[itvt] is pleased to announce the schedule of sessions for the sixth annual TV of Tomorrow Show (Tuesday, June 12th and Wednesday, June 13th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco). A PDF version can be downloaded here.
In addition to compelling and timely panel sessions, keynotes, firesides and workshops, TVOT 2012 will continue [itvt]'s tradition of complementing our shows with a thematically relevant art exhibit, and will also feature a cocktail reception.
Please note that:
The official Twitter hashtag of the show is #TVOT12, and the official Twitter account is @TVOTshow
We will be announcing the full schedule of sessions for TVOT 2012's WORKSHOP TRACK in an upcoming issue of the [itvt] newsletter.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR TUESDAY, JUNE 12TH
7:30-8:15AM
Forum Room and Lobby
Registration, Breakfast, Schmoozing and Networking
8:15-8:30AM
Forum Room
Welcoming Address by Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of [itvt], and Sam Pemberton, CEO of Founding Sponsor, Softel
8:30-9:00AM
Forum Room
Fireside Keynote: Tony Werner, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Comcast, in Conversation with [itvt] Editor-in-Chief, Tracy Swedlow
9:00-9:25AM
Forum Room
Fireside Keynote: PayPal and Tcommerce
Founded in 1998, and purchased by eBay in 2002, PayPal has grown into a global commerce platform, maintaining an active user base of 110 million in 190 markets, and supporting 25 currencies around the world.
In conversation with [itvt] Editor-in-Chief, Tracy Swedlow, Scott Dunlap, VP of Emerging Opportunities/New Ventures at PayPal, and also a long-time Silicon Valley veteran, will cast light on topics ranging from PayPal's interest in television as the next mainstream channel of commerce, to Silicon Valley lessons learned (both good and bad) that can be applied to the emerging world of tcommerce.
9:25-10:20AM
Forum Room
Tcommerce: How Close to Critical Mass?
The success that has already been enjoyed by several pioneering tcommerce applications in the US, coupled with increased investments, activities and commitments by traditional and new interactive TV players, may be a sign that the market is close to the critical mass needed to generate sustainable and growing revenue from tcommerce.
This session, moderated by longtime interactive TV product and technology strategist, Arthur Orduna, will focus on recent significant tcommerce issues and developments; review the current and planned slate of tcommerce products and services from major players in the television space and beyond; and attempt to predict the ways in which the tcommerce marketplace is likely to evolve over the coming months. Panelists include:
Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO, Delivery Agent
Patrick Gates, President, icueTV/DropWallet
Arthur Orduna (Moderator)
Mark Wenger, Director of Connected Devices and Interactive TV, PayPal
9:25-10:20AM
Screening Room
Content and Rights at the Center of the Second-Screen Experience: Who Owns What?
Emerging technologies have allowed mobile/OTT companies to create new TV-centric user experiences and thereby generate revenue. Yet in order to create these "second-screen" experiences, these companies leverage programming and other content that has not been directly licensed.
This panel will attempt to untangle the interlocking creative, business, legal and technical issues at the core of the evolution of new second-screen businesses. Questions to be addressed include: Do traditional ownership rights for static content extend to the synched world? Who owns the rights to trigger interactive experiences off the broadcast signal? Are second-screen app and service providers free to pull and repurpose social-media/user-generated content from sources such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and GetGlue? Howard Stern, for example, live-tweeted an airing of the movie, "Private Parts," a little over a year ago--do second-screen app publishers now have the right to repost those tweets in sync with subsequent airings of the film? Panelists include:
Calvin Carter, President, Bottle Rocket Apps
Channing Dawson, Senior Advisor, Scripps Networks
Scott Maddux (Moderator)
Ashwin Navin, Flingo, CEO/Founder
Craig Palmer, CEO, Wikia
Zane Vella, CEO, Watchwith
10:20-10:35AM
Schmoozing and Networking Break
10:35-11:05AM
Forum Room
Special Presentation: The Anatomy of a Companion App
Rebecca Rusk Lim, VP of Interactive Experience, Audience & Multiplatform Technologies, at Turner Broadcasting, will provide an in-depth overview of the creative lifecycle of several recently launched entertainment-companion applications. The focus will be on user-centered design to create value for viewers while they interact with the apps before, during and after the show. The presentation will highlight how to find the right balance while the viewer is on two screens at once and how to enhance the entertainment experience, and will review fundamental building blocks for the best interaction. Rusk Lim will also share some real-life examples of usability best practices.
10:35-11:05AM
Screening Room
Interactive TV: What Works? What Doesn't? And Why?
Dr. Duane Varan, Chief Research Officer and Executive Director of the Disney Media & Advertising Lab, and Professor and Executive Director of the Audience Research Labs at Murdoch University, will share insights from the $7 million (and counting) Beyond Thirty Seconds research project, which has conducted over 10,000 lab-based studies exploring the changing media landscape.
Among other things, Varan's presentation will identify factors that contribute to successful interactive TV campaigns, expose tactics that fail, and help explain why these differences appear. The presentation will address such questions as: Are interactive ads superior to linear ads? And if so, why? What interactive ad models work best? What creative execution factors are most (and least) effective on interactive TV platforms? What frequency is optimal for interactive TV campaigns? Is addressability more efficient, effective, or both? And how can these insights be applied to other new media platforms?
The presentation will conclude with strategic insights to guide future interactive campaigns.
11:05AM-12:00PM
Forum Room
Roundtable: Network Digital Chiefs
This roundtable session will bring together executives who are in charge of envisioning and implementing digital media strategy at some of the most innovative cable networks in the US.
