IBC 2023: The vendors' view

From sustainability to AI, doing more for less and the on-going move to IP, TVBEurope hears from a number of exhibitors at IBC 2023 about the main talking points during this years show

By Jenny Priestley

Published: September 22, 2023 Updated: September 25, 2023

From sustainability to AI, doing more for less and the on-going move to IP, TVBEurope hears from a number of exhibitors at IBC 2023 about the main talking points during this year's show

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As the dust settles on IBC 2023, TVBEurope hears from a number of exhibitors on their view of this year's show.

Matthew Williams-Neale, VP marketing, Appear In terms of stand presence, visitor numbers, and quality of conversations, IBC 2023 was our biggest show yet. We had 700+ visitors from 65+ countries representing 550+ companies. The feedback from our visitors about our stand design and hospitality at our sports bar-style experience was incredibly positive and helped create a relaxed and welcoming environment for all who engaged with us. The show generally also felt much busier than last year, indicating an optimistic outlook for the industry and a growing appetite to connect in person.

Sustainability was a hot topic of conversation at IBC 2023 - but the industry needs to continue to do far more. As technology vendors, we must all address the roles we can play and work closely with media companies to tackle the challenge of building a more sustainable future head-on in everything we do. During the show, it quickly became apparent which companies were serious about creating sustainable solutions and if they could substantiate their claims. It seems clear that sustainability will continue to be a major focus at future trade shows, and we're looking forward to sharing how we will continually advance our portfolio and culture around this vital topic.

Kjetil Horneland, CEO, Ease Live At IBC, it was interesting to see how cloud production technologies have expanded the realm of user interaction beyond the primary live stream, enabling viewers to engage with a broader spectrum of content. The industry is actively seeking ways to deploy such services across web, mobile, and connected devices and to reach their entire audience without imposing substantial upfront costs or lengthy time-to-market delays.

Also, if you look beyond the discussions around expensive content rights and consolidation in the market, it's clear that many OTT platforms are finding themselves grappling with the task of recouping their investments within a highly competitive marketplace. They understand that powerful interactive experiences are pivotal to increasing fan engagement, building loyalty, driving greater participation, and acting as a powerful catalyst for growth.

Finally, I noted that several customers and partners are targeting advancements in advertisement formats to simplify the delivery of targeted programmatic ads and sponsorship on top of the stream when their traditional inventory has sold out. This is providing food for thought for many global sports leagues, particularly as they look for long-term strategies in structuring interactive content (the partnership of La Liga and Play Anywhere is just one recent example).

Sally Winship Comollo, director, communications, Edgio IBC 2023 was a great show for us and a fantastic opportunity to meet with our European and global customer community. One of the biggest talking points was around trying to do more with less - driving profitability and reducing complexity were top of the agenda for many major media organisations at the show.

Streaming at scale is becoming increasingly demanding and complex. Media companies are looking for a simple way to tie together the multiple fragmented solutions required to form a complete streaming tech stack. Whether you have top quality content and an audience, but need a full streaming workflow - or whether you already have several existing elements of the tech stack - bringing this ecosystem together can be a confusing, expensive, and painstaking process. As a result, we're seeing growing interest in the managed service approach with pre-integrated partners that provides customers one central point of contact and a quick route to market.

Customers are looking for flexibility. They want easy access to a flexible, pre-integrated ecosystem that allows them to create a full chain streaming solution while simplifying disparate workflows. Right now, media businesses don't have the time or headspace to think about managing multiple vendor relationships and complex technology integrations - they want to focus on creativity, content, and subscriber growth.

Vijay Sajja, CEO, Evergent Maximising monetisation while reducing costs was a massive talking point at IBC 2023. Facing economic headwinds, media organisations have a huge focus on driving subscription revenues while experimenting with new business models at multiple cost points. Post-pandemic, previously rapid streaming subscriber growth is slowing down, so content providers are looking for new ways to retain and grow their audiences to secure profitability.

Churn was the top challenge we discussed with media customers at the show. Whether tackling involuntary churn, (e.g. when a subscriber's card payment is declined), or voluntary churn (e.g. choosing to cancel a service), streaming companies need a multi-faceted approach. Even making small improvements across a number of these areas can deliver a significant uptick in revenues. Having dedicated, specialist technology with all the right partners, payment platform integrations and local market customisations will deliver tremendous results.

Minimising churn and keeping hold of your customers is paramount - leading media brands are quickly realising they need a lot of high quali

LINK:	https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/ibc-2023-the-vendors-view...
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