CurrentCast - Takeaways and Surprises from the 2011 IBC Show

The 2011 IBC Conference and Exhibition in Amsterdam, Netherlands generated robust participation with over 50,000 in attendance, showing that the creation, management and delivery of broadcasting media and entertainment is thriving, even in an uncertain global economy. The advent of the iPad tablet has proven a boon for the multiscreen video concept in the broadcast and entertainment realm.

Rapid consumer adoption of the iPad has yielded a device that makes mobile viewing of different types of Everywhere TV content, including broadcast TV, on-demand video and Internet-based video streaming, user-friendly and fun. Plus the iPad can prove the platform best suited for managing multi-screen video in home environments. Virtually every multi-screen demo at the show involved the iPad. However the growing popularity of iPad devices and closely related Android-based tablets presents a new set of challenges in areas such as improving the metadata management, business analytics and data collection of multi-screen viewer habits as the amount of devices, formats and viewing opportunities expand.

The following reports address the challenges and options presented to the suppliers of multi-screen solutions as well as the adopters and deployers of multi-screen services:

• IBC 2011: Multi-screen Video Processing Enters New Phase of Competition and Innovation, Aug 24, 2011 | Client Access
• Digital Media Disruptors: TV Everywhere Business Models, Aug 24, 2011 | Client Access
• Digital Media Disruptors: Multi-screen TV Experiences, Aug 8, 2011 | Client Access

The IBC event drove home that the multi-screen business plan is coming closer to reality after years of hype surrounding multi-screen potential, due in large part to iPad/tablet technology. While it is still early in the multi-screen/TV Everywhere cycle, the competitive battle lines are already shifting. With the IBC 2011 conference presenting a ripe opportunity for vendors to promote their solutions, this CurrentCast also provides an assessment of the competitive opportunities and threats arising from the event.

What follows is a conversation between Ron Westfall (Research Director, Service Provider Infrastructure) and Yoav Schreiber (Senior Analyst, Digital Media Infrastructure) exploring these themes.

| Client access |