The panelists will share their insights into the advanced/interactive TV space (evaluating both how things stand today and how they are likely to unfold over the coming months and years), discuss the strategies they have been pursuing and the challenges and opportunities to which those strategies have given rise, and assess the significance--and weigh the pros and cons to their businesses--of such emerging media and technologies as social TV, second-screen applications, tcommerce, automatic content recognition, TV gamification, connected-TV apps, cross-platform storytelling, and more. Panelists include:
Craig Engler, SVP and GM, Syfy Digital
Lisa Hsia, EVP of Bravo Digital Media
Brian Seth Hurst, CEO, The Opportunity Management Company (Moderator)
Guhan Selvaretnam, SVP of Digital Media, Discovery Digital Media
Evan Silverman, SVP of Digital Media, A+E Networks
11:05AM-12:00PM
Screening Room
Sports and the TV of Tomorrow
This session will explore how various emerging technologies and media--including second-screen apps, connected-TV distribution, social viewing and sharing, advanced graphics systems and more--will change television coverage of sports, as well as the monetization of that coverage.
In addition, the panel will attempt to identify new opportunities that are opening up to technology companies, broadcasters, advertisers and other stakeholders as a result of these changes; outline the challenges involved in bringing interactivity and social TV to live sportscasts; explore how new platforms are enabling previously niche sports to reach a broader audience; and outline new challenges that broadcasters and sports leagues face as viewers increasingly come to expect a sports-television experience that is enhanced, interactive, social and data-rich. Panelists include:
Ian Aaron, CEO, ConnecTV
Christine Anderson, Director of User Experience, Sportvision
Juan Delgado, Managing Director, Americas, Perform Group
Paul Glomski, CEO, Detroit Labs ("Chevy Game Time")
Kelly Moulton, VP, North America, never.no
Pete Scott, VP of Emerging Media, Turner Sports (Moderator)
11:05AM-12:00PM
YAAW Room
Workshop: Screens, Platforms, Devices: Trends in Content Consumption and Audience Engagement--An Introduction to the Work of ACB's 1-3-9 Media Lab
Sarah Pearson, Managing Partner of UK-based research firm, Actual Customer Behaviour (ACB), will provide an overview of that company's 1-3-9 Media Lab, which for the past six years has been conducting a major longitudinal study of viewing behavior, and whose work has been the subject of articles in such publications as The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Economist.
ACB designed the 1-3-9 Media Lab to study how audiences engage with screens both in and out of the home. The name "1-3-9" refers to the distance of the viewer from the different screens: the 1-foot screen (the mobile or tablet), the 3-foot screen (the laptop or PC), and the 9-foot screen (the television set). The lab employs unobtrusive recording equipment that enables simultaneous capture of the content being viewed on the screen and of the behavior that is taking place in front of the screen. The lab has also pioneered new techniques for mobile and tablet capture via the use of software that takes continuous screen shots from those devices, and that thereby enables its clients to see what content is being viewed on mobile devices both in and out of the home.
Research initiatives conducted by the 1-3-9 Media Lab include studies of the impact of the DVR on engagement and ad viewing; of the impact of VOD on viewing behavior on the 3-foot screen; and of the influence of gaming devices and VOD on the 9-foot screen in households both with and without a DVR. The latest phase of its research, which was recently presented at the BBC Council Chambers, centers on analysis of the impact of connected TV's and tablets on viewing behavior, including how viewers explore new ways to watch VOD, as well as analysis of social networking on the TV and on the move.
12:00-1:00PM
Lunch, Schmoozing and Networking
1:00-1:30PM
Forum Room
Special Presentation: Anthropomorphism in the Television Interface
With Siri rumored to be coming to television, the TV interface could be set to evolve in a new direction. Of course, casting systems as characters and "humanizing" them hasn't always worked (remember Clippy?). Yet science fiction has been a domain where such ideas can be created and developed without the same level of investment and risk as is required in commercial development environments.
Having conducted an investigation of the relationship between science fiction and interaction design that has lasted more than five years, high-profile designer Nathan Shedroff, Chair of the Strategy in Design MBA Program at the California College of the Arts, will share insights into this possible next frontier for television.
1:30-2:00PM
Forum Room
Special Presentation: Who Owns the New Screen Experiences?
TV and other entertainment screens define three "spaces" that designers must take into account: Surface Space (the physical presence of the screen itself as an object in the world), Content Space (the real or imaginary world that is represented via the screen), and Interaction Space (the relationship between the viewer and the screen).
Four-time Emmy Award-winning interactive TV designer, Dale Herigstad, Chief Interaction Officer at Possible Worldwide, will cast light on how designers of television experiences conceive of these three spaces and their inter-relationships; and will explain how traditional notions of design are being challenged by new interactive TV technologies that have empowered the viewer and made the Interaction Space much more dynamic, complex and unruly than before. How do designers create television experiences in an era when viewers have taken control of the Interaction Space?
1:00-2:00PM
Screening Room
Connected-TV Advertising in Context
This session will examine the current state of the still-nascent connected-TV advertising space, and attempt to ascertain the role connected-TV advertising needs to play in the emerging multiplatform IP-connected advertising ecosystem--as well as in the broader TV advertising ecosystem in general.
