Converging Media Technologies, Continued

CTS Connects Summit 2021 Recap

In November we were proud to host the CTS Connects Summit for the second year. We frequently talk about the convergence of broadcast and digital workflow and this year it was even more evident that this decade will be marked by a convergence of media and advertising technologies, as real-time services, security, and monetization techniques all become more intertwined. This year’s summit had a natural focus around creating unity between industries, fostering collaboration, flexibility, and security, with particular emphasis on experiences that improve the value equation on both sides of the screen

We’ve made the recordings of each session available to all of you here. Below are some highlights from the wide range of topics covered.

Advertising: Ad Breaks With Brains

­“People want to watch what they're interested in and will take more action if they're interested in the content that's being delivered to them,” said Kevin Lemberg, Head of Partnerships for the Advertising Suite at Comcast Technology Solutions. He and Gregg Brown, CTS’ Product Manager for Content and Streaming Provider Suite, hosted a segment about capturing metadata to stratify, customize, and personalize the viewing experience to make advertisements relevant to different segments of their audience. “You're taking the personalization and you're taking the ability to drive addressability to the next level, and I think the future is understanding not only who your audiences are, but speaking to them directly.” There is more to come as Gregg explains - the process of “taking that metadata, putting it into a format, like a SCTE 224 format,” will enable advertisers to disperse that information to the rest of their ecosystem.

Day one also contained a fireside chat, See Spot Run: The Life of a Commercial in a Connected Ecosystem. Greg Smith, Chief Operating Officer of the TEAM Companies based in New York, Rori Floyd, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs at the TEAM Companies, Simon Morris, Senior Director of Sales for CTS' Advertising Suite, and Ross Priestley, the VP of Advertisers & Brands at Peach, gathered to examine an ad’s life cycle and the ways it is delivered to the big screen. One of the topics in this session was specifically around the added complexity of global advertising. As Priestley explains, “one of the great opportunities and challenges for global advertisers is the bewildering amount of different types of content that they can produce, right down to 11 different language versions in India for all different kinds of online platforms. And we're really helping advertisers manage that content. No longer is it just about delivering a 30 second (commercial spot), we're helping manage and solve the problem of all different kinds of video content wherever it needs to go.”

MVPDs and Operators: The Evolution of Pay TV

Day 2 put a spotlight on new products, services, and delivery methods that are powering the future for Pay TV providers. As the industry considers the trends and consumer preferences towards smart TVs and OTT content, the talk centered on how best to enable providers as the technologies and competition change.

Moderator Jon Watts led a conversation with CTS general managers Jack Heney and Allison Olien around what we referred to as “the decade of interoperability.” “We've seen a number of operators now coming up with a new product constructs,” explains Jack,  “where they are looking to leverage the relationships they have with their customers and build up a distribution business around OTT content aggregation where they play a role in the advertising ecosystem. “

The second day also contained a fireside chat with guest speaker Pedro Bandeira, Vice President of Product and New Business at Deutsche Telekom, as well as Thijs Bijleveld from Metrological. The conversation explored, through the operator’s perspective, the infinite world of applications that have emerged; and what future pay TV operators can expect from the industry.

Content and Streaming Providers: Focus on AI and Security

CTS is an organization that pushes adaptability at any scale, across global multi-screen experiences. Security at every level has never been more crucial. Noopur Davis, EVP, Chief Information Security and Product Privacy Officer, Comcast Corporation and Comcast Cable, dove deep into her expertise and discussed the proactive and comprehensive approach her team used to ensure customers' information stays safe and secure. “Our whole focus has been, how do we make sure that security is built into our products and services, instead of bolting it on at the end? The reason is that when you build it in, it's actually kind of in the DNA of the product, it's in the DNA of the infrastructure and if you try to bolt it on, it'll still work, but it's much more expensive and much more brittle. It's not like inherently intrinsically part of what we do.

Machine learning – and how it can benefit media workflows – was the topic of another key conversation. Paul Claussen of CTS sat down with Fraser Stirling, Chief Product Officer of Sky, to share some of the new ways Sky is transforming media management. The evolution of sports entertainment made for an excellent example for Fraser to underscore a primary goal for Sky – actively recognizing the value of a consumer’s time. Using a new framework for the creation of actionable metadata, the Sky Sport recap can take a three-hour game and reduce it into a ten-minute reel of important plays; allowing viewers to watch specific highlight reels, recaps, playlists, and have notifications for all of their favorite sports on hand, anytime.

Check out all of the Summit content for free!

The CTS Connects Summit is a once-a-year event – there just aren’t many opportunities for media and advertising technologists to come together and share across disciplines for the benefit of all our connected industries. All of the Summit conversations are recorded and available to you – hopefully they spark some further conversation.

Check out the summit sessions here.