Off to IBC

It’s that time of year again when the great and good (as well as a whole host of hangers on) in the world of content creation, management and delivery head to Amsterdam to experience the joys of IBC. I love the event but there are certain things I’m going to avoid this year.

Curved TVs
Unless you happen to live in a lighthouse I really struggle to see the benefit and it seems I’m not alone based on the reviews – ‘gimmick’ is a word often used. Apart from improvements in picture quality (wasted on me with my poor eyesight), the last truly significant innovation in TVs was the flat screen and that was really about space saving. Since then we’ve had connected TVs (which hardly anyone connects), 3D TV (which annoys half the audience) and super thin flat screens (but saving another inch or two doesn’t motivate like ditching the CRT). It’s a big problem for manufacturers that already cut margins to the bone but I think they are going to have to accept a much longer replacement cycle in the future.

Linear TV doom merchants
How many years have we been hearing that linear broadcast is dead or dying? It hasn’t happened and I can’t see any signs that it is going to happen. In reality, linear broadcast is popping up all over the place. Increasing linear broadcast on YouTube and Facebook (live streaming for instance) is being talked about as a significant development so perhaps reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

Hall 12
I’m sorry but it’s just too much for me to bear. Hall 12 is geek city and although I do know people who positively salivate over ‘hybrid electrical-fibre optic self-latching connectors’, ‘broadcast equipment carts’ and ‘portable lighting kits’ I’m afraid I’m not one of them. I did venture in a couple of years back and one of the exhibitors had a rather nice race prepared Ducati on the stand but I don’t think that was supposed to be the focus of my attention.

The Food
Enough said.

For me this is an industry that always was, and always will be, driven by content and it really doesn’t matter how many bells and whistles are applied, if the content isn’t up to scratch, it isn’t going to be consumed. Conversely, great quality content just works and it works across devices, delivery platforms, regions and cultures.

So, that’s what I’m going to be looking at – those technologies, products and solutions developed by people who understand that it’s content underpinning the industry and who build their business to enhance that reality.

See you all there!