Panelists will explore such questions as: What technological challenges have emerged from early-stage deployments of connected-TV advertising, and how are these challenges being addressed? What kinds of connected-TV advertising formats and campaigns have proved most effective to date and why? How should advertisers and agencies go about planning TV ad campaigns across connected TV and other IP-connected platforms, and what role should each of these connected touchpoints play in those campaigns? How well is the media-buying process for TV advertising across IP-connected platforms working? In what ways should the advertising industry conceive of advertising on IP-connected platforms differently--should it attempt to replicate traditional industry models such as the Upfronts? In what ways are viewers interacting with advertising on connected TV and other IP-connected platforms, and what kinds of data are being generated as a result of these interactions? And how should we expect the relationship between content and advertising on IP-connected platforms to evolve going forward? Panelists include:
Frank Barbieri, SVP of Emerging Platforms, YuMe
Bismarck Lepe, President of Product Strategy, Ooyala
Jeff Siegel, SVP of Global Media Sales, Rovi
Ashley Still, Director of Product Management, Video Solutions, Adobe Systems
Zach Weiner, President, North America, Connected TV Marketing Association (Moderator)
Wendell Wenjen, Director of Strategic Alliances, LG Electronics
2:00-3:00PM
Forum Room
Roundtable: Interactive TV Design
This session will bring together some of the world's most respected designers of television user interfaces and interactive TV applications--by our calculations, the panelists have at least seven Emmys between them. In addition, it will feature the perspective of a prominent broadcast executive with extensive experience in implementing designs for cross-platform interactive TV experiences.
Among other things, the panelists will showcase innovative designs that they have developed themselves over the past year; identify recent projects from other designers that they feel will have a significant influence on the future of ITV design; discuss the ways in which TV designers are responding to various emerging technologies and media, such as HTML5, multiscreen video, broadcast-synchronized second-screen content, social TV, gestural control, multi-touch, 3D and more; and elucidate the thought processes and intellectual experimentation that underlie a successful interactive TV design. Panelists include:
Dale Herigstad, Chief Interaction Officer, Possible Worldwide
Olivier Lacour, VP of Design, NDS
Jason Meil, Principal, Method (Moderator)
Chris Noessel, Managing Director and Practice Lead, Interaction Design, at Cooper
Dewey Reid, VP of Design, Yahoo!
2:00-3:00PM
Screening Room
The State of the Streaming Nation: OTT, "TV Everywhere" and Beyond
This session, moderated by a journalist who has specialized in covering the Internet video space since its inception, will explore some of the most pressing issues that have come into play as a result of 1) the rise of streaming video services and 2) the pay-TV industry's attempt to head off the competitive threat posed by those services via its "TV Everywhere" distribution model.
Panelists will explore such questions as: How is streaming video's technological infrastructure evolving to accommodate its increasing ubiquity--for example, what new technologies are becoming available to enable distribution of high-quality video to multiple platforms, to save bandwidth, and to facilitate authentication for "TV Everywhere"? How will the streaming video space be impacted by bandwidth caps and usage-based broadband pricing? How will the outcome of the Net Neutrality debate affect the streaming video space? What are the implications of "TV Everywhere" for the advertising industry? Do recent developments, such as Turner Sports' and NBC Sports' decisions to restrict their online coverage of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship ("March Madness") and the 2012 Olympics respectively to authenticated pay-TV subscribers--as well as rumors that Hulu plans to adopt the "TV Everywhere" model--bode poorly for the future of free streaming video? And what are the implications of, and the prospects for, upstart services that plan to distribute network programming and pay-TV bundles over-the-top--in some cases without the buy-in of the providers of that content? Panelists include:
J.T. Batson, Chief Strategy Officer, Mediaocean
Michael Bishara, GM of TV Everywhere, Synacor
Louis Borrelli, CMO, NimbleTV
Blair Day, VP of Strategy, MySpace
John Gildred, CTO, SyncTV
Ryan Lawler, TechCrunch (Moderator)
Gabe Sauerhoff, VP of Digital Distribution and Partnerships, Discovery Communications
2:00-3:00PM
YAAW Room
Workshop: How CBC, MTV3 Finland and QVC Are Working with never.no To Fuse Social with Live Broadcast Programming
This workshop/case-study panel session will explore how CBC, MTV3 Finland and QVC are using never.no's social-TV and second-screen technologies both to incorporate curated social media into live broadcasts, and to extend the reach and scope of those broadcasts across social-networking services and other digital platforms.
Topics to be addressed include: How these broadcasters have integrated production processes into the broadcast workflow that allow them to enhance their live programming with real-time viewer participation via Twitter, Facebook and other social-networking platforms, while simultaneously enabling them to populate second screens (including Facebook, Twitter, the Web, the mobile Web and native apps) with broadcast-synchronized content. How the technologies that underlie these processes interface and communicate with these broadcasters' existing graphics systems and other broadcast infrastructure, as well as with such third-party technologies as geolocation systems. How these broadcasters are monetizing their new-found ability to enhance and extend their live broadcasts. And how they plan to use this ability to incorporate social media and second-screen experiences into live programming in order to spur the development of new programming formats. Panelists include:
David Jorba, SVP of Vizrt Americas Operations, Vizrt
Jaron Milner, VP/Head of Interactive, MTV3 Finland
Kelly Moulton, VP, North America, never.no
3:00-3:15PM
Schmoozing and Networking Break
3:15-4:10PM
Forum Room
ACR in Smart TV's: Birth of a New Medium?
Smart TV's, as smart as they are, are basically blind. While they do a fine job of running a Hulu widget, streaming live video or supporting video conferencing, until now they have not been able to apply their
smarts to live TV viewing--i.e. the main thing people still use TV's for.
Automatic content recognition (ACR) in smart TV's has the potential to change that. ACR identifies live content displaying on a TV and produces a cloud-based API that application developers can use to enhance content and advertising or to introduce synchronous, relevant social media. In a broader sense, ACR could bring about fundamental change--by transforming the television experience from one of watching video into a new medium that is cloud-enabled, targetable, intelligent and actionable.
This session, which brings together platform providers, broadcasters and advertising professionals, will discuss the implications of the incorporation of ACR technology into smart TV's, and explore the ways in which it may eventually transform multiple aspects of the TV industry. Panelists include:
Michael Collette, Managing Director, MediaTech Strategies (Moderator)
Matthew Giles, Director of Emerging Ad Technologies, Turner Broadcasting
Chris Falkner, VP of Advanced Advertising Technology and Operations, NBCU
David Preisman, VP of Interactive TV, Showtime Networks
Russ Schafer, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing, Yahoo!
