Tag Archives | online video

Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Steffan Aquarone

By on May 9, 2013 in Conference Sessions, Corporate Communications, Media & Entertainment
Steffan Aquarone is a film producer and technology entrepreneur, and  co-founder of mobile money platform Droplet. Steff speaks internationally on innovation, entrepreneurship and digital marketing. Here he talks about what his presentation at this year’s Streaming Forum will include:

 

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role. 

My background is as a film producer and more recently technology entrepreneur in my role as co-founder of mobile money platform Droplet.  Prior to graduation I co-founded a Top 50 UK corporate film production company and worked with accounts including John Lewis, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco, News Corporation, Vodafone, Land Rover and American Express on all aspects of their online video strategy.  Since then I’ve been working as a consultant in the online video sector in both creative and technology businesses.  I write Econsultancy’s annual Online Video Best Practice report, and write regularly on the future of video on the web.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Forum? Why have you chosen this subject?

The session is going to present two case studies (Droplet and AGCO) and describe in detail how they were successful. The rules for online video success are still being written and I always think case studies are the best way to understand what’s worked for others.  I’ve brought a start-up success story from Droplet, and invited my friend Lee Kemp from Vermillion Films to present a case study of a larger, global business.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them?

One of the biggest problems is there are so many technologies and tactics to choose from.  Often suppliers invent language just to sell a product!  Taking things back to basics and thinking about what audiences will find useful, interesting or entertaining is rewarding challenge.  If you produce content people want to watch, you can wrangle the technology side to focus on how to find them.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

For a start, I think the word ‘streaming’ has all but disappeared from the vocabulary of the brand marketers that are using online video to achieve return on investment.  Video is now part of content, and most brands have realised that good content is what travels furthest on the web and achieves the greatest results.  This year we’re seeing more brands invest in the idea of Brand Entertainment – where instead of broadcasters, it’s household names who are conjuring up the latest factual and entertainment content for online audiences.

What’s the do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

I get huge enjoyment working with talented creative people within brands.  Many organisations have almost everything they need in-house to make this sort of thing happen, they just need a bit of facilitation.

Steffan and Lee’s case study presentations will take place on Tuesday 18 June 2013 2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
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Cisco Predicts Video Will Make Up 91% of all Internet Traffic by 2014

By on June 2, 2010 in Uncategorized

Today Cisco Systems released its annual Visual Networking Index (VNI), and the results are intriguing if not exactly surprising. By the end of this year, Cisco predicts that video will exceed P2P as the top traffic contributor, making it the first year that P2P has not been the leading traffic type. The company also says that by 2014 all forms of video—TV, VoD, Internet video, and P2P—will comprise more than 91% of all internet traffic. That doesn’t mean that 91% of all internet traffic will involve video, of course, and the company notes that popular activities like VoIP are relatively light in bandwidth consumption. It’s also worth noting that the report doesn’t distinguish between uploading and downloading of video; we can only assume the 91% includes uploading, downloading, streaming, progressive download, and file sharing.

And of that video traffic in 2014, Cisco expects 42% of it to be made up of 3D and HD content, though notably the report doesn’t offer a definition of HD video, so we don’t know if it’s 1080p, 720p, or both (or a more nebulous definition.

See the graph below for a breakdown of 12 categories of internet traffic.

ciscoforecast

Cisco breakdown of 12 categories of internet traffic

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Tvinci Looks to Make OTT Pay Off

By on May 25, 2010 in Uncategorized

Last week, Israel-based Tvinci announced availability of its MediaHub and MediaStore, which in tandem look to solve the biggest dilemma facing over-the-top video: how to monetize it. MediaHub is the backend of the platform, managing video assets, pricing, billing, and analytics. MediaStore is the consumer interface, which is designed to tailor offerings based upon each user’s personal preferences, which are determined by user input as well as viewing history and payment preferences. The system is designed to work with any device—game consoles, set-top boxes, iPad, iPhone, and other smartphones.

Tvinci’s products are already being used by MTV and Orange, and the MediaHub and MediaStore has been selected by Projector TV for the upcoming launch of its video portal.

