Digging into the weeds: feedback from the 2024 IBC Conference

The 2024 IBC conference recently took place in Amsterdam. It is the first time I have attended so bear in mind some of these comments are coming from a fresher's statement but I thought it was worthwhile sharing some thoughts on the event.

1.????? Firstly, some thoughts on the logistics: it is (1) obviously big and (2) not particularly well set up (in my opinion). Taking point (1) looking at the stats from the conference (https://show.ibc.org/press-releases-1/ibc2024-sees-growth-board-ai-takes-centre-stage ), more than 45,000 visitors attended in 2024, up over 2000 from 2023, and the number of exhibitors also rose by 100 to over 1350. It is still clearly considered a ‘must have’ by those in the industry and a great opportunity to catch up with contacts. In terms of attendees, Friday and Saturday were clearly busier than the following days but that is to be expected.

?2.????? Point (2) may be considered harsh but I make it because I covered Events companies for 20+ years as an Equities Analyst and, as part of that, we would often both go to major events to see how the shows themselves were doing (plus get a feel for whether they were doing well or not) and speak with those who ran the events, including how they managed to make sure the shows themselves ran smoothly. With IBC, my personal view was that, both in terms of the design and the range of topics that were covered, there was probably more than could have been done.

3.????? This leads onto my first point. IBC describes itself as “the world’s most inspiring content and technology event. It draws together the global media, entertainment and technology industry for a compelling live experience that enables every attendee to gain critical insights, share expertise and unlock business opportunities.” ?It must be said that there were some excellent panel discussions and speakers who gave some valuable insights on what they thought were the key trends in the broadcasting space.

?4.????? Now, let me start by saying that I recognise that IBC is a predominately a technology event, which is fair enough. However, IBC also describes itself that it “sits at the global crossroads of the media, entertainment and technology industries providing an informative, innovative and engaging experience.” ?In my view, it is too much weighted towards the third part of the crossroads and not the first and second. That is a shame because, if it was handled correctly, it could truly become a very exciting and informative show that could offer much-needed direction to the industry.

5.????? Take advertising, which is critical for the Broadcasting space. Many of the exhibitors talked about how their products provided the solution Broadcasters’ needs to drive advertising revenues - naturally, as the focus of the likes of Amazon and Netflix is switching more to advertising. IBC also introduced an Audio Visual buyers’ event where the media technology players could discuss their offerings with advertising buyers.

6.????? That is great and it is good to see the technology around advertising developing but the more critical issue for the Broadcasting space is the secular threat to advertising revenues and, on that, little seems to have been said. Apart from S4 Capital’s Monks, I do not think I saw one stand from an Agency group or a major Media buyer nor hear a speaker from a major Media buyer talking about how Broadcasting remained relevant today in a world where linear faces more and more questions and an finite amount of advertising is being split amongst an increasing number of players. I may have missed them, but they certainly were not screaming their presence.

7.????? This brought back flashbacks from my visit to Cannes for the Cannes Lion advertising festival in the summer. One of the points I made at the time (https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/ianwhittakermedia_canneslion-activity-7210929302547181568-8Dnx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop ) was that the European Broadcasting names – with the exception of RTL – had very little presence at Cannes which seemed extraordinary given that was where most of the discussions around advertising i.e. the lifeblood of their industry were taking place. It seems like the Broadcasting industry – at least in Europe – is at risk of being deemed irrelevant, or at least offering nothing new bar streaming, when it comes to their products.

8.????? It was the same when it came to the Pay-TV space. While the European Pay-TV space does not face the secular declines seen in the US market, it is stagnating generally when it comes to subscriber numbers or certainly not seeing the growth of previous years. Yet, there was nothing here in terms of insights or views as to how these operators planned to cope with the secular challenges. Again, if you knew nothing about Broadcasting and walked into the conference, you would think the traditional Pay-TV space was a minor irrelevance. ?

9.????? Another gap seemed to be in content (remember the quote above that IBC describes itself as “the world’s most inspiring content and technology event”). Walking around, I certainly would not have described IBC as a major content event. Yes, content was being shown on the various stands to demonstrate how their products worked but in terms of actual content itself, new trends, sub-genres such as children’s etc, there was very little presence.

10. What there was in an overwhelming amount though was technology and data. Tons of it. Now, that is a good thing in principle. Technology is critical to the functioning of the Broadcasting space and is becoming more important as the complexity of solutions increases. Many of the stands were players who have historically been critical to the functioning of the industry such as encryption player Kudelski and the satellite operators such as Eutelsat.

11. However, many of the stands seemed to be occupied by a variety of players who seemed to be saying the same buzzwords and delving further and further into the weeds of how they could go down to the nth degree of measurement. Now, there is a role for that but, if IBC is anything to go by, the Broadcasting industry is at risk of going down the same path as the Advertising industry of falling in the “Quantification Fallacy” trap that the advertising industry has fallen into (https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/ianwhittakermedia_campaign-advertising-activity-7037011554084519936-tnKp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop ) and the obsession with metrics.

12. Finally, I better write about AI. Yes, there was a new AI Tech zone where AI products for the Broadcasting industry were showcased. I would not say it was particularly that well crowded (although I may have come at the wrong time) and it was something of an annex but AI made its presence felt (one other thing I would mention is that Amazon, particularly AWS, had a very significant presence at the show). Again, though, there was nothing particularly blockbusting here in what was shown.

13. In conclusion, my overall impression was of an industry that was overly focused on the technological and data side, and not thinking about how to handle some of the more industry-level critical issues facing the Broadcasting sector. That is a shame because IBC could be an important driver for dealing with the secular challenges facing the space (having so many attendees in one place at one time gives powerful heft). However, that is not the case now – at least to me – and I think that is a major error.

As usual, this is not investment advice.