The third day of the world’s most influential media, entertainment & technology show has now come to a close. Some of the Liberty team were lucky to attend day two of IBC2019, the theme of which for the packed Conference programme is ‘consumers first’.
This sentiment is clear for all to see wandering the various halls and listening to the packed conference sessions. While it’s true that this year’s event will have been host to 150 new product debuts by its close, there is very much a focus among those here on building partnerships and not solely looking for products.
IBC is clearly going from strength to strength. At this year’s Press Conference, we learned that there are over 1,700 exhibitors spread across 15 halls at the show, more than 200 of which are new for 2019. What’s more, many of these 200+ new exhibitors are exciting start-ups that could well be next year’s M&A targets.
The vibrancy of the event has not gone unnoticed by the FAANG giants, all of which have a presence in some form this year. At the Press Conference we heard from Google representatives about the latest developments with Android TV, which is now in partnership with over 140 operators in more than 60 markets. Over 25 of these operators have come on board since last IBC2018, demonstrating the impact of the event for nurturing collaboration.
Another big highlight of IBC2019 is the Media-Telecom Catalyst Programme, a collaboration between IBC and TM Forum aimed at driving open innovation between the media, technology and telecoms sectors.
Phase two results of three of these successful proof-of-concept Catalyst projects were unveiled at IBC2019. This included a collaboration between Al Jazeera, RTÉ, Associated Press, BBC, BT, V-Nova and Aviwest on a project designed to improve the quality and reliability of mobile news gathering and faster time-to-air for live and pre-recorded video.
We wish all the very best to the IBC team for the final two days of the event and look forward to hearing all about the exciting developments with the Catalyst programme in particular in the months to come.