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Video: Automation and Workflow Solutions for Transcoding

By on March 15, 2010 in Conference Sessions, Video Formats & Players

While video consumption and distribution has grown exponentially in the past few years, converting and preparing this content for the digital realm was largely a ‘black art’ until recently, when several enterprise-grade solutions came onto the market. In this session from Streaming Media Europe 2009, panelists from organisations that are utilising those solutions talked about their cost and benefit to enterprises large and small.

Moderator:

  • Matt Smith, Senior Director, Systems Architecture and Strategy, Inlet Technologies

Panel:

  • Martin Boronski, CTO, M6 Web
  • Jon Alexander, Manager, European Content Product Delivery, Level 3 Communications
  • Alex Nunes, Head of Media Services (iPlayer), BBC
  • Robert Senica, Manager Content Operations, SONY-DADC
  • Andy Wilson, Manager, Red Bee Media

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Vote Today In The Streaming Media European Readers’ Choice Awards

By on July 6, 2009 in Uncategorized

smerc_091Voting opens today for the inaugural Streaming Media European Readers’ Choice Awards, the only awards program in the online media industry that lets end users have their say about which products and services are their favourites.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve received a deluge of nominations, and from that list we’ve narrowed it down to a total of more than 125 nominees in 12 categories:

• Transcoding Solution—Hardware, software, or cloud-based solution for encoding and transcoding content

• Online Video Platform—SaaS platforms that enable customizable publication, syndication, distribution, and monetisation of video on the web

• UGC Platform—User-generated content sites and services

• TV over IP Solution—Set-top box, over-the-top, and “catch-up” solutions for delivering television content online

• Reporting, Analytics—Services that offer metrics that, among other things, help content publishers better understand who’s watching, when they’re watching, where they’re watching, and for how long

• Streaming Services Provider—Provider of end-to-end streaming services, from capture and encoding to delivery and distribution

• Video Advert Platform—Technologies and services that allow for targeted ad insertion into online video content

• Webcast Platform—Hardware, software, and SaaS solutions for delivering live web events

• Delivery Network—Edge or peer-to-peer content delivery providers

• Music & Audio Delivery Solution—Music download services, internet radio, and music sharing

• Best Live Webcast of 2009—Most impressive and successful live web event

• Best Streaming Innovation of 2009—The “catch-all” category, for simply the coolest, most innovative streaming product, service, or event of the year.

Click here to see the nominees in each category and register to vote. Don’t see your favourite listed? Please contact with the company name, product name, and address, as well as a brief explanation of why you feel it deserves a place among the nominees.

You will be able to vote for one nominee in each category, with the voting open until 21 August. We’ll publish the finalists—the top 3 vote-getters in each category—on 7 September, and then announce the winner in each category at Streaming Media Europe on 15 October, as well as on the website and in the Winter European edition of Streaming Media magazine.

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Announcing the Inaugural European Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Awards

By on May 29, 2009 in General Conference Information, Industry News

smerc_091We’re excited to announce the first annual European Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Award, for which nominations will be accepted beginning today. Modeled after the successful U.S. program, the European Readers’ Choice Awards will be the only awards program that honors the top efforts in the online video industry as decided by the people who actually use the products and services and watch the content.

The awards process begins with the collection of nominations in 12 categories:

• Transcoding Solution—Hardware, software, or cloud-based solution for encoding and transcoding content

• Online Video Platform—SaaS platforms that enable customizable publication, syndication, distribution, and monetisation of video on the web

• UGC Platform—User-generated content sites and services

• TV over IP Solution—Set-top box, over-the-top, and “catch-up” solutions for delivering television content online

• Reporting, Analytics—Services that offer metrics that, among other things, help content publishers better understand who’s watching, when they’re watching, where they’re watching, and for how long

• Streaming Services Provider—Provider of end-to-end streaming services, from capture and encoding to delivery and distribution

• Video Advert Platform—Technologies and services that allow for targeted ad insertion into online video content

• Webcast Platform—Hardware, software, and SaaS solutions for delivering live web events

• Delivery Network—Edge or peer-to-peer content delivery providers

• Music & Audio Delivery Solution—Music download services, internet radio, and music sharing

• Best Live Webcast of 2009—Most impressive and successful live web event

• Best Streaming Innovation of 2009—The “catch-all” category, for simply the coolest, most innovative streaming product, service, or event of the year.

