10:30 AM
Business & Strategy Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Allan McLennan, President/Founder - Chief Exec, PADEM Media Group Anthony Layser, VP, Xumo Mark Young, Senior Vice-President, Global Strategy, Business and Corporate Development, Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes Erick Opeka, President, Cinedigm Networks Marshall Nord, President, ShortsTV Americas Ben Lister, Content Acquisition and Business Development, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Description: More than 60% of U.S. households subscribe to at least one SVOD service, according to Parks & Associates; Deloitte says that the average subscriber pays for three services. As the total cost of those services approaches the cost of a cable TV bundle, might we see a reduction in subscriptions? Should we expect more bundling of SVOD services, with or without cable subscriptions? How can SVOD services prevent customer churn? Join our panel of industry experts as they discuss the implications of an increasingly crowded market.
Technical & How-to Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Jan Ozer, Owner, Streaming Learning Center
Description: Choosing the number of streams in an adaptive group and configuring them is usually a subjective, touchy-feely exercise, with no way to really gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of the streams. However, by measuring stream quality via metrics such as VMAF, SSIMPlus, and others, you can precisely assess the quality delivered by each stream and its relevancy to the adaptive group. This presentation identifies several key objective quality metrics, teaching how to apply them using commercial and open source tools and how to use them to fine-tune your adaptive bitrate ladders and encoding settings.
OTT Leadership Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: With the introduction of myriad screens and technologies like time-shifting, DVR, and on-demand programming, the days of families gathering around the television to watch linear TV are gone. Consumers expect to bend “TV time” to work around their schedules, and they demand an ever-evolving set of intuitive yet cutting-edge features to constantly improve the experience. Philo CTO Ben Chambers walks us through how the team at the nation’s first entertainment-focused OTT service is approaching and exceeding consumer expectations.
Video Engineering Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: Having the right tools for the job allows you to work smarter, not just harder. When developing for and supporting some of the biggest live streaming events such as the Super Bowl, Olympics, and the World Cup, we have beefed up and refined the arsenal of tools we bring. This session covers some of the tools to monitor, debug, and identify to solve problems quickly and effectively for live and on-demand streaming content, then dives deeper into some key, often overlooked use cases.
Esports & Sports Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Title: Case Study: From Game Seat to Driver Seat
Time: 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Description: Dreams really do come true, and sometimes gamers get a chance for real-world action. In this case study, Torque Esports introduces World's Fastest Gamer, an online competition that lets casual mobile players and pro gamers become actual pros. Using advanced driving simulators, WFG teaches driving skills and turns talented gamers into motorsport professionals.
Title: Mass Appeal: Advancements in Technology Empower Esports Livestreaming
Time: 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM
Description: The latest innovations and growing affordability of livestreaming technology have opened the esports livestreaming market to the average consumers, allowing anyone to become a live streamer with the right tools. Learn how the latest technology developments have enabled esports fans to join YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, or other livestreaming services.
Live Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Dan Swiney, Head of Media Engineering, LinkedIn Dan Houze, VP, Encoding & Digital Strategy, BC Live Productions Stephen Condon, Founder, Roogle Marketing
Description: While social media and entertainment get most of the attention when it comes to live streaming, it’s just as crucial to B2B and internal corporate communications. This panel of experts discusses how to effectively and efficiently connect to all of your internal viewers while also being able to scale for an external audience, as well as the myriad technologies that can be used from capture to distribution.
Discovery Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Title: Stop Bad Video in its Tracks
Time: 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM
Description: Not all content is created equal. Gate and switch content to avoid getting trapped into expending resources needlessly. Reject or send the content to the appropriate encoder to optimize storage & transmission costs while ensuring video quality thresholds. Attend this session for your chance to win: 10 gift cards for streaming services ($25 value each)
Title: The Future of Live Video Encoding
Time: 10:55 AM - 11:15 AM
Description: In this talk, we will walk through the future landscape of major problems to solve in video encoding – what lies ahead in terms approaches to reduce bandwidth and encoding compute complexity, datacenter power consumption, codec adoption, quality measurements, and tools to increase differentiation across a range of industries.
11:30 AM
Business & Strategy Track
Length: 1 Hour
Title: Fireside Chat: HBO Max and the Future of SVOD
Time: 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Description: Of all the blockbuster SVOD services coming soon, HBO Max is perhaps the most hotly anticipated, bundling the entire HBO service with new HBO Max Originals and a deep library of fan favorites from throughout WarnerMedia’s 100-year content collection. Jason Press is in charge of building the platform, and his team will use technologies such as machine learcning/artificial intelligence, high efficiency video encoding, and UHD/4K to make it happen. Join this fireside chat for a glimpse inside HBO Max before it launches.