Ashley Swartz, Principal, Furious Minds
Wendell Wenjen, Director of Strategic Alliances, LG Electronics
3:15-4:10PM
Screening Room
Investors and Investees: Capital and Advanced TV
This session will provide an overview of the current state of investment in the interactive/multiplatform/social-TV space, including angel investment, venture capital, corporate investment and corporate mergers and acquisitions. Panelists will address such questions as: Which areas of the advanced-television industry are currently most attractive to investors, and why? Which areas are likely to become "hot" in the coming months, and which areas are poised to lose favor among investors? And to what extent is investment--rather than actual performance in the marketplace--shaping media and public perceptions of the advanced-TV industry?
The session will also offer practical wisdom: the panel will feature investors and the companies they have invested in discussing the investor-investee relationship--addressing such questions as when to seek investment and when to bootstrap; how to determine and target the kind of investment one's company needs; best practices for structuring investment deals; and more. Panelists include:
Jeff Allen, SVP of Corporate Development, KIT Digital
Dean Denhart, CEO, BlackArrow
Tim Hanlon, CEO, The Vertere Group (Moderator)
Peter Low, CEO, Ensequence
Ashwin Navin, CEO, Flingo
Anne-Marie Roussel, Head of Strategic Investments and Partnerships, Social Media, Sharp Labs
Dan Suratt, EVP of Digital Media and Business Development, A+E Networks
3:15-4:10PM
YAAW Room
Workshop: Introduction to UK Trade & Investment
This workshop/panel-discussion session, organized by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI)--a UK government department that is tasked with helping UK companies achieve success in international markets and with encouraging overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice--will use real-world case studies to explore the various strategies US companies can adopt in order to penetrate global markets and will attempt to answer the question: In the digital age, do you even need a global footprint to be a global company?
Topics to be addressed include: Different approaches for entering global markets, including organic growth, via acquisition, or without a physical footprint (i.e. by using a distributor network or functioning as an online-only play); the regulatory environment and market conditions; the readiness of the infrastructure; and audience perceptions. Panelists include:
Suranga Chandratillake, CEO, Blinkx
Carl Dempsey, President and CEO, Wohler Technologies
Arthine Cossey van Duyne, Vice Consul, Creative and Digital Media, UK Trade & Investment
Cody Larson, Vice Consul, Telecom and Communications, UK Trade & Investment
Edward Lee, VP of Content Acquisition, Roku
Sarah Pearson, Managing Partner, Actual Customer Behaviour
Derek Powell, SVP of Strategic Planning and Development, Sony DADC
4:10-5:05PM
Forum Room
The Year of ACR
As any reader of the [itvt] newsletter will be aware, the past year has seen an explosion in the use of automatic content recognition (ACR) technology to trigger broadcast-synchronized second-screen interactive TV experiences, including both program enhancements and interactive advertisements.
This session will feature representatives of some of the leading companies in the ACR space, as well as representatives of companies in the metadata and ITV fields that have embraced ACR technology. Panelists will, among other things, discuss the lessons that have been learned from recent real-world ACR deployments, outline the challenges still inherent in using ACR to power interactive TV and how those challenges can be overcome, assess how ACR will fare against competing approaches that use the cloud and broadcasters' and pay-TV operators' technology infrastructures to trigger interactive experiences, ascertain the extent to which there is a need for standards for ACR-powered interactive TV, and share their thoughts on how they believe the ACR space will evolve over the coming months. Panelists include:
Dan Eakins, CEO, Zeitera
Tracy Geist, VP of Business Development, Civolution
Vance Ikezoye, President and CEO, Audible Magic
Aslam Khader, CTO and CPO, Ensequence
Tom Morgan, CEO, Net2.tv (Moderator)
Scott Rosenberg, CEO, Umami
Ajay Shah, CEO, TVplus
Stephen White, President, Gracenote
4:10-5:05PM
Screening Room
Social Media Changing the Nature of Programming
While the past year has seen significant media coverage of the ways in which social media are changing how programming is promoted, distributed and consumed, a related phenomenon has received less attention: the fact that social media are actually starting to change the nature of programming itself.
This phenomenon is manifesting itself in, for example, online programs that draw on the viewer's social graph in order to present them with a personalized viewing experience featuring themselves and their friends; reality and game shows that integrate a second-screen experience as a fundamental element of the show's format; the use of social storytelling as a means to extend both a program's reach and its scope; the emergence of projects that attempt to crowdsource the entire production process; the incorporation of curated social media into live broadcasts; and the launch of a cable network that aims to be "both a social network and a television network" and to reflect this in its programming.
This session, whose panel features some of the companies and creatives most responsible for this phenomenon, will showcase some key examples of social media-driven programming, examine how viewers are responding to this new medium, and attempt to assess how widespread an impact social media are likely to have on programming formats going forward. Panelists include:
Jay Bushman, Director of Social Media, Fourth Wall Studios
Tracy Evans, COO, Theatrics.com
Louis Massicotte, Founder, Likers.tv
Mike Monello, Chief Creative Officer, Campfire
Shawn Patrick, CMO, Yap.tv
Wes Williams, Director of Product Management, Scripps Networks Interactive (Moderator)
Chris Wyatt, CEO, Youtoo
5:05-6:00PM
Forum Room
The Great Debate: Single- vs. Dual-Screen ITV
In this year of non-stop political discourse, TVOT sets the stage for a friendly debate between two parties not often covered by the major news networks: champions for single-screen in-program and in-ad interactivity (EBIF and smart TV) and champions for dual-screen in-program and in-ad interactivity (tablets, mobiles and laptops).
