generative AI, mixed reality, and digital visuals, he mapped out a possible augmented future, emphasising accessibility and equity throughout.

Tempest revealed an impressive new technology with big implications for virtual production and the metaverse. Using the compact technology, which he has dubbed “the metaverse in a carry-on”, he carried out a live demonstration that combined generative AI, mixed reality, storytelling, gestural sensing and swarm robotics to provide a glimpse into the future of augmented experiences.

Marco Tempest delivers a live demo of ‘the metaverse in a carry-on’ during Saturday’s IBC Keynote

Tempest coined the term “techno-magic” to explain the interaction between societal evolution and technology to create new and “impossible” experiences. He explained how this new technology allows users to create new forms of presentations on an epic scale, with visualisations that make them more engaging and immersive.

“The metaverse is already taking shape at a corporate level, and companies are now seeking virtual space in which to share knowledge, experiences and even work,” he told the audience. “I think it’s the first time ever that we’ve been confronted with a technological wave that doesn’t require technologists to take advantage of. That accessibility for non-technical people will change our landscape quite a bit.”

Demystifying the fear around AI
Focusing on practical use cases around leveraging AI is key to relieving some of the potential fear associated with the technology.

This was the hot topic of discussion in the Forum yesterday in a session entitled ‘How to Approach AI and Gain a Competitive Edge’, which saw speakers from across the industry identify the big trends occurring in the sector.

Samira Bakhtiar, Director of Global Media & Entertainment for Amazon Web Services, said, “There’s not going to be one foundational model to rule them all. We’re seeing trends around choice and flexibility, the overall developer experience and the paramount importance of security.”

Quincy Olatunde, VP, Products, Direct-to-Consumer – Peacock TV, NBC Universal, added that it comes down to the quality of the data and how it is sourced. Larger businesses should be aware of the potential risks they may expose themselves to, while ethical responsibility also remains a big factor.

Maria Ingold, Strategy & Innovation CTO, Mireality, suggested that we need to combine subject matter expertise with AI, and help the market understand what these new tools can do.

“It’s about taking the strength of our creativity and the precision of technology, bringing that together and creating something that reflects what’s happening with society and our value-driven ideas,” she said.

Lewis Smithingham, SVP of Innovation & Creative Solutions at Media.Monks, said the audience should keep in mind that currently AI is “the worst it will ever be. We’re seeing the death of monoculture and the rise of these microcultures and subcultures that allow people to personalise their content to the greatest scale”.

Building the Future of Tech
Speaking at an IBC Conference session on Building the Future of Tech, panellists discussed how they are planning to harness new technologies such as AI to build the platforms of the future.

But Gabriella Vacca, CTO Sky Italia, Nitin Mittal, President of Technology, Zee, and Brian Lakamp EVP, Media Supply Chain, Paramount, all agreed that understanding the needs of their customers was the first step towards building the media platforms of the future, whatever the technology.

(L-R): Chair Allan McLennan, President, 2G Digital Post; Gabriella Vacca, CTO Sky Italia; Nitin Mittal, President, Technology Zee; Brian Lakamp EVP, Media Supply Chain, Paramount

Vacca said, “AI is such a great opportunity for so many components of the value chain – although it’s important that the architectural framework is clear. With technology like augmented reality, we want to ask how can we make content more engaging for the audience. In fact the reality is our audience has different needs; from Gen Z to the older viewers who want to watch it in a more predictable way.”

“It’s important that we experiment because that’s how we are going to create innovation in the marketplace,” added Vacca.

Lakamp underlined the importance of metadata in the process of development: “The more you understand about how content is used, the more you are able to develop services to respond to the needs of the audience in sophisticated ways.”

Monetising Streaming: New Ventures, New markets

Innovators paving the way with exciting new opportunities to stream sports and other live events, monetise content, and expand interaction with audiences presented and compared diverse use cases in a buoyant panel discussion at the Content Everywhere Stage.

The panel discussion was, New use cases for live streaming, moderated by IABM’s CTO Stan Moote, gave panellists Oliver Lietz, CEO and Founder, nanocosmos, Christof Haslauer, CEO, NativeWaves and Joe Foster, CEO, Easel TV, a platform to deliver their new content services and experiences, catalysed by live streaming developments in the industry.

