OTT QUESTION TIME LIVE 2026
Conversations with OTT Industry Leaders
27th & 28th January 2026
20 Cavendish Square, London
08:30-09:10
Vertical Content Strategies
BREAKFAST PANEL
Vertical, short-form video has become a primary driver of discovery, fandom, and creative experimentation – particularly for under-35s. Platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are reshaping how stories are structured, how audiences engage, and where attention is won or lost. From the rise of micro-dramas to scroll-native storytelling, this session explores what vertical formats reveal about pace, tone, and emotional payoff, and whether the issue for younger audiences is really attention or simply interest.
Featuring Jasmine Dawson, SVP Digital, BBC Studios; Emily Horgan, Kids YouTube & Streaming Specialist, Horgan Media; John Moulton, Global Vice President, Gracenote; Amie Parker-Williams, Director of Digital Commissioning & Production, Paramount; and Tom Smith, Co-Founder & Creative Director, FX Digital, the panel will examine audience migration, emerging commercial models, and how broadcasters and premium streamers can integrate vertical strategies without eroding long-form value or brand trust.
09:10-09:35
How Multiplatform Commissioning is Driving Growth across the BBC
FIRESIDE CHAT
In this fireside chat, Bee Cooke, Strategy Lead, BBC, together with Lydia Fairfax, Founder, Triple Crown Consulting, tells us how rather than treating audio and video as completely separate ecosystems, the BBC is designing formats and commissioning models that work across the system.
Why? Because:
- It stretches ideas further. Multi format commissions bring more opportunity to cater to different audience needs / occasions (winding down, leaning forward, watching, listening, commuting, working). Each format has its own creative freedoms and limitations, and allows the BBC to express the original editorial idea in a different way. It also helps make existing content brands stronger.
- It helps the BBC reach new audiences. Whilst over half of podcast consumers only listen to podcasts, a significant proportion only watch – especially younger audiences. To cater to these different behaviours, the BBC has to give audiences choice, and let them decide how/where/when to consume (e.g. The Wayne Rooney Show on YouTube, iPlayer and BBC Sounds).
- It helps the BBC deliver more value to existing audiences. Designing clear pathways between iPlayer, Sounds, TV and Social helps audiences move seamlessly from one content type to the other, and deepen their engagement with the BBC. In a world of cognitive overload, this can be really valuable to audiences. It helps shortcut choice by creating clear connections between content.
- Growth is a team sport. Everyone needs to work together to drive growth for the BBC (commissioning, strategy, marketing, product). The corporation has had to develop clear guardrails to make the commissioning of this type of content a success.
- Multiplatform commissioning is a dominant industry trend and it’s here to stay. Examples include Netflix and Spotify’s landmark deal in October, Gary Lineker’s deal with Netflix and The Rest is Football in December. Netflix is clearly betting on Podcasts as a way to ramp up the volume of low cost, high engagement content or ‘TV’.
09:35-10:05
The Power of Partnerships: Driving IP-only TV Growth in the UK
FIRESIDE CHAT
As the UK TV landscape evolves, collaboration is key to unlocking new opportunities. In this fireside chat, Gabriel Cosgrave, SVP Global Sales & Revenue from TiVo and Jonathan Thompson, CEO of Everyone TV, share how their partnership is taking advantage of the shift to IP-only streaming devices. Learn why working together matters, how this innovation benefits broadcasters and consumers, and what it means for the future of television in the streaming era.
Key discussion points:
- Why partnership matters: The UK free-to-air market is at a crossroads—collaboration between technology providers, device manufacturers, and broadcasters is essential to keep pace with consumer expectations.
- The strategic rationale: How combining expertise accelerates innovation and reduces fragmentation. How the IP-only approach future-proofs the viewing experience.
- Industry impact: What this move means for broadcasters, advertisers, and the wider ecosystem. How this partnership creates growth opportunities for all stakeholders.
- Lessons learned and next steps: Key insights from launching new products together. What’s next for partnerships in driving IP adoption and enhancing user experience.
10:05-10:45
The Strategists
PANEL
As the streaming market enters a more mature phase, growth in 2026 is being redefined well beyond headline scale. With most services now operating across SVOD and AVOD, success is increasingly measured through a combination of advertising yield, engagement, profitability, and brand strength. This session explores how strategy teams are recalibrating their frameworks to reflect mixed-revenue models, tighter capital discipline, and sustained pressure to deliver both short-term returns and long-term value.
The panel brings together:
- Florent Rodzko, Head of Strategy & Performance, TF1 Group
- Felix Krause, EVP Group Strategy, ProSiebenSat.1
- Matt Simpson, Managing Director, Candyspace
- Katherine Wen, Director of Strategy and Development, Sky
- and Kasia Jablonska, Director of Digital and On-Demand EMEA, BBC Studios.