The single-screen party has recently been on the defensive against an onslaught of dual-screen campaigns (funded by a variety of sources), but has charged back with some innovative applications while benefiting from connected-TV buzz at CES.
The debate, which will also include the views of a third party, will be divided into four hot topics. For each, our panelists will put forward their strongest arguments--illustrated by ITV campaign examples and statistics--respond to opposition points, and address questions posed by the moderator and audience. Here's your chance to get heard and make your opinion and your vote count!
The four topics:
Swing Viewers: Viewers vote every time they tune in, change the channel or pick up a second-screen device. What winning strategies garner the most viewer votes and why?
Technological Edge: In the short term, dual screens have the momentum, given lower costs and speed-to-market. What do single-screen advocates have to say about that and their own potential shift to template strategies?
A Strong Economy: To paraphrase a former president, "It's the business plan, stupid." The parties will argue the cost/benefit merits of their interactive strategies for both programmers and advertisers and why their approach is best for the overall ITV economy.
Future Vision: What's each party's vision for the future? Come the next election cycle, what will the ITV landscape look like? What new strengths will each party incorporate into their platforms?
At the debate's conclusion, we'll take a straw poll on which party earned your vote. Panelists include:
Channing Dawson, Senior Advisor, Scripps Networks (The Single-Screen Party)
Lisa Farris, CEO, Get This (The Dual-Screen Party)
Debbie Fitzgerald, Principal Architect, CableLabs (The Single-Screen Party)
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce (Moderator)
Sam Pemberton, CEO, Softel (The Hybrid Party)
Pete Scott, VP of Emerging Media, Turner Sports (The Dual-Screen Party)
Anne-Marie Roussel, Head of Strategic Investments and Partnerships, Social Media, Sharp Labs (Third Party)
Zane Vella, CEO, Watchwith (In Audience Agent Provacateur)
Agents Provocateurs:
Zane Vella, CEO, Watchwith
Mike Kelley, SVP of Business Development, Programming & Advertising, Ensequence
5:05-6:00PM
Screening Room
Upstart Programmers and their Implications for the Television Establishment
Online video programmers are now generating very substantial audiences: Revision3, for example, is attracting over 23 million unique viewers per month; Fishbowl Worldwide Media's interactive series, "CuteWinFail," alone is attracting an average of 1.2 million views per episode; and Big Frame Productions' YouTube viral video star, MysteryGuitarMan (a.k.a. Joe Penna), has well over 2 million subscribers for his Annotations-powered interactive videos, each of which garners several million views.
The increasingly popularity of these upstart programmers, and their ability to establish a strong relationship with their audiences, despite their relatively small production and marketing budgets, has not gone unnoticed by established players in the TV space--as has been evidenced in the past few weeks by Discovery Communications' multi-million-dollar acquisition of Revision3 and Turner Broadcasting's decision to acquire an equity stake in online comedy programmer, Funny or Die.
This session, moderated by a high-profile television executive and producer who was one of the first established Hollywood players to make the crossover into online video programming and who now heads the digital media
division of a major Hollywood talent agency, will attempt to identify the factors that are fueling the growing popularity of that programming, outline the opportunities and challenges that have opened up for upstart programmers in an increasingly multiplatform and connected TV ecosystem, examine how these programmers are using interactivity and social viewing to engage and build audiences, and explore the implications of their emergence for established players in the broadcast, smart-TV, pay-TV and advertising spaces. Panelists include:
Eric Day, Co-Founder, Trium Entertainment
Bruce Gersh, President and CEO, FishBowl Worldwide Media
Jim Louderback, CEO, Revision3
Joe Penna, MysteryGuitarMan
Sarah Penna, Principal, Big Frame Productions
Amanda Taylor, Founder, DanceOn
David Tochterman, Head of Digital Media, Innovative Artists (Moderator)
6:00-7:30PM
Cocktail Reception, Sponsored by PayPal
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13TH
7:30-8:15AM
Forum Room and Lobby
Registration, Breakfast, Schmoozing and Networking
8:15-8:30AM
Forum Room
Welcoming Address by [itvt]
8:30-9:00AM
Forum Room
Special Presentation: The Future of TV Is Streaming
Roku founder and CEO, Anthony Wood, will share his thoughts on why streaming video/OTT will take center stage as TV embarks on one of its biggest transitions to date. Among other things, he will discuss how important a role devices (smart TV's, game consoles, set-tops, DVR's and Blu-ray players) will play in the future of streaming video; why he believes that the "TV Everywhere"/authenticated-access model will become increasingly prevalent; and why cable operators will open up their platforms and embrace streaming to create the "open" cable box.
8:30-9:00AM
Screening Room
Fireside: The Evolution of Viewing Behavior in the Age of Multiscreen TV
In conversation with Allison Dollar, CEO of the Interactive Television Alliance, Sarah Pearson, Managing Partner of UK research firm, Actual Customer Behavior (ACB), and Shawn Dubravac, Chief Economist and Director of Research at the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), will discuss new findings on how viewing behavior is changing as television becomes a multiscreen medium.
Pearson, whose work has been covered in The Economist, The Financial Times and The Guardian, will draw on research conducted at ACB's 1-3-9 Longitudinal Media Lab. The Lab, whose clients include Microsoft and the BBC, studies how audiences engage with screens both in and out of the home, and uses unobtrusive recording equipment in order to simultaneously capture the content being viewed on the screen as well as the behavior that is taking place in front of the screen.
Dubravac will draw on the CEA's newly published research study, "The Evolving Video Landscape," which surveyed over 1,000 US adults between February 22nd and March 2nd, 2012, and which found, among other things, that younger consumers are defining new viewing behaviors as they watch video content across multiple platforms, on their own schedule, all while interacting socially on their devices with their friends.
