MediaKind CEO Allen Broome talks exclusively to TVBEurope about his nerve-wracking introduction to the industry, and the democratisation of video
By TVBEurope Staff
Published: May 20, 2022 Updated: May 23, 2022
MediaKind CEO Allen Broome talks exclusively to TVBEurope about his nerve-wracking introduction to the industry, and the democratisation of video
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
How did you get started in the media tech industry? I spent about ten years working in telecommunications on VoIP at start-ups and Fortune 100 companies. Then, one of my close colleagues joined Comcast, and he made a few introductions on both the voice and video side of their business. The next thing I knew, I was on a flight to Philadelphia and interviewing for roles within both of those teams.
I will never forget my final interview for the video team. It was with a very well-known senior engineer who authored many cable and MPEG specifications. I remember sitting in his office sweating as he flipped through my resume for what seemed like ten minutes. Although it was printed in black and white, my interviewer's red pen notes ensured more red ink on the pages than black. Finally, he looked across the desk and said: Well, the way I see it is we could hire someone with video experience, or we could hire you. Tell me why we should hire you. I had created this story around the similarities of VoIP and Video over IP, and how they were very similar, only voice was more challenging because of the latency issues with crosstalk in a conversation. Boy, was I wrong. Video turned out to be a lot harder!
I received offers from both teams and decided to take the IP video role as it was something brand new, both for Comcast and for me. From there, I built a lab and a team that ran some of the first IP linear testing over DOCSIS.
How has it changed since you started your career? VoD was still a recent product launch at the beginning of my career, and IP video was in its infancy. There was no such thing as direct-to-consumer' (D2C) as all video was delivered through an aggregator. And Netflix was still shipping DVDs! The cloud has since taken a much more prominent role in the media and entertainment space in terms of operation, processing and media commercial and deployment. Streaming is growing exponentially in terms of how viewers and subscribers want to consume their media. It is almost unrecognisable as an industry since I took my first tentative steps into it and continues to evolve at pace. This is one of the most enjoyable parts about being part of it!
What makes you passionate about working in the industry? There isn't one single element. I have been fortunate to meet so many great people over the years who have not only been fantastic colleagues but have also become wonderful lifelong friends. Another key point is that you must be driven to tackle and solve new challenges. Video is hard. It presents some of the most difficult scaling problems in technology, whether it's Super Bowl-type live events, addressable advertising with millions of viewers hitting an SCTE-35 trigger at the same time or ultra-low latency synchronised streaming for sports betting. However, the world's leading media brands rely on innovation to respond to the demands of their viewers. It's this responsibility and trust that is hugely motivating.
If you could change one thing about the media tech industry, what would it be? On International Women's Day in March, I saw a powerful advert campaign on LinkedIn from a company in the UK. One of the ads asked the reader to imagine a CEO and another to imagine someone crying in the office. The first ad then asked, Is it a man? and the second Is it a woman? If you polled a hundred people, I doubt the response would be even close to 50/50. To make our industry more inclusive, we must first address and shatter stereotypes and unconscious gender biases that are inherently at play.
How inclusive do you think the industry is, and how can we make it more inclusive? Not nearly enough. There have been big efforts and notable improvements over the years, but meaningful change takes time, and we have a long way to go. It all starts with awareness and education. People must understand what it means and understand the value of diversity and inclusion.
I am a huge fan of the OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop for problem-solving. The way diversity really clicked for me was when I understood the orient phase. This is where you take all the information you have gathered about a problem, and you start applying mental models to that data to understand it, matching patterns based on previous experiences. One of the key things you must do is to try and remove your own bias from these mental models or how you interpret the data, and having as much diversity as possible in this phase creates the most accurate orientation of the problem. I know there are many benefits, but I believe this is one of the fundamental ones that helps everyone learn and become better every day. Wider diversity ensures that we all have a broader perception of the world and environment around us.
How do we encourage young people that media technology is the career for them? Like everything else, it's through awareness. There is such a broad range of careers in the media space. From cameras, video editing and production, marketing, legal, finance, and all the engineering and technical roles, ranging from building better codecs, streaming protocols, and the networks that deliver video down to the devices and applications. If you really think about it and look on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc., more young people are in the media technology space than ever before. Video is truly becoming democratised.
Where do you think the industry will go next? The
Europe Stories
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
17/09/2025
It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...
17/09/2025
Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery
Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...
17/09/2025
Wednesday 17 September 2025
UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...
17/09/2025
For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...
17/09/2025
Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway
The County Parade returns f...
16/09/2025
Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...
16/09/2025
A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...
16/09/2025
Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...
16/09/2025
Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...
16/09/2025
Leading space solutions company will use optical ground stations to deliver faster, more secure data from space
Luxembourg, September 15, 2025 - SES, a leading...
16/09/2025
Comscore Unveils The Scoreboard: An Interactive Destination Surfacing Consumer B...