Discussion will span cross-functional orchestration across content, product, technology, and commercial teams, the disciplined use of AI in forecasting and prioritisation, and where the next competitive advantages will come from — whether data, partnerships, creativity, or organisational culture.
10:45 Coffee & Networking |
11:15-11:40
Incremental vs. Transformational Growth
FIRESIDE CHAT
As AVOD platforms scale and mature, the question is no longer whether growth is possible, but what kind of growth actually matters. This fireside chat contrasts incremental progress (optimisation, partnerships, yield, and reach) with the more transformational shifts required to stand out in an increasingly crowded market. Against a backdrop of exploding content supply, from influencers and micro-dramas to generative AI, the session explores how platforms decide where to place their biggest bets.
On stage, David Salmon, EVP & Managing Director, International, Tubi, is in conversation with Kauser Kanji to share a candid update on Tubi’s trajectory, strategic priorities, and the role of fandoms in driving engagement at scale.
The discussion will also widen to the industry’s evolving relationship with YouTube, including questions of value capture and “equity degradation,” before closing with a view of what incremental versus transformational growth realistically looks like over the next 12–24 months.
11:40-12:05
Monetising on YouTube & Facebook – Mastering the Algorithm
PRESENTATION
It’s widely acknowledged that YouTube is now TV and the largest broadcaster in the US. But how can studios, broadcasters, and producers truly unlock the full potential of this powerful distribution channel?
Merzigo has been at the forefront of this evolution in the TV landscape, and its Chief Operating Officer, Ceyda Sıla Çetinkaya, will reveal how to effectively monetise on the platform, master the algorithm, and build new audiences driving increased brand awareness and unlocking new revenue streams.
Ceyda will do a 15 min presentation followed by questions from Kauser Kanji and the audience.
12:05-12:45
The Partnership Builders
PANEL
In a fragmented, capital-constrained market, partnerships have moved from optional accelerators to core growth infrastructure. Broadcasters and streamers are increasingly relying on strategic alliances – with other media owners, aggregators, telcos, device makers, and technology vendors – to extend reach, manage costs, and unlock new revenue streams.
This session explores how partnership strategies are evolving, from the practical realities of aggregator deals with platforms like Amazon, Sky, and Virgin, to the growing – and unavoidable – role of YouTube in distribution, promotion, and monetisation.
The panel features Leena Patel, Distribution & Partnerships, Channel 4; Casper Hald, Head of Strategic Distribution & Partnerships, DR; Alex Pumfrey, Director of Strategic Partnerships, ITV; Valerio Motti, Managing Director EMEA, Merzigo; and Lydia Fairfax, Founder & Managing Director, Triple Crown Consulting.
Together they will examine what makes partnerships succeed or fail – from governance, trust, and data access to aligned KPIs – alongside emerging models such as joint ad-sales, content collaboration, and hybrid SVOD-AVOD-FAST bundles, before asking whether partnership is now the default growth model for the next phase of streaming.
12:45 Lunch |
13:20-13:45
Riffs Special – “Signals”
*BONUS LUNCHTIME PODCAST*
Session synopsis and talking points coming soon!
13:45-14:10
Welcome to the Wild New World of Feudal Media
PRESENTATION
The mass media monoculture that dominated the 20th century is dead. It’s been replaced by “Feudal Media,” an ecosystem of thousands of disconnected bubbles spread across dozens of platforms, each with its own beliefs, memes, celebrities and favoured brands.
Alan Wolk, Co-founder & Lead Analyst at TVREV, tells us how we got here, what it means for the industry at large and how to thrive in a world that looks nothing like the old one.
14:10-14:35
Reimagining NRK’s Digital Distribution Strategy
FIRESIDE CHAT
Bjarne Andre Myklebust, Head of Distribution at NRK, Norway’s public service broadcaster, will share how the organisation is navigating the tension between public service obligations and the realities of a fast-moving OTT landscape.
NRK is currently in the middle of a major shift, driven in part by the move of its Oslo headquarters and a wider modernisation programme. The broadcaster is transitioning its entire operation – from production through to distribution – onto a fully IP-based setup, replacing traditional on-prem technology with data-centre and cloud-based systems. This isn’t just a technical change; it’s affecting workflows, teams, and how the organisation thinks about making and delivering content.
In conversation with Kauser Kanji, Bjarne will talk through what it means to move away from a linear-first mindset towards a genuinely end-to-end digital approach.
The discussion will cover how NRK is trying to maintain a high-quality, free-to-air service while competing in a crowded streaming market, and how aligning content, technology, and distribution is critical to staying relevant without losing sight of the public service mission.