Title: 5 Steps to Media App Success in the Emerging Connection Economy
Time: 12:15 PM - 12:30 PM
Description: The velocity of technological change and audience expectations aren’t slowing down, and launching an OTT service isn't a simple undertaking. Join this strategic session on building a future-proofed media app strategy to launch and connect with your most valuable audiences while maximizing your current and future tech investments. Jim Bennette shares the key steps from the important but often overlooked step of defining your goals, then examines the process from devising a holistic app strategy to successfully connecting with your most valuable viewers.
Technical & How-to Track
Length: 1 Hour
Speaker(s):
Brian Ring, Principal Analyst, Ring Digital llc
Description: If content is king, then graphics are one of the most important technologies in streaming media. While sharp producers have been using graphical overlays forever, the Chromium Embedded Format and the rapidly growing esports market have thrust cloud graphics—which don’t require expensive on-prem servers—into the view of major broadcasters and OTT streamers globally. This workshop will feature a live technical demo, viewer research, and an overview of the vendors in the cloud graphics space.
OTT Leadership Summit
Length: 1 Hour
Speaker(s):
Rebecca Glashow, Co-Head, Awesomeness Shelley Zimmerman, Co-Head, Awesomeness Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, CMO, Norsk Adam Lewinson, Chief Content Officer, Tubi Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, CMO, Norsk
Title: Reaching Generation Z
Time: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Description: Consumers’ video consumption habits are changing dramatically. Generation Z watches video in a completely different way than older generations, and it’s imperative that we reach them on their terms, with the type of content they want, in the formats that speak to them, on the devices they prefer. In this fireside chat, we talk with executives from Awesomeness about what works— and what doesn’t—with the next generation of consumers.
Title: Ad-Supported VOD as an Alternative to Broadcast & SVOD
Time: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Description: Many consumers are looking for alternatives to traditional cable and SVOD services, as well as skinny bundles that aren’t so skinny after all. Enter free, ad-supported services that offer premium content without the premium price tag. We talk about the challenges and opportunities facing AVOD services in today’s market.
Video Engineering Summit
Length: 1 Hour
Description: Many streaming producers are attempting to enable viewers to interact with live streamers in relative real time through chat, Q&A, betting, bidding, and more. They all encounter the same challenge: reducing latency while syncing interactions between the live streamer and viewers. There’s currently a race between WebRTCbased approaches, which are very low in latency but hard to scale, and HTTP-based approaches, which are easy to scale but higher in latency. Neither is ideal. This session details approaches to achieving interactivity at scale using existing technologies.
Esports & Sports Streaming Summit
Length: 1 Hour
Speaker(s):
Bill Shaikin, Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times Ed Nordholm, Chief Corporate Officer, Anthem Sports & Entertainment Matt Smith, Executive Director, Business Development & Strategy, Comcast Technology Solutions Michael Bucklin, Vice President of Digital Content, Fox Sports Stefan Richardson, Senior Producer, BC Live Productions Remi Guyton, Vice President, Nitro Circus Ari Evans, founder and CEO, Maestro.io Brett Casadonte, President and Co-founder, GlobeStream Media LLC Codi Warren, Managing Director of Communications, USA Softball
Title: Increasing Fan Engagement
Time: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Description: Streaming live video is just the beginning. To succeed today, it’s crucial to engage fans and keep them tuning in. Putting out a tune-in message isn’t enough anymore. You’ve got to get fans invested in the next match, engaging them on multiple platforms. Here’s how some leagues cater to their fans to create all-new experiences and lifelong engagement.
Title: The Next Generation
Time: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Description: Don’t assume that young people today are going to watch the same sports that their parents follow. Young viewers are up for grabs, as the traditional sports world undergoes massive changes. Will today’s young viewers grow up loving basketball and football, or will esports eventually dominate? Here’s how leagues are securing the next generation.
Live Streaming Summit
Length: 1 Hour
Description: How reliable is your live-streaming production workflow? Learn how to use and configure the essential (and purposely redundant) components of a live streaming event system, including cameras, H.264 encoders/streamers, video switchers, video signal conversion, recorders, and more. Also learn how to best deploy the live stream to your audience based on business requirements: Do you utilize free social media outlets, work with a premium third-party streaming service, or build your own live-streaming infrastructure? Learn how to approach different live scenarios with the right gear to fit the budget you have.