9:00-9:30AM
Forum Room
Special Presentation: Avoiding the App Graveyard
What happens to your apps when the season ends? For consumers, it's an iPhone desktop littered with non-functional, unused apps. For TV networks, some of which have upwards of 200 show-specific apps that need constant love and maintenance, it's a major headache. Welcome to the App Graveyard.
As the second screen takes off, broadcasters are creating a myriad of apps and enhancements for their programming. Dot-com start-ups create apps aimed at specific market segments--sports, movies, etc. And everyone has a different take on acquiring users: give them stickers, give them discounts, give them points.
A world where you need to download a new app every time you switch TV channels isn't viable for either consumers or media companies.
So, what's the answer?
Anthony Rose, co-founder and CTO of high-profile UK-based second-screen company, zeebox, will share his thoughts about how consumers, TV networks, advertisers and talent have an unparalleled opportunity to
harness the power of the second screen in ways that change the rules and improve the dynamics for the entire industry.
9:00-9:30AM
Screening Room
Fireside: The Emergence of the Storyworld
Traditionally, stories--regardless of the medium in which they are told (epic poems, plays, novels, films, TV series)-- have been linear. Yet new technologies--and audiences' growing comfort with and embrace of interactivity--have given rise to a new, non-linear, "pervasive" form of story, which because it unfolds on multiple platforms and in multiple dimensions around its audience, and because it allows that audience to interact with it and extend it at will, is best understood as a storyworld.
In conversation with [itvt] Editor-in-Chief, Tracy Swedlow, Brian Seth Hurst, CEO of The Opportunity Management Company, and author of the [itvt] column, StoryCentered, will explain the implications of the emergence of the storyworld for storytellers, producers, distributors, audiences, brands and other players in the television industry. Issues to be addressed include: whether and how storytellers can maintain a consistent creative vision, when the distinction between storyteller and audience is collapsing and audiences are extending stories on their own; the ways in which new technologies, new business models and new alliances are catalyzing the emergence of storyworlds; how the lines between stories and games are blurring; how the storyworld phenomenon is allowing storytellers to build their own relationships with their audiences, and thus making them less willing to cede the rights to their storyworlds to producers and networks; and the challenges and opportunities that storyworlds are presenting to traditional television players, such as broadcasters, producers and advertisers.
9:30-10:30AM
Forum Room
Measuring the Signal-to-Noise Ratio of the TV of Tomorrow
This session brings together a panel of industry leaders who will attempt to unpeel the layers of media-hype, marketing-speak and technological obfuscation that inevitably surround any emerging industry, and present a clear vision of the current state of advanced television and its future trajectory.
Among other things, the panelists will debate which of the new technologies, platforms and other phenomena that have received extensive media coverage over the past year--such as social TV, the second-screen, automatic content recognition (ACR), gesture- and voice-control, connected TV, cord-cutting and more--are truly significant and which, if any, are mere flashes in the pan. Conversely, they will also identify new technologies and developments from the past year that have received little or no media attention, but that are likely to have a major impact on the future of television. In addition, they will share their own visions of advanced TV's near- and long-term future, and attempt to answer the question: What will we be talking about at TVOT SF next year? Panelists include:
Leslie Ellis, Principal, Translation Please
Seth Haberman, President and CEO, Visible World
Brad Pelo, CEO, i.TV
Sam Pemberton, CEO, Softel
Jeremy Toeman, CEO, Dijit Media (Moderator)
9:30-10:30AM
Screening Room
Good Wayfinding: Programming Discovery and Recommendations
This session will attempt to map the inter-relationships between the various elements, such as software algorithms, metadata and information architecture, that make for efficient programming discovery and accurate programming recommendations--and that thus allow viewers to find their way through the ever-increasing amount of TV programming and other video content now available to them.
Panelists will explore such issues as: the relationship of algorithmic-based and social search in the TV space; using closed captioning to facilitate programming discovery; privacy issues surrounding personalized recommendations; best practices for presenting search results and recommendations to the end-user; the business implications of improved programming and recommendations technologies; and the current and future impact of these technologies on the user interface and user experience of television. Panelists include:
Sefy Ariely, VP of Sales and Marketing, Orca Interactive
Eoin Dowling, CEO, Boxfish
Richard Dowling, VP of Product Services, ThinkAnalytics
Yosi Glick, CEO, Jinni
Gerard Kunkel, Media Strategy Advisor, Microsoft (Moderator)
Alex Vikati, Executive Director of Product Strategy and Innovation, Tribune Media Services/CastTV
John Zelenka, EVP of Revenue, Digitalsmiths
10:30-10:45AM
Schmoozing and Networking Break
10:45-11:55AM
Forum Room
Natural User Interfaces and their Impact on the Television Experience
This session will showcase some of the newest and most interesting developments in "natural user interfaces" (defined by Wikipedia as "a user interface that is 1) effectively invisible, or becomes invisible with successive learned interactions, to its users, and 2) is based on nature or natural elements") for television and other connected devices. Platforms on display will include gesture- and voice-control technologies that are already enjoying significant success in the marketplace, as well as a newly launched technology that combines gesture- and multi-touch control, and a new platform that enables viewers' to personalize entertainment experiences via conscious and emotional choices.
The panel will also explore how natural user interfaces are being used to enable new forms of advertising and programming, and to facilitate content discovery and cross-platform entertainment experiences. Panelists include:
Glen Anderson, Human Factors Engineer, Intel
Michael Buckwald, CEO, Leap Motion
Yosi Glick, CEO, Jinni
Gawain Morrison, CEO, Filmtrip
Lori Schwartz, Tech Catalyst and Principal, World of Schwartz/Co-Governor of the Interactive Media Peer Group, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Moderator)
Mike Seamons, Executive Producer, Microsoft Studios
Yaniv Vakrat, EVP of Worldwide Business Development and Americas Sales, PrimeSense
10:45-11:55AM
Screening Room
Realizing VOD's Potential
According to a recent report from analyst firm TDG, because advertising-supported video-on-demand is not living up to its full potential, pay-TV operators' VOD services--despite offering a broad range of high-quality content--currently account for only 1% of all US TV viewing. Moreover, in the fourth quarter of 2011, the report claims, Netflix subscribers in the US watched 80% more streaming video hours that were viewed in the same period on all US pay-TV VOD platforms combined.
