Working in the TV and Video business, collectively referred to as Media (although technically that includes print and web as well) is a place that I entered back in 1997 after a good number of years doing research in computerised control of rock crushing equipment (which included AI/ML techniques of the day - long story, short version was that compute power and techniques were not quite what they needed to be), a stint entering the Corporate and Secure networking arena (it used to be a lot more than the Internet), and then answering one of those 'advert' things you found in something called a 'weekly industry newspaper' (the now defunct Network Week if you wanted to know).

I came quite quickly to attending IBC, what used to be referred to as the International Broadcasting Conference, in 1998 and have attended every single one since - a grand total of 25 now (although I did miscount this year thinking it was 24 in at least one session I took part in). As an event it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018, just prior to lockdown and has now come out of those dark days quite successfully since 2022. Clearly it took a knock then, with pre-lockdown numbers being circa 54000, but now it has grown from the first post lockdown event from 37000 to 45000. It has not quite achieved a return to its pre-lockdown numbers but now this year in terms of halls it returned to its pre-lockdown size.

Everyone's experience of IBC is very different, after all it involves over a thousand exhibitors, with literally hundreds of in conference and off conference presentations, all split over 4 days in 14 different halls themed to the particular part of the industry you focus on and 30,000 steps average per day.

Going into IBC, the industry as whole has found itself in a mixed up world. We have had peak TV and massive growth in streaming service operators, with new records hit in terms of content production but over the last 18 months this had taken a dive. Those streaming service operators, who arguably are supplanting the traditional pay TV operators in at least part, suddenly found a new religion - profitability and not growth. This has caused a swinging cost cutting to take place with significant staff reductions in those companies only tempered by the large growth in staff numbers during lockdown - a resetting and possibly further. The question has been whether those cuts are slowing down, and from what we can see there is little or no sign of that.

This has not just been a reaction to the over growth of lockdown, or the sudden need for these new services to gain profitability, there are many factors affecting the media industry today, and I would like to focus on the technology aspects. The technology world we are in today is one that is purely evolution.

We have had the consumer led push over the last 15 years towards on demand consumption, driven initially by interactive hybrid solutions that mixed Internet and broadcast (cable/multicast included) but lately driven by removal of broadcast technologies and the move to single infrastructure content distribution via the Internet. This has driven simplification in the types of devices and technology needed in the consumer devices, including the broadening of the viewing experience onto phones, tablets, and computers that has also 'boomerang'ed back to the TV through the launch of Internet only TV displays like Sky Glass.

We have had rapid development of streaming technologies over that time, such that now developments are focused on enhancing more the experience of streaming by reducing latency and ensuring broadcast level consistency. There is still more to do but this is evolution rather than the revolution we had in the first part of the 2010s. The desirable experience of on demand and the ability to pick and choose providers on a single infrastructure has also meant those providers who did not adapt or even are struggling to adapt are falling by the wayside - as can be seen by many pay TV operators sidelining or even outsourcing their TV platforms.

This issue more than anything else is what is dominating discussions in the board rooms of media companies - how do you innovate in the world where costs are so important and new ideas are in short supply, and challenges abound?

One area where product innovation has slowed and needs a shot in the arm, is in UI development. As I travelled the halls of IBC (hall 1, 2, 5 and 14 primarily for those who know), you have to actually look twice when you see a UI to figure out exactly whose it is - because today there is little differentiation there. It reminds me of the early 2000s in EPG UIs, where everybody used blue and slightly varying grids. Innovation is lacking there right now, and many providers are on an escalator of moving menus to horizontal alignment, vertical alignment and probably back again all in step with each other.

When it comes to the big challenges in the UI experience, I detect a lack of innovation coming through at IBC 2024 as can be seen by how readily every technology provider has latched onto the latest buzzword - Artificial Intelligence. This was seen everywhere, but what was interesting was the 'sameness' of the ideas that permeated every demo - using it for metadata manipulation/creation, natural language processing, and video categorisation and editing primarily. This was something that was already being done by many before the latest wave, but now it has been enabled by the easy availability of pre-trained models. I am not being negative about these, as AI (or as I prefer to call it 'Applied Computational Statistics' with machine learning approaches) is a very valuable and useful technology but it is not a product or solution in itself. It has to be correctly used and applied to truly be of value, and for that there was limited actual useful products seen at IBC.

Another big challenge is how to cope with the fragmentation of the viewing experience that has come from the move to single distribution platforms and the breaking of the link between the service provider and the distribution network. This is primarily in content discovery, recommendations and content aggregation. In other words how do you provide access to content people want to watch when faced with literally millions of program assets in multiple content providers, combined with access to thousands of linear channels of content. How do you properly personalise the experience and surface content that is a major cost unless it is being monetised - i.e. being watched. This is where pretty much every single provider out there today is struggling with and needs a new 'blinding light' approach because the current home screen displaying 5 to 15 largely promoted program assets is not that - as it can take an average of 30 minutes, and for many up to 2 hours to find something to watch. In the face of that, many 'give up.. The content discovery problem, or finding something to watch, is enormous today with no clear solution with current tools. An area to watch.

Another big technology challenge seen from IBC was a focus on content security and authentication - something that has always been at the heart of the big companies there. Making sure content is monetised and not pirated is the universally present problem, which escalates every year with new tools and methods. The difference of the last five years is that the base tools are commoditised through three device specific DRMs that now permeate every TV and video platform - Microsoft Play Ready, Apple's Fairplay and Google's Widevine. The focus I felt at IBC was now on actual real usage of Forensic Watermarking to track content and close down pirate sources, and I felt that this came to the fore at IBC this year. Additionally content authentication is an issue, with deep fakes and the rise of fast distribution social media. This is now the focus of all the big heavyweights, with all of those parties throwing their weight behind C2PA, a standard for providing publishers, creators, and consumers with the ability to trace the origin of different types of media - whether it is video, photos, or text, or all three. The IBC Accelerator 'Design your Weapons in the Fight Against Disinformation' being of particular note, with many of the contributors and others talking about the enablement of this technology in their products now or in the near future.

Finally sustainability made its showing at IBC by finally being part of every product discussion, and not just special discussions. It is not universally present, but certainly the alignment on what is good for the planet is also good for business can be seen by most organisations having some thought on the energy consumption of their products. Here another IBC Accelerator presented its approach through ECOFLOW, building on the work of others including DiMPACT, Greening of Streaming and individual activities of various organisations.

And one more thing - we have to make reference to improving content quality. This is something that the industry started down the road with HD and ultimately 4K and HDR, but I mention it here because there is some sidetracking of this amongst many companies (particularly the incumbent broadcasters) and that is unfortunate for providing better experiences. Today many people have a phone in their pocket that can capture High Dynamic Range, Wide Colour Gamut and high resolution video and images. So much so that many consumer's home content is now better quality than much of what is still being delivered by those laggard companies that have not found the business case to get on board with Ultra HD. This is despite the fact that the big streamers that dominate modern viewing make it the default for almost all of the content produced by them. There may be something there for the laggards to think about why those parties see it as important enough to include it in premium subscriptions... Maybe this is an area of focus for product development that enhances the customer experience and revenue through subscriber/viewer acquisition rather than just cutting costs.

So onwards now to IBC 2025, and show number 26 and possibly a little something special from the IET Media Technical Network.