14:35-15:15
The CTV Gurus: Building a Blueprint for Connected TV Growth
PANEL
The Connected TV ecosystem thrives when its key players work in sync. This panel brings together:
- Apps Guru – Tom Smith, Creative Director and co-founder at FX Digital
- OEM Guru – Witalis Korecki, CEO at Sharp Consumer Electronics Europe
- OS Guru – Gabriel Cosgrave, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Revenue at TiVo
- and a Retail Guru
Together they will discuss how collaboration drives measurable impact. From device design and OS user experience to app innovation and retail media activation, we’ll unpack the strategies that turn complexity into growth.
Expect candid debate, real-world examples and a “Guru Toolbox” you can apply to your own business.
Our Advertising Guru – Katie Coteman, SVP UK & International Advertising at Paramount, asks the questions.
15:15 Coffee & Networking |
15:45-16:10
Grey Lands: The Lion of the North
AI CASE STUDY
In this session, Daniel Nordberg, founder of Storyplai, and formerly of Opera TV, shares how Grey Lands: The Lion of the North uses AI to reconstruct people and places that no longer exist – including Stockholm’s original royal castle, Tre Kronor – and how a newly discovered 300-year-old war diary, found in late 2025, was rapidly analysed and woven into the production.
A timely, editorial case study on using AI to adapt storytelling when history itself changes.
16:10-16:35
The $4bn Quest: Scaling Programmatic Live CTV
FIRESIDE CHAT
Join Jatin Dev, Partnerships Lead, Media & Entertainment at Google and Tom Hosking, MD & Partner, BCG (Boston Consulting Group) on a grand adventure to conquer the final frontier of advertising: Programmatic Live Connected TV.
While our Video-on-Demand spaceships are programmatically sleek, the live CTV galaxy remains stubbornly analogue, with only 35% of inventory claimed. This massive technical vacuum is holding back a glittering $2-4 Billion opportunity over the next 3 years.
We’ll map the constellation of forces – where buyers are ready to spend and publishers are eager to monetise – that are steering us toward a Hybrid Model, blending direct and programmatic paths into a beautiful cosmic ballet.
But beware, the live stream is a turbulent, unforgiving asteroid field! Sudden audience spikes can cause ads to take too long to transport or vanish into the void, leaving mountains of gold behind.
Our survival guide outlines the core capabilities you need to steady your ship and help your advertisers boldly go where no-one has gone before. We’ll show you a blueprint for success with the incredible DAZN Club World Cup case study and close with an expert fireside chat on making the technical leap from peril to profit.
16:35-17:15
Return of the Streaming Wars
PANEL
At OTT Question Time Live 2024, we had a declaration, on-stage, that Netflix had won the Streaming Wars. Hmm.
And then, at last year’s show, the consensus seemed to be that the fight was over and that YouTube would ultimately emerge victorious.
That may still be the case but with the UK PSBs all in something of a flux, ITV still considering Comcast’s bid for its Broadcast business, and Netflix and Paramount Skydance (as well as the Trump administration) slugging it out over Warner Bros Discovery, we thought we’d revisit The Streaming Wars and debate whether they really are over.
Talking to Kauser are an all-star panel of industry experts:
- Gulliver Smithers – formerly of the BBC, BBC Studios, ITV and Sony Pictures International
- Lydia Fairfax – Founder & MD, Triple Crown Consulting
- Maureen Kerr – Partner, Kerr & Partners
- Victoria Davies – MD & Consultant, Accelerate Consulting International
- Wade Payson-Denney – Founder & Principal, WBD Communications
17:15-18:15 Networking Drinks |
08:30 – 09:05
The Audience Equation
BREAKFAST PANEL
As competition intensifies and choice fragments further, audience growth is increasingly shaped by where content appears as much as what it is. Discovery – across platforms, devices, and partner environments – has become the new battleground, with placement, promotion, and visibility directly influencing viewing outcomes.
This session explores how broadcasters and streamers are rethinking the audience journey: from first exposure to sustained engagement, and from awareness-led marketing to product- and data-driven experiences that respect attention as a finite resource.
The panel brings together Penny Brough, CMO, UKTV; Lucas Bertrand, CEO, Looper Insights; and Olga Puzanova, SVP Marketing, NBCUniversal, moderated by Kate Dean, DTC Consultant.
Discussion will cover how data partners are quantifying on-screen presence and discovery, how marketing and product teams are converging around personalisation and curation, and which metrics will matter most in the next phase of audience growth especially when “interest,” not attention, is the scarcest commodity.
09:05 – 09:45
The YouTube Experts
PANEL
Join five leading YouTube experts for a candid discussion on accelerating digital growth.