This session, which brings together the author of that report and representatives from a number of companies and organizations that are bringing fresh approaches to the VOD space, will explore a range of new technologies and strategies to help operators realize the potential of ad-supported VOD, including dynamic ad insertion, more accurate recommendations platforms, better measurement techniques, improved navigational interfaces, and more. Panelists include:
Steve Davi, CTO, SeaChange International
Bill Niemeyer, Senior Analyst, TDG (Author of "Making Ad-Supported VOD Work")
Chris Pizzurro, GM of VOD Advertising, Canoe Ventures (Moderator)
Sue Ryan, VP of Product Management, Rentrak
Nick Troiano, President, BlackArrow
Paul Woidke, SVP, Strategy, Advanced Advertising, Nagra-OpenTV, and Chairman of the SCTE's DVS/Working Group 5
10:45-11:55AM
YAAW Room
Workshop: Seminar on Content Discovery, Led by Dr. Ofer Weintraub, CTO of Orca Interactive
This seminar--led by Orca Interactive CTO, Dr. Ofer Weintraub--will begin with a general introduction to the field of content discovery, exploring among other things the various different approaches to content discovery, and the ways in which the efficacy and value of content-discovery systems are typically measured.
Weintraub will then elaborate on some of the lessons learned from Orca's deployment of a content-discovery system at Orange France and from extensive testing that has been conducted with consumers in the US, France, Israel and India. The workshop will provide insights into the nature of a dynamic content-discovery system, and explain why even the most effective content-discovery systems require ongoing tuning and other improvements based on algorithms, psychology and art.
11:55AM-12:55PM
Lunch, Schmoozing and Networking
12:55-1:55PM
Forum Room
Can the Second Screen Make a Buck?
Although it asks a very serious question for the interactive TV industry, we expect this panel--moderated by "The iTV Doctor," Cable-Hall-of-Famer, Rick Howe--to be a lot of fun. Here's the good doctor's description (assuming that we are reading his notoriously illegible doctorly handwriting correctly): "The panel will feature the heavy hitters in the space: Chris Stephenson from Viggle, Cameron Johnson from IntoNow, David Jones from Shazam, Jason Forbes from zeebox, and Somrat Niyogi from Miso. We'll have guest appearances from Ashley Swartz of Furious Minds, representing the ad agency side of the equation (they are, after all, the gatekeepers of ad revenue), and Jonathan Bokor, as 'The Voice of Reason.' Jonathan will be equipped with a Chinese gong which he will bang every time he hears either fuzzy logic or outright BS from the panelists. Should be fun!" Panelists include:
Jonathan Bokor, Former GM of Interactive TV at Canoe Ventures
Jason Forbes, EVP and GM, zeebox USA
Marc Hosein, Director, Watch With eBay
Rick Howe, The iTV Doctor (Moderator)
Cameron Johnson, Director of Product Management, IntoNow
David Jones, EVP of Marketing, Shazam
Somrat Niyogi, CEO, Miso
Chris Stephenson, President, Viggle
Ashley Swartz, Principal, Furious Minds
12:55-1:55PM
Screening Room
Cable's Technology Roadmap: Strategies for Embracing Change
Following on the heels of the Cable Show, this session will explore in more depth key themes that emerged at that event, and attempt to chart the course that the cable industry must take in the coming months and years in order to realize the full potential of its technology infrastructure and address the challenges and opportunities presented to it by a rapidly evolving TV ecosystem.
Questions to be addressed include: Is the movement to embrace multiscreen and connected devices positive for the cable business? How will the effort to embrace cloud services and IP distribution affect the industry and its customers? What is the current status of cable's efforts to implement TV personalization? What role will cable-specific technologies such as EBIF and tru2way play as cable embraces IP, connected devices and the second screen? Which technologies are currently overlooked, but will have a surprisingly significant impact on cable's future? Is the cable industry innovating fast enough? And how can cable most effectively foster a broad-based, flexible and innovative development environment? Panelists include:
Don Dulchinos, SVP of Advanced Platforms and Services, CableLabs
Adrian Fowkes, CTO of the Americas Division, Strategy & Technology
Craig Leddy, Principal, Interactive TV Works (Moderator)
Jeff Miller, President and CEO, ActiveVideo Networks
Frank Sandoval, Platform Architect, Comcast
Charles Stucki, VP and GM of IP Video Systems, Cisco
1:55-2:55PM
Forum Room
The Connected-TV Application Ecosystem and its Possibilities
This session will explore the current state of--and the future possibilities for--the connected-TV application ecosystem, at what appears to be a crucial juncture in its evolution: a time when TV apps are increasingly enabling experiences across platforms and thereby bringing about the convergence of the first and second (mobiles, tablets, laptops) screens.