Nominations may be submitted here beginning today through 29 June. The staff of Streaming Media will evaluate the nominations for appropriateness to category and then publish a list of nominees in each category on 6 July.

At that point, our readers will be able to vote for one nominee in each category, with the voting open until 21 August. We’ll publish the finalists—the top 3 vote-getters in each category—on 7 September, and then announce the winner in each category at Streaming Media Europe on 15 October, as well as on the website and in the Winter European edition of Streaming Media magazine.

So make your nominations soon, and look out for the list of nominees on 6 July!

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Streaming Media Europe 2009 Call for Speakers Now Open

By on March 15, 2009 in Conference Sessions, General Conference Information

Hard to believe, but it’s time to start planning for this year’s Streaming Media Europe conference, to be held on 15 & 16 October (with pre-conference workshops on 14 October), again at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith. A testament to the continued vitality of online video in the face of tough economic times, last year’s show bucked the trade show trend and saw an increase of more than 50% in attendees over the 2007 show: 768 visitors from 23 countries, and more than 70 speakers.

We’re now soliciting speaker proposals for the 2009 show. While we welcome all potential speakers, we’re especially interested in end users who can speak to the challenges, trends, and opportunities they are dealing with as they deploy online video and music strategies in both consumer-facing and internal communications. Submissions can be made directly here,  but be sure to read our guidelines first.

Once again, we’ll be having two tracks, one focusing on Technology & Content and one on Business & Strategy. We’ll likely have a total of about 20 sessions, as well as four keynotes. Stay tuned for more information about those keynotes, and we look forward to your speaker submissions.

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28 Percent of European Households Watch TV Online At Least Monthly

By on February 12, 2009 in Industry News, Media & Entertainment

In anticipation of its CONNECTIONS Europe Summit on March 31, research firm Parks Associates announced findings that 28% of households in Western Europe watch TV shows online at least once a month, and many of them watch considerably more often. But even if we take that once-a-month figure, that’s a pretty impressive number — nearly a third of all households are getting at least some television content online rather than or in addition to broadcast and satellite delivery. With internet-connected televisions on the horizon and broadband penetration still growing, that number is only likely to grow by the time Streaming Media Europe rolls around in October. And, with the global economy still in trouble, online delivery of video is looking more and more attractive to content owners; in fact, I’ll go so far as to predict that the economic crisis will actually be good, in the long run, for online video. 

We’ll be announcing our call for speakers for this year’s conference next month, so now’s the time to start thinking about what you’d like to see for topics at Streaming Media Europe 2009.

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RIP Kangaroo JV

By on February 4, 2009 in Industry News, Media & Entertainment

The UK Competitions Commission effectively blocked the Kangaroo VOD service from launching with its final report, released today, in which chairman Peter Freeman said the service “would be too much of a threat to competition in this developing market and has to be stopped.” It’s a blow to BBC Worldwide, ITV, and Channel 4, and unsurprisingly, the partners are calling it a “missed opportunity in the development of British broadcasting.” As much as I’m in favor of unfettered competition, I have to say I think the commission blew this one. PaidContent:UK has some great analysis of the decision here.

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The 2009 Streaming Media Dream Team

By on February 4, 2009 in Industry News

dreamteamThe UEFA Cup Round of 32 is just about to begin, and Streaming Media magazine needs you to help us kick off our own contest, the inaugural Streaming Media Dream Team. We’re looking for you to nominate the top players in the online video game, whether they’re setting new standards for media and entertainment, innovating in the corporate or government sector, or offering new technologies and products that help end users play at the top of their game.

The first step in the process is for readers to submit their nominations. From the list of nominees, the Streaming Media magazine editors will narrow it down to the final Dream Team, which we’ll announce in the April/May 2009 issue of the magazine. If you want to nominate someone, please fill out the form here. Nominations must be submitted no later than February 17. Contact editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen at erics@streamingmedia.com with any questions.

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