Discovery Track
Length: 1 Hour
Title: Monitoring Live OTT Services Is Critical for Service Assurance
Time: 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM
Description: Around the globe, OTT video consumption is rising steadily, with live streaming, in particular, attracting large audiences. This necessitates that operators adopt a holistic methodology to service assurance, for better visibility into what is happening with the live OTT workflow, decrease the chance for churn and maximize monetization. Monitoring solutions are a fundamental requirement today for both VOD and live OTT applications. This presentation will highlight challenges of live streaming and how monitoring can help by providing a centralized service assurance view, validation of where the issue is located, and increased flexibility via a software-based and cloud-deployable approach. Attend this session for your chance to win: Google Nest Hub ($129 Value)
Title: Content and Eyeballs- The Perfect Match at the Edge
Time: 11:55 AM - 12:15 PM
Description: Latency is one of the most important factors in delivering content to their users. There is a growing trend in the community of partners, customers, providers to meet the eyeball providers away from carrier hotels. The high density environments require a greater amount of power, cooling, redundancy that EdgeConneX has built for our customers since inception. We’ll discuss trends in key markets, and why EdgeConneX is recognized as the leader in this space. Attend this session to win: $200 gift card.
1:30 PM
Business & Strategy Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: LinkedIn Live has quickly become one of the most valuable streaming platforms, reaching more than 600 million professionals worldwide. In this discussion you will not only learn about the value and engagement that LinkedIn Live is driving for key publishers, companies, and influencers, but also how you can become a part of the LinkedIn Live beta program as well. Join LinkedIn’s Streaming Producer, Chris Packard, on a journey into the world’s largest professional streaming network.
Technical & How-to Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Dom Robinson, Chief Business Development Officer, Norsk by id3as Nermeen Ismail, Distinguished Engineer, Cisco Tanu Aggarwal, Director of Engineering of Video Platform, Twitch Nathan Moore, Director of Performance Engineering Platform, StackPath Olga Kornienko, COO & Co-Founder, EZDRM
Description: The discussion around microservices has moved from theory and planning to looking at optimization for deployment for streaming within a microservices/services-oriented architecture. A year ago many were thinking about deployment in this new highly available, scalable and agile way; today, it has emerged as common practice, or at the least as a common strategy. This session examines some examples of microservices in action in a discussion with leading content publishers and goes deep into some realworld microservices architectures, exploring introspection, orchestration, containerization, and wider virtualization strategies.
OTT Leadership Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: As DRM becomes a global standard for content creators and consumers, the DRM lifecycle becomes more and more important. Implementing DRM into a complex video workflow can be a daunting task. That combined with the mandatory use of DRM for premium content leaves an OTT Operator with a lot of questions. In this session, we explore the “DRM Lifecycle” from content creation to editing to digital dailies to post to screeners and, ultimately, to consumer distribution.
Video Engineering Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: This discussion details how video engineers should set up their CDNs for optimal delivery around the world. From multi-CDN to optimizing encoding and transcoding efforts, we provide actionable recommendations based on real, unbiased testing. Attendees walk away with insights regarding how to optimize their CDN(s) for media delivery.
Esports & Sports Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Mark Nakano, Vice President of Content Security, WarnerMedia Michael Jones, SVP and Head of Business Development, VisualOn
Description: Advanced technologies such as ultra-low latency, synchronized multi-stream, and 5G are transforming the streaming of live sports, offering new, superior experiences to traditional linear TV. However, as these technologies increase the value and consumption of live streaming, they present challenges in protecting high-value content. This session will focus on the new technologies that are transforming live sports video, as well as the what this means from a content value and content protection perspective.
Live Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: Join us as we discuss the massive increase in live streaming viewership and the importance of your audience with one of the industry leaders in the tech space.
Discovery Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Sam Drury, Head of User Experience, UI Centric Tim Dougherty, Director of Sales Engineering, Wowza Media Systems
Title: OTT: Where to Invest your UX and Design Budget
Time: 1:30 PM - 1:50 PM
Description: Designing great digital products -- because digital is always evolving -- is a never-ending proposition. Identifying what users really want is only the beginning. How can you make the UX definition and design process run more smoothly and deliver products which are both compelling, effective and technically efficient? We discuss latest practices for OTT products which will make everyone involved in the product life-cycle through to end-consumers happy with what you’re creating. Attend this session for your chance to win: A 1.5 day UX audit
Title: Low Latency Live Streaming Delivery: What’s Next?
