IBC 2024-Day One

It’s been a dynamic first day at IBC2024, with packed aisles, busy exhibitor stands, game-changing innovations, and an inspiring program of content across the conference, show floor features, and theatre stages.

Over the next four days, 43,000 broadcasters, content owners, rights holders, and service providers are expected to visit the Show.

Day One started with rain bouncing off people’s raincoats and a cool 50 degrees, but no one seemed to mind. Cameras, gimbals, and phone rigs were everywhere, and from there, the preparations began.

IBC Opening Session. The IABM had the honour of kicking off this year’s IBC conference series with an opening session focussed on how companies can make their way through a rapidly changing media landscape. Chris Evans, the organisation’s Head of Knowledge opened the session titled ‘Navigating a new Media Landscape: the Journey Starts Here’ with highlights of IABM’s latest report on the state of the media industry. Stan Moote, IABM’s CTO followed with the latest Technology Roadmap. Moote described some significant changes made to the groupings in the roadmap. The main portion of the session was devoted to a panel discussion, with Renard Jenkins, President of SMPTE and President and CEO of I2A2 Technologies, and Carlos Octavio, Head of Corporate Strategy and Architecture at GLOBO joining Evans and Moote to present their real-world experiences of the changes being experienced across the industry.

Building the Future of Tech. The conference session ‘Building the Future of Tech’ brought together leading technologists from Chanel 4, Sky, and the BBC to present insights into how tech innovation and development in their companies are shaped by both internal and external considerations. In the panel discussion that followed, the panel members were in agreement about the importance of creating technology strategies by starting with the audience and working backwards and emphasized the role of internal technology teams in connecting new technologies with existing workflows.

At the inaugural World Skills Café, executives from Netflix, Digital TV Group, Sky, ITV, Microsoft, Vizrt, Moov, and numerous other players and vendors were present. The World Skills Café aims to provide a focal point for sharing first-hand experiences while incubating tangible solutions to workplace and diversity challenges.

A dozen executives with diverse backgrounds facilitated roundtable discussions themed on education, recruitment, transferable skills, retention, diversity, and future technology. The emphasis was on looking for talent outside the traditional routes into media.

5G Broadcast on air in Amsterdam during IBC 2024. NPO, the public broadcaster in the Netherlands, and Dutch technical services provider Broadcast Partners are giving a 24/7 live 5G Broadcast demonstration during IBC 2024 in Amsterdam.

NPO is the first broadcaster in the Netherlands to transmit via 5G Broadcast, demonstrating the technology’s capabilities. Two broadcaster’s two channels NPO 1 and NPO 3FM will be transmitted via the 150m high Cellnex RAI Amsterdam broadcasting tower and will be available outdoors and indoors during the IBC 2024. In addition to the demonstration for IBC visitors at the Broadcast Partners/Cellnex stand and Nakolos stand, the trial will also serve to optimise the transmission parameters for a possible future field trial, according to the partners.

2024 IBC Accelerator Media Innovation programme. IBC2024 showcased eight new projects selected for the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation programme in Amsterdam in September. The programme also included a special incubator project that builds on innovative live production technologies established by projects in previous years.

Desperate to find a balance between profitability and growth media companies are throwing business models at the wall. Phil Wiser, EVP and Global CTO, Paramount said: “The big question is whether media companies like ourselves or Warner Bros. Discovery will stay vertically integrated on the streaming side or whether hyper-scale companies like Google will re-aggregate consumers around video. The jury’s still out.”  With Paramount on the verge of a U$D8bn takeover by David Ellison’s Skydance Media, Wiser insisted the business was in a good position. “The good thing about being a content company is any distribution changes upstream means we’re still going to supply content into them.” He said the studio’s current heads were “not tech-first thinkers” but that the Ellison family “have a media and technology vision which makes our job easier.”

By day two IBC2024 will be in full swing. The show will cover the industry’s most pressing topics, from AI’s impacts to sports broadcasting and end-to-end streaming. Not forgetting of course, the ample networking connections to be made!
BCS Bureau