15/09/2025
Global K-Pop sensation aespa is redefining what it means to be rich with the r...
15/09/2025
Every day, millions of people around the world turn to Spotify to enjoy the audi...
15/09/2025
After months of intensive planning and implementation, Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic...
15/09/2025
Unique sports content orchestration platform builds momentum among SES's cus...
15/09/2025
-- Opens door to growth in renewable energy New Delhi, India - 15th September -- Global business and industry leaders from around the world are joining technol...
13/09/2025
Harmonic's Software-Based XOS Advanced Media Processor Provides Unparalleled Efficiency and Unlocks New Business Models SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 13, 2025 -...
12/09/2025
For fans, we know how important it is to stay plugged into music culture and dis...
12/09/2025
Link ping, Sweden and Shipley, United Kingdom, September 12, 2025 - Agama, the expert in video observability and analytics for service quality and customer expe...
12/09/2025
Feature-length retrospective from Studio Crook to air in 2026
Sir David Jason returns to the nation's favourite comedy channel, U&GOLD, for Open All Hours:...
12/09/2025
Friday 12 September 2025
The Boomtown Rats, Nyah Grace, Soweto Kinch, Royal Ballet and Madness also announced to perform at the ceremony on Tuesday
Sky today ...
12/09/2025
Wuppertal September 12, 2025
Riedel Unveils Ultra-Light Bolero Mini Wireless Intercom BeltpackAt IBC2025 in Amsterdam, Riedel Communications unveiled Bolero M...
12/09/2025
Wuppertal September 12, 2025
Riedel Communications Acquires hi human interfaceRiedel Communications today announced the acquisition of hi human interface fro...
12/09/2025
CORE+ virtually removes distortion, setting a new standard for church sound and giving worship teams the clarity and confidence they need.
Read the full artic...
12/09/2025
The Late Late Show is back with a bang after the summer break, and Patrick Kielt...
12/09/2025
The World Athletics Championships, Ireland v France in the Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final, the Irish Champions Festival, and two Sports Direct Men...
12/09/2025
The Records Show starts Sunday at 6.30pm on RT One and RT Player.
Katie Hanno...
11/09/2025
RADAR, Spotify's program for emerging talent, recently hit a major milestone...
11/09/2025
Link ping, Sweden, September 11, 2025 - Agama, the expert in video observability & analytics for service quality and customer experience, announced today the la...
11/09/2025
Under the USD 89.6 Million award, SES Space & Defense will provide global commer...
11/09/2025
Leading Balkan DTH provider adds capacity to consolidate its m:Sat TV platform at 23.5 degrees East and serve more customers across the region
Luxembourg, 11 S...
11/09/2025
UKTV's free streaming service U launches on Sky Q
Free streaming service U has launched on Sky Q in the UK, UKTV and Sky confirm today, expanding the footp...
11/09/2025
From the discreet 2061 lavaliers to 4099 and 4011 mics, the setup delivered clean, natural sound in one of the most challenging broadcast environments.
Read th...
11/09/2025
From rugged build quality to natural, detailed sound, the verdict is clear: big performance can come in a very small package.
Read the full review here!...
11/09/2025
Tonight on Prime Time
RT One and RT Player at 9:35pm
Tonight RT Prime Time...
11/09/2025
RT Statement: 2026 Eurovision Song Contest
At the General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in July, a number of EBU members raised concerns ...
10/09/2025
Lossless on Spotify Premium is here.
Lossless audio has been one of the most a...
10/09/2025
The Television Will Be Revolutionised Sep 10, 2025
Written by Sunit Kotecha, Director of Delivery and Operations, YouView
2025 marks a century since the f...
10/09/2025
First of Spains F110 frigates get future-ready with Rohde & Schwarz communicatio...
10/09/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Supports DOCSIS and Fiber, Enabling Midco to Deliver Reliable Multi-Gigabit Connectivity to Subscribers SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 10,...
10/09/2025
RT brings three days of live radio, live entertainment, live news, live weather, personal appearances, and more
Join RT Radio 1: Morning Ireland, The Oliver ...
09/09/2025
Since 2020, Spotify's RADAR program has been a launchpad for emerging talent...
09/09/2025
In 2020, Spotify launched RADAR with a clear mission: to identify, nurture, and ...
09/09/2025
If you're on BookTok, you know the drill. You scroll, you tap, and suddenly your To Be Read list is overflowing with trending must-reads. Not unlike Spoti...
09/09/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
09/09/2025
Harmonic's VOS360 Ad SaaS Enables Personalized Ad Delivery and Seamless Integration with the Ad Tech Ecosystem SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 9, 2025 - Harmonic ...
09/09/2025
St. Luke's Episcopal Church in New Jersey needed audio that truly connects and they found the answer.
Read the full case study here!...
MediaKind CEO Allen Broome talks exclusively to TVBEurope about his nerve-wracking introduction to the industry, and the democratisation of video