Time: 1:55 PM - 2:15 PM
Description: At the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), Apple announced the specs for a brand-new extension of their HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol: Low-Latency HLS. While reducing latency for live streaming is a valiant goal (and one that we can get behind), this news interrupted an industry-wide effort to do so via chunked transfer encoding. With more viewers ditching traditional satellite and cable services each year, the race for speedier live-stream delivery is in full force. Apple Low-Latency HLS is an emerging standard that could very well lead the pack, but what are the pros and cons? The standard’s real-world appeal and long-term benefits are still playing out. Join our discussion and learn where the industry is heading, the overall adoption, ideal use cases, and what can be expected of low-latency HLS next. Attend this session for your chance to win:$250 Amazon gift card
2:45 PM
Business & Strategy Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Dom Robinson, Chief Business Development Officer, Norsk by id3as Peter Chave, Principal Architect - Leading Edge, Akamai Technologies Neil Glazebrook, Senior Director of Product Management, Limelight Networks George Bokuchava, CEO, Tulix Matt Smith, Executive Director, Business Development & Strategy, Comcast Technology Solutions
Description: Content delivery networks (CDNs) deliver vast quantities of data to an ever-growing, media-hungry audience. The sheer scale of operations and consumer adoption of these services is daunting. Forgotten when they work, yet in the spotlight if they fail, the CDNs have a thankless but critical role in our industry. In this session, Dom Robinson, chair of Content Delivery Summit and 25-year veteran in the CDN space, talks to executives from the leading CDNs about the state of the sector, the challenges being faced, new technology strategies, and which services are rising and falling in demand. If a CDN is a part of your ecosystem, then this broad discussion should touch on a variety of high-level topics that directly affect your business.
Technical & How-to Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Jason Thibeault, CEO, Streaming Video Technology Alliance Steve Heffernan, Founder & Head of Product, Mux Rob Dillon, Principal Strategist, Dillon Media Ventures Rema Morgan-Aluko, Vice President, Software Engineering, Platform, Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes Yuriy Reznik, VP, Research, Brightcove
Description: In this session, we review every stage of the live- and on-demand streaming workflow and explore how open source options can be used in real-world implementations. We’ll examine tools such as FFmpeg, VLC, and NGINX, as well as open source codecs, and discuss our panelists favorites for solving specific challenges, the pros and cons of each, and compare them to some commercial offerings. While this session is of use for technicians and developers, the emphasis is on higher-level strategic questions about where and when open source tools can replace commercial offerings and thus reduce costs.
OTT Leadership Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: Born with the iPad, Generation Alpha consumes video in ways that are even more radically different than Generation Z. So how do you create content and deliver it in a way that connects with viewers 9 and younger, while being respectful of the fact that these are just kids? Pocket.watch is the studio behind Ryan ToysReview, HobbyKidsTV, and EvanTubeHD, and this discussion with GM/SVP for Channels David B. Williams will shed light on the opportunities and challenges that come with creating content for the next generation.
Video Engineering Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Tomas Bacik, Head of Client Solutions, CDN77
Description: This presentation details how to implement CMAF into a VOD workflow, and how CMAF saves storage space, reduces latency, and improves cache efficiency, which leads to better performance and the simplification of content encryption.
Esports & Sports Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: Women now account for nearly half of all video game enthusiasts, and they’re turning their passion into successful careers—and vibrant communities—on Twitch. In this fireside chat, Vice President of Sales Katherine Bowe will lead a discussion with one of Twitch’s leading female content creators. Find the secrets to working with brands as a female broadcaster, building a community by streaming what you love, and more in this lively session.
Live Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: Millions of people around the world tuned in for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals in France between the USA and Norway. After the huge success of FOX Sports’ innovative broadcast of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, our panelists collaborated with FOX Sports to deliver new remote production capabilities and greater efficiencies for this year’s women’s final. Boasting more than twice as many streams as the 2018 World Cup, these panelists discuss how they enabled production teams in Los Angeles to begin editing multiple camera feeds within less than 10 seconds of the live action for highlights, playback, and bridge programming and employed new capabilities such as real-time direct-to-cloud archiving and more extensive—yet consolidated—monitoring.