Questions to be addressed include: Are outdated PC/desktop models still shaping our conceptions of what a connected-TV application should be, and, if so, how can we conceive of connected-TV apps as a medium in their own right? How is HTML5 allowing app developers to come up with new conceptions of TV apps' functionality and scope? What design principles need to govern the development of cross-platform TV apps that successfully engage users? Why have connected-TV platforms become such a focus for casual games developers, and how might broadcasters and networks take advantage of connected-TV games to enhance their programming offerings? How robust is the connected-TV app-developer community, and what are the most effective strategies for stakeholders to adopt in order to cultivate a strong developer base? Which connected-TV apps are generating revenue and through which business models (paid? ad-supported? subscription-based? commerce-enabled?)? Is the app store model successfully translating to the connected-TV space? And which connected-TV application platform philosophy--walled or open--is most likely ultimately to prevail? Panelists include:
David Adams, VP of Corporate Development, Accedo Broadband
Michael Gregor, CTO, Velope
Tim Gulson, Head of Mobile, Connected TV and Emerging Opportunities, PayPal UK
Vikas Gupta, CEO, TransGaming
Nilo Mitra, President, Open IPTV Forum
Herb Mitschele, CEO, Shodogg
Dewey Reid, VP of Design, Yahoo! (Moderator)
Eli Weisman, VP of Interactive TV, Trailer Park
1:55-2:55PM
Screening Room
Single-Screen Interactive TV Advertising Post Canoe
Despite the decision earlier this year by Canoe Ventures and its cable parents to pull the plug on efforts to implement a national interactive TV advertising platform, single-screen ITV advertising is still enjoying success on local cable, as well as on satellite and telco platforms.
This session, moderated by the executive who led Cablevision's push into interactive TV advertising (including pioneering its successful "Power 30" spots which allow viewers to telescope from an interactive ad to long-form VOD content), will explore the current state of single-screen ITV advertising on cable and other pay-TV platforms, review real-world ITV ad campaigns in order to determine best practices and common pitfalls, identify some of the challenges still facing operators who are deploying single-screen ITV advertising, and examine the role that this form of advertising will play going forward, in an interactive TV advertising ecosystem that now also includes emerging ITV advertising formats such as second-screen and connected-TV advertising. Panelists include:
Barry Frey, Former EVP of Advanced Platform Sales, Cablevision (Moderator)
Patrick Ivers, Co-Founder, The Band
Josh Martin, SVP/Director of Client Services, ID Media
Doug McGary, CTO, Accelerated Media
Aaron McNally, Manager, TV Ads, Google
Chip Meehan, VP of Advanced Advertising Sales, Comcast Spotlight
Roland Noll, Executive Director of Product Management, AT&T U-verse
Jeff Siegel, SVP of Global Media Sales, Rovi
2:55-3:10PM
Schmoozing and Networking Break
3:10-4:10PM
Forum Room
The Top 10 Most Crucial Steps for Engaging the Social Viewer--and the Five Most Dangerous Pitfalls
This practical-wisdom session will begin by presenting a profile of the social viewer and his/her behavior, that draws on research and analysis conducted by social-TV analysis company, Trendrr. Then, a panel composed of representatives of companies with extensive track records of successfully deploying social-TV experiences for both programming and advertising will attempt to enumerate the most important steps for engaging (and thereby monetizing) the social viewer. In addition, the panelists will attempt to identify some common--though not necessarily obvious--mistakes that broadcasters and brands can make when implementing a social-TV strategy.
Guiding the discussion will be Clayton Banks of Ember Media, whose trademark "Top 10" session-format has made for very lively and interactive sessions at our two most recent TV of Tomorrow events. Topics to be addressed include: How to build awareness of the social opportunity in the first place; how to ensure that viewers' social involvement is positive for a programming or advertising brand (i.e. how to avoid the dreaded "social-media backlash"); key ways in which the social viewer differs from other viewers; techniques for transforming viewers into marketers; and more. Panelists include:
Chris Acosta, VP of Business Development, ACTV8.me
Clayton Banks, Executive Producer, Ember Media (Moderator)
Mike Folgner, CEO, SnappyTV
Harris Larney, General Manager, North America, Visiware
Andy Liu, CEO, Buddy TV
Seth Tapper, CEO, SecondScreen Networks
Jeremy Toeman, CEO, Dijit
3:10-4:10PM
Screening Room
Nifty EBIF: Cool Things You Can Do with Cable's Deployed Platform
This demo session will showcase some of the more innovative implementations of cable's Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) that are currently in the works. These implementations--some of which are being presented publicly for the first time--include a prototype augmented reality (AR) application that uses synchronized EBIF signals for context, an EBIF-based QR-code app, and more. Presenters include:
Debbie Fitzgerald, Principal Architect, Cablelabs (Moderator)
Chip Newton, Director of Business Development, Softel
Carey Sonsino, Senior Engineer, CableLabs
Todd Walker, SVP - Product Management, Comcast Cable
4:10-5:10PM
Forum Room
Closing Plenary Session: Has Interactive TV Come of Age?
Despite the cable industry's decision earlier this year to abandon its plans to launch a national interactive TV platform, there appears to be significant evidence that interactive TV and video are starting to gain broad acceptance--both among the public and among those whose job is to entertain and market to that public.
Examples of the mainstreaming of interactivity include the millions of views garnered by Annotations-powered interactive videos--including advertisements--on YouTube; the commissioning of "choose-your-own-adventure" versions of their programming brands by major broadcasters and networks such as Fox and The CW; the release of interactive music videos by such major stars as John Mayer and The Red Hot Chili Peppers; and the widespread adoption of second-screen interactive TV by broadcasters, networks and advertisers, across multiple programming genres.
Panelists in this session will assess the extent to which interactivity really is becoming mainstream, examining the significance of these and other major interactive TV and video developments over the past year or so. They will also attempt to determine how well prepared the television and advertising industries are for the mainstreaming of interactivity. Questions to be addressed include: If viewers really are starting to hunger for interactive TV and video experiences, how can broadcasters, advertisers and other interested parties take advantage of this need to interact? Are we still conceiving of interactivity as an add-on--is there some way that we should be thinking of it as more fundamentally changing programming and advertising? Are we similarly still beholden to old models of monetization, and, if so, can we conceive of new monetization models that more effectively take advantage of au