Upping the IP Ante

NEW YORK—The Connected Media | IP Pavilion and Theater explore the technologies that enable audiences to find and consume content across devices, anywhere. Exhibitor demonstrations and discussions are focused on technologies including the IPTV, OTT, mobile, social and cloud sectors and how they engage with focused audiences.

“We're expanding the Connected Media | IP Pavilion presence at this year's event by adding additional content for visitors,” said Neil Nixon, pavilion partner and vice president at BPL Broadcast. “The sessions will delve into underlying technologies and how consumers can discover, receive and interact with content.”

Through theater presentations and panel debates, Connected Media | IP brings together experts to share how the market is evolving and what direction it is likely to take over the next few years.

“We ask questions around the emerging technologies and systems that operators in this space need to understand, and the underlying mechanisms needed to deliver profitability in the connected world,” said Nixon.

Exhibitors in the Connected Media | IP Pavilion include Beenius, Bitmovin inc., Infomir, IPV Limited, THEOplayer, Touchstream International and Witbe Inc.

More than 12 sessions comprise the Connected Media | IP Theater, spread across both days of the show with a few sessions taking place on both days to allow more flexibility for crowded schedules.

One Oct. 18 session, “OTT: Breaking Traditional Paradigms, While Bringing New Opportunities,” is presented by Yoann Hinard, chief operations officer of Witbe.

“High-quality video used to be under control, over managed networks,” said Hinard. “Today, OTT allows these boundaries to be broken by distributing video through unmanaged networks, with multi-CDN, on or off net, with local caching and even peer-to-peer distribution for 'hybrid' or innovative technologies.

“The question becomes: 'Is it working for my customers?' This is not a simple or trivial questiona anymore. When it is so easy to switch from one provider to another, it becomes critical to ensure that all linear and nonlinear services are working properly on any device or network.”

Other sessions on Oct. 18 delve into OTT content availability, migrating media workflows, and a discussion of whether or not Android is the right choice for your business.

Adressing the Oct. 19 session “Next Generation Advertising Workflows and Server-Side Ad Insertion With VAST 4.0,” Paul MacDougall of Bitmovin Inc., said VAST 4.0 represents the first opportunity for a fully integrated, standards-based, server-side ad insertion workflow. He added that he hoped the session would inform attendees about how it will impact workflows and enable users to maximize revenue by circumventing ad blockers, reaching more devices and improving viewers experiences.

“For many years the industry has been waiting for what is seen as the holy grail for ad-supported online video—being able to deliver and experience that is as smooth as traditional linear broadcast, and as personalized and interactive as the internet, while still delivering a healthy ROI on the content,” said MacDougall.

Other sessions being held Oct. 19 will focus on creating, editing and managing your assets, improving today's expectations and the mobile video revolution. 

Mark Hallinger