Live Streaming Monetisation at IBC2023

Haslauer, who demonstrated what football “would and should” look like if streamed on a mobile phone, played a video of a mobile streaming platform with personalisation and monetisation features at the viewer’s fingertips. Team details, player rankings, on-demand replays, replay camera selection and switch camera angles, and the ability to sync mobile and TV to use the broadcast audio were all part of the experience. The platform also offered betting and social media opportunities as a route to further audience interaction.

Next up was Lietz, who talked about “what we see as the use case for live streaming, which is all connected in our cases as audience engagement for interactive use cases based on low latency live streaming.”

The use case focussed on work based events such as annual meetings, but also other activities such as live training, workouts, wellness, entertainment and shopping. Activities which bring up the challenge of latency: “The monetised use cases, like betting, auctions and live shopping, where you really have a monetised revenue funnel connected to every live stream. So every participant can dip in the live stream and can purchase some things, which means the person needs to stay in real time and 100% stable to keep up with the monetised revenue.”

The use case exemplified RTMP/ SRT/ WebRTC/ WHIP and low latency and on the distribution side, with data driven metrics, speech translations and transcription, AI driven and AR supported live streaming.

End-to-end and D2C
Joe Foster of Easel TV was next to talk about end-to-end services, “If you want to own and operate your own streaming service, our angle is that we can provide the whole service meant to end in a very, very short period of time.”

Live Streaming Monetisation at IBC2023: NativeWaves

He talked about the challenges of creating straight-to-market content: “A lot of the content is sort of being syndicated out, because the challenges of raising a direct-to-market service are actually an obstacle to get people using it. And yet at the same time, streaming is ultimately democratising – what you can do with it. You can do these amazing things because you can own your own content you can you can own your own audience and you can start to do exciting stuff. But if it becomes too complicated to do it, then you don’t do it and only the big boys have ended up doing it like Disney, and then you feel you have to give your content to them and sell it through that way.”

The use case demonstrated how to make D2C platforms easy and quick to use, and to engage with an audience with no technical knowledge at all. He commented that then the only challenge left was “how to manage the live event itself,” and that by creating multiple user experiences, you create markets.

Robust Systems with Valuable Service
Stan Moote went on to open the panel discussion asking how do you manage streaming when some sports events, such as cricket can last for days?

Easel TV: Live Streaming Monetisation at IBC2023

To which Oliver Lietz answered: “That’s why we built our system to be robust.” He also noted that nanocosmos have their own CDN.

Foster added: “We don’t fight with syndicated content. We don’t make content going out to broadcasters or somebody sent anywhere else. What we’re trying to do is offer something that could complement that and can provide a really rich environment, adding much more content, adding more immersive content to communities that want it.”

The panel went on to discuss the challenges of convincing the consumer, branding content, and having a log in service.

Haslauer illustrated how data providers are available and can be utilised for tier one, two and three sports, “they’ve been pulling the data from it and leveraging them… We pull it right, from, for example, existing data API’s, and then thinking about which data is available. Making the first version like you know, the UI components, how this could look like how the user source could look like. But then like interactively improving them and giving feedback in which data should even be collected to make a great experience.”

nanocosmos: Live Streaming Monetisation at IBC2023

Lietz built on the importance of creating a valuable service which “someone wants to pay for, because someone needs to answer the question, how do we make it to so valuable?”

Moote wrapped up the conversation by praising the developments which “people have been talking about this for years.” Making media more interactive and having your own CDN, meaning companies can put in their own branding and having a platform which can also tap into local advertising – through local sporting events, something which has previously been restricted to radio: “(this is) running a new market here.”

Over at the Showcase Theatre, “Driving business transition through migration to the cloud” delved into the migration of on-premises workloads to the AWS Cloud. Influential broadcasters shared their experiences, highlighting the benefits of increased flexibility, agility, and operational efficiency, as well as imparting lessons learned and advice for those embarking on cloud transitions.

Sunday, September 17 promises to be another packed day of content at IBC2023. The Changemakers programme starts, tackling tech inclusivity and AI ethics, while over on the Innovation Stage, sessions will address piracy, software evolution, and Generative AI in entertainment.

BCS Bureau