Evolving Needs of Broadcaster: What We Learned from the DPP European Broadcasters Summit

Steve Russell, Chief Product Officer, Red Bee

Last week, I attended the DPP European Broadcaster Summit in Berlin. Great content, engaging speakers, provocative themes and a strong sense of collaboration. It was great to be back together! We talked a lot about the evolving needs of broadcasters, the demands this places on technology vendors and Red Bee’s unique position at the nexus of these two important communities.

Last week I shared some anticipatory thoughts about the themes we might cover, so now is a good time to reflect on how this matched the reality.

Media companies favour a modular approach

Fear of vendor lock-in and a demand for flexibility has led to single-vendor ‘end to end’ solutions being out of favour. Broadcasters want to compile their preferred component parts and create flexible service capabilities that support their rapidly evolving needs.

The obvious challenge is that when broadcasters select the ’best of breed’ for each element of their workflow, there is a significant overhead in making diverse technologies ‘sing in unison’ – APIs, interfaces and standards just don’t ‘automagically’ work together.  We at Red Bee have reflected a lot on this.  We see real value in a flexible, powerful IP-based core offering modular services that can be combined with best of breed to create those unique user experiences.  However,  building a complementary and balanced supply chain is  not  easy, but we have some fantastic real-life examples of how this can and does work effectively.

Procurement and purchasing processes have to evolve  

A strong message from the floor was that broadcasters and vendors alike see a massive opportunity to improve procurement processes. Instead of the traditional RFP process, there was a desire for greater emphasis on ‘proof of value’ purchases. Rather than customers specifying pages full of detailed wish-list requirements, the preferred future solution was for conversations that focus on the value-add that vendors can bring.   More collaboration, less RFP overhead could equal better value all round.

This idea also fits into the broader context of broadcasters wanting partnerships with vendors and service providers, not simply transactions. As part of this partnership concept, broadcasters seek greater transparency and openness from the vendor community. As the industry embarks on this transformation, it is crucial – and non-negotiable for some customers – those vendors are open about risks that will naturally arise with technology stack transitions and upfront about their approach to sustainability, another increasingly pressing issue.

The theme of technologies becoming more transparent and fostering collaboration was a key finding of the Deloitte 2022 technology industry outlook report. It found that if technology companies can make this step-change to offer a partner approach to customers, it will facilitate the next wave of growth. 

RISE to the diversity challenge

Carrie Wootton made one of the most impactful impressions at the summit.  We are all deeply aware of the gender imbalance within our industry.  Carrie spoke with insight, inspiration and laid out the challenge for all of us and how RISE as an organisation enables a change of mindset and opportunity.  The global expansion of RISE is timely and necessary, and we at Red Bee are proud to be associated with RISE as a sponsor in partnership with many of our friends across the industry.

The parallel of business and technology transformation 

In the M&E space, growth is centred around diversity of reach, monetisation, brand evolution and audience engagement. Few companies now identify as just one entity, such as ‘broadcaster’, ‘production company’, ‘sports entity’, or ‘content owner’. Avoiding these silos at both the operational and offering level is key to adapt as the industry continues to evolve and consumer demands change.

The DPP event drilled down into some of the key themes affecting the media industry, the drivers behind them and the opportunities resulting. I’m grateful to the DPP for hosting the summit and for the opportunity for the Red Bee team to participate in this flagship European event.

I know both speakers enjoyed their various sessions: Dara Urquhart, COO, led a workshop titled ‘Could shared Infrastructure ever work?’, while James Arnold, CCO, joined the panel on ‘Evolving market relationships.’ Reach out to them via LinkedIn if you would like to learn more.

But the overall mutual benefit was clear. As the industry moves away from traditional purchase and procurement cycles and business transformation is being enabled alongside the technology transformation, vendor and customer partnerships are essential.