TORONTO – Part social powwow and part professional revelation, the annual CTAM Canada Broadcaster Forum unspooled a ribbon of timely data points and commentary on new technology trends, a VR state-of-the-nation and even reflections on CBC’s unsullied broadcast of Tragically Hip’s summer concert.
Technology and television Innovation
A quartet of industry experts—Tom Elam, VP and GM with TiVo’s service provider business; Jay Gardner, VP of product development with Shaw; Joel Orvis, director of TV product management with Bell Canada; and Matt Nelson, director of strategic alliances with You.i—unpacked the latest developments in television tech on a panel moderated by Norm Lem, a principal at Suite47 Consulting and a 25-year cable veteran (pictured above).
The afternoon launched with a discussion about consumer viewing habits, with Nelson noting that the average North American watches 5.5 hours of video a day, about a quarter of which is now on social media, YouTube and Netflix. That’s important, he says, “because in the TV industry, entities outside of TV are forming the behaviours of the core audience. That’s going to shape the future.”
Lem honed in on this disrupted reality, asking his panel what traditional cable companies are doing to address it.
“The number of options for consuming videos is increasing exponentially,” Orvis acknowledged. “We want to be there to make sure we’re providing content on whatever screen they choose.”
Ideally, said Elam, the industry would drop its us-versus-them notions and recognize that short- and long-form content (small screen and big screen) are actually complementary. Social applications may shine in short-form content, but they’re not where people go for immersive entertainment. That’s pay TV’s turf. “We can’t only be looking at the pay TV user experience. We have to also look at these other applications in terms of creating awareness and then driving people back to us.”
Gardner said the old guard’s role in this revolution is as aggregators, managing the surfeit of choice and freeing the customer from the task. He singled out Netflix as a leader on this front, saying that the video-on-demand behemoth is a success because it’s created a “unified, easy experience for customers.”
Netflix has made signup and authentication a cinch, and nailed the distribution game besides, blanketing the platforms in sophisticated simplicity. Said Gardner, “Within the relatively small bucket of content that is Netflix, they are [standouts] for their ability to search, discover and serve up content. They deliver on their promise, and the whole industry benefits from that.”
Indeed, Elam agreed, “as pay TV operators, the need to make our experience as easy as Netflix is absolutely imperative. Getting the right content to the right customer at the right time is the holy grail. Most pay TV doesn’t feel like good value. We need to do a better job at showing that value to the consumer.”
The spirited conversation then turned to 4K and its place in the evolving industry. The technology was universally praised and declared more enduring than 3DTV, which is widely acknowledged as a failed experiment. Gardner lauded Bell and Rogers for being the front end of the 4K spear.
The panel agreed that while 4K might not offer as dramatically different a viewing experience as was originally touted, its marriage with high dynamic range (HDR) ups the ante. Gardner called the combo the “cherry on the sundae,” and said it will likely prove the catalyst for 4K content production in Canada.
That’s important, because, while the assembled agreed that 4K is a “done deal” on the equipment side, content lags technology dramatically. Competitive pressure, Orvis contends, will take care of this shortfall.
You bet, agrees Elam. “It’s an arm’s race out there. Having 4K is one of the competitive platforms.”
VR 101
Hosted by VR pioneers Laura Mingail and Stefan Grambart, VR 101 walked its audience through a history of this immersive viewing environment from its beginnings (it’s arguably been around since cinema has), through its multi-faceted present (Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, Daydream View, Oculus Rift), to its giddily forecast future where some believe that by 2020, VR is expected to hit $30 billion in revenue, much of it from the at-home market (Ed note: It’s still too early to predict whether VR is the next 3DTV…).
From a marketing perspective, VR is poised for the spotlight, predicts Mingail, because it delivers brands to the next level of immersive content marketing. Because VR penetration is so low at home, the return of arcades could up the horizon, she said.
Other examples of content poised for VR enhancement include live sports streaming; documentaries, like PBS’s Ebola Outbreak: A Virtual Journey; ongoing TV series (in March, the ABC drama Quantico ventured into sponsored, scripted 360-degree storytelling by inviting viewers into a Lexus LX 570 SUV through their VR headsets); horror; and concerts (NextVR is partnering with Live Nation).
Gaming still leads with this platform, however.
Q&A with Heather Conway
In a featured interview with Heather Conway, EVP of CBC English Services, Greg O’Brien, editor and publisher of Cartt.ca, quizzed Conway on the opportunities, challenges and road ahead for Canada’s public broadcaster (pictured).
“I spend part of my day thinking: What’s the organizing principal going to be for how people consume content, going 
forward?” Conway revealed. “In immediate terms, the challenge is: How do I stand out in a 200-channel universe?”
For now, she’s consumed with transforming the organization into a digital entity while taking care not to make choices that don’t allow the CBC to shift direction, if it must. Establishing a model that allows viewers to download shows and take them with them (which Netflix has just launched) is “an imperative,” she said – and sidestepping, or confronting fake news is all about branding. “As soon as you make your content shareable and let someone else [control] the variables, you’re at risk.”
Trends in content Innovation
The conference’s last panel (moderated by radio broadcaster Alan Cross and featuring Vanessa Case, EVP of content, Blue Ant Media; Pam Westman, head of Nelvana Enterprises; Mark Branch, director of sales and business development at Deluxe; and Josh Scherba, SVP of international distribution for DHX Media) explored how content companies are changing their business models to stay relevant.
Westman talked about how kids’ content-consuming schedule eschews traditional viewing hours. “They watch what they want when they want,” she said, a custom that allows content producers to ditch linear narratives and tell stories in the time they need to be told.
Branch discussed Dolby Atmos, declaring this immersive surround sound technology “the next big thing.”
“Of course sound will evolve,” Case concurred, “and so will video, set-top boxes and TV sets. It’s all moving so fast. What we can do as content creators and broadcasters is future-proof. When the consumer’s ready for it in the TVs and boxes they’re buying, we’ll be ready to deliver.”
Photos courtesy CTAM Canada by Warren Antonio.