Discovery Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Title: Upgrade Your Network, Upgrade Your Stream
Time: 2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Description: As streaming media continues to take over the entertainment world, content creators and providers will require advanced infrastructure to keep up with production schedules and consumer demands. This session will examine how private networks can play a critical role in the life cycle of streaming content, from its creation, distribution and through consumption. We’ll discuss how PacketFabric enable powerful new workflows to quickly go from the camera to the cloud to the screen, by delivering reliable, flexible and high-capacity connectivity from production locations to cloud providers to CDNs, and beyond. Attend this session for your chance to win:Amazon gift card ($200 value)
Title: Configuring Robust Multi-CDN in Azure, Powered by DLVR
Time: 3:10 PM - 3:30 PM
Description: Reliable, high-quality video viewing experiences are critical to video publishers. This presentation discusses how DLVR's integration on Azure offers a highly scalable, measured, optimized, and simplified multi-CDN service for large and medium-size Azure customers running video workloads. Attend this session for your chance to win: 3 Hydro Flasks ($35 value each)
4:30 PM
Business & Strategy Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Scott Grizzle, WW Channels & Alliances, IBM Stephen Condon, Founder, Roogle Marketing Dan Houze, VP, Encoding & Digital Strategy, BC Live Productions Sean Patrick Keen, Global Director of Sales Engineering, Intrado Digital Media Andy Howard, Founder & Managing Director, Howard & Associates
Description: From delivery to improving end-user experiences, this covers how enterprises can support internal video activities at scale without harming the network. Focus is then placed on developing a secure-rich process for accessing and hosting video assets to be accessed by employees and stakeholders. This also includes covering value adds for end users, including using artificial intelligence to make content more accessible and discoverable through automated processes.
Technical & How-to Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: The promise of ATSC 3.0 is the ability to multicast not only audio and video, but data as well. If ATSC 3.0 can achieve this, plus allow for targeted personalized advertising, the broadcast world will have combined the digital promise of targeting with the scale of broadcast, essentially changing the broadcast vs. streaming playing field. How will this work with legacy CDNs and new 5G pipes? What does broadcast-as-a service mean? How do converged OTT-OTA apps work in the future? How does this help deliver the right content to the right audience?
OTT Leadership Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: As video offers proliferate, many have purely on-demand content while others include live programming. Understanding the nuances of consumer interest in live video, especially sports and news, is critical to securing content rights, designing offers, and targeting subscribers. For many consumers, interest in a favorite team or athlete is the primary driver for their live video subscription, while other consumers have virtually no interest in sports or traditional news and often find little value in live TV. This session explores findings from a new consumer survey from Altman Vilandrie & Co., including a deep dive into reasons for consumer adoption of live TV offers, and a panel discussion featuring top executives from the TV industry.
Video Engineering Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Description: Per-title encoding techniques have progressed from theory to reality with real-world statistics to verify effectiveness. In this roundtable, panelists discuss how their technologies work and the overall impact on their encoding ecosystem and share case studies about how per-title encoding has saved bandwidth and/or improved quality of experience.
Esports & Sports Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Todd Conley, Executive Director, HighSchool.GG Jordan Rambis, Executive in Residence for Video Games and Esports, 1337 Facilities
Description: What's happening in collegiate esports? How do new programs in elementary, middle school, and high school esports factor in? We look at the benefits to an esports and streaming program in schools and how it prepares students for jobs in the real world. We'll also discuss opportunities for streaming hardware and software vendors to sell into this new vertical within education.
Live Streaming Summit
Length: 45 Minutes
Speaker(s):
Edward Doty, Creative Director, Ranker Carl Furgusson, Head of Portfolio Development, MediaKind Tim Baldwin, Head of Product, Zixi Corey Smith, Director Live Operations, Blizzard Daniel Pisarski, VP of Engineering, LiveU
Description: As more people are turning to streaming as their main source of content, companies are dealing with the necessity of scaling quickly. On top of this, everyone is viewing from many devices, each with a specific set of quality specifications. With many viewers now getting their live events and sports coverage almost exclusively from streaming services this panel discusses the necessary tools to ensure a successful viewing experience.
Discovery Track
Length: 45 Minutes
Title: Subscriber Retention Benchmarks for OTT Businesses
Time: 4:30 PM - 4:50 PM
Description: With more subscription streaming offerings coming onto the market every year, subscriber engagement and retention is top of mind for OTT providers. In this presentation, Recurly will share the latest subscription OTT benchmarks on churn and subscriber retention as well as the strategies smart OTT providers are using to fight churn and accelerate growth. Attend this session for your chance to win: "Subscribe" T-Shirts ($10 value) and "Subscriber" tote bags ($9 value)
5:30 PM
Networking Reception
Length: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Description: Relax and unwind after a full day of sessions. Our evening reception is the perfect place to network with industry peers while enjoying a drink and some tasty bites. Open to all attendees, speakers, and exhibitors. Located on the Outdoor Plaza Deck, 4th Level, Westin Bonaventure.