IBC Preview: Is It Time To Rethink The Term ‘Broadcasting’?

You’d expect to see the likes of Facebook, Google and Microsoft talking about APIs, the ‘cloud’ and data-driven, targeted advertising at developer conferences or product meetups. But a growing presence of these types of companies at IBC – following on from 2011’s Keynote from Facebook’s Joanna Shields – reinforces how relevant their strategies and ambitions are to traditional broadcasters and content creators.

And this year, the fact that Intel, a computer chip manufacturer (albeit represented by Grammy Award-winning musician will.i.am), is responsible for leading the IBC Convention Keynote, puts technology companies firmly centre stage.

What’s equally clear is that there is no suggestion that the skill and craft of creating powerful television experiences is becoming in any way redundant.

Successful US shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad and Homeland represent a healthy global appetite for quality, inventive television content. Similarly, the continued and growing success of sport – highlighted by increased value rights deals for the English Premier League (£3.018billion to Sky and to BT for a three-year term) and the phenomenal success of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, proves that appetite for live content is far from diminished.

So content may well be still King, but as the decision-makers at IBC realise, it’s how and where audiences are choosing to consume, that creates a challenging environment to manage and monetise; new players are disrupting the market and traditional broadcasters and platforms are adapting their models and launching new propositions – the launch of Sky’s Now TV is a case in point.

A recent blog post from the BBC’s Cait O’ Riordan highlights how forward-thinking broadcasters are tackling this challenge eloquently; she explains how a truly integrated broadcast-web-mobile approach to delivering coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Games has driven an astonishing 106 million requests for BBC Olympic video content across all online platforms.

So is it time to rethink ‘broadcasting’ as a term? This isn’t a manifesto for some sort of wholesale dismantling of the concept, but perhaps there is a need to modernise and reflect a dynamic ecosystem that draws on the creativity and ingenuity of the traditional broadcast sectors and technology sectors?

Ian Davies, Product Manager, Content Discovery

Image courtesy of Live Production