Broadcasters have a rich history with platforms, and this panel will explore how top media companies are translating those hard-won lessons into explosive performance on YouTube and beyond.
The discussion will cover current strategies, from Channel 4’s Fast Forward strategy, boldly capturing the digital first broadcaster generation, optimising video inventory sales for a commercial powerhouse like ITV, to driving rapid digital acceleration at Sky News.
In addition, we are joined by Merzigo who are helping traditional media companies unlock the full potential of their content on YouTube and Facebook.
Discover the key takeaways, strategic pivots, and best practices these experts are using to ensure a strong future for their companies in the competitive streaming landscape.
In conversation with Liz Ferguson, Strategic Partner Lead, Broadcast & Social Video at Google Ad Manager are:
- Hannah Barlow – Social Sales Business Development Leader, Channel 4
- Victoria Anderson – Controller of Addressable & Converged Operations, ITV
- Joe Harbinson – Head of Commercial Partnerships, Sky News
- Ceyda Sıla Çetinkaya – COO, Merzigo
09:45-10:10
How ITV is Accelerating its Efforts on Outcomes, Addressability, Collaboration & Innovation
FIRESIDE CHAT
The always-excellent Rhys McLachlan, Director of Advanced Advertising at ITV, talks to Gulliver Smithers (a board member of various companies and formerly of the BBC, BBC Studios, ITV and Sony Pictures International) about the broadcaster’s ad strategy.
Expect to hear about Planet V, the democratisation of TV advertising, ITV’s work in AI (with Magnite) and other game-changing developments at the company.
Oh, and YouTube. Always ask Rhys about YouTube!
10:10-10:35
Learnings from 2 Years of Ads on Amazon Prime
FIRESIDE CHAT
Ads have been running on Amazon Prime Video for two years now and Lisa Rousseau, the company’s Head of Video Advertising and Freevee EU, talks to Liz Bales, CEO of DEGI/BASE about her learnings over the period.
The session will cover:
- Why Prime Video Advertising is well placed for advertisers, connecting premium content and scaled audiences with advertiser needs, supported by fan engagement on social and deep customer insight
- The sponsorships programme, including innovative executions and learnings from recent case studies such as Clarkson’s Farm and Hyundai, and what that momentum looks like heading into 2026
- Innovation in ad formats, particularly how non-interruptive approaches are being developed to support, rather than detract from, the viewing experience
- The role of AI, including contextual ad placement and creative variation, and where it is adding real value versus hype
10:35 Coffee & Networking |
11:00-11:40
Programming for Growth
PANEL
Programming for growth now means designing ideas that travel – across platforms, formats, and audience touchpoints – rather than commissioning for a single window or lifecycle.
As attention fragments and demand signals shift, commissioners are increasingly guided by a mix of audience data, scheduling insight, and behaviour on youth-led platforms. This session explores how IP is being developed with longevity in mind, from traditional drama to digital-first concepts, and how value is extended through spin-offs, shorts, FAST packaging, games, merchandise, and live experiences.
The panel features:
- Emma Tibbetts, Director of Programming for Drama, UKTV
- Mariel Capisciolto, Head of Digital Development, BBC
- Jo Redfern, Founder & CEO, Futrhood Media
- moderated by Liz Bales, CEO, DEGI/BASE
Together they’ll examine how creative risk is being balanced with financial discipline, how scripted and unscripted pipelines increasingly work in tandem, and how programming strategies are evolving so content is built to be discovered, and not lost, in a crowded, mobile-first world.
11:40-12:20
Engagement by Design
PANEL
Engagement is increasingly designed, not assumed. As audiences arrive via a mix of owned platforms and third-party environments, product teams are being forced to rethink how habits are formed, value is perceived, and friction is removed.
This session focuses on what genuinely drives repeat viewing – from navigation clarity and speed to consistency, reliability, and trust – and how engagement strategies differ when control over the user experience is partial rather than end-to-end.
In conversation with Kauser are:
- Sarah Milton, Chief Product Officer, Everyone TV
- Julie Mitchelmore, VP Product & Commercial Partnerships, Hearst Networks EMEA
- Tom Chmielewski, VP EMEA, Testlio
- and Annika Bidner, Product Owner, SVT
Together, they’ll be exploring how quality and performance underpin engagement, how teams balance innovation with familiarity, and how behavioural data, user research, and testing are translated into clear product priorities that move the needle on retention across markets and models.
12:20-13:00
The New Economics of Streaming
PANEL
The economics of streaming have fundamentally shifted. Scale alone is no longer the primary goal; profitability, cash discipline, and sustainable margins now sit at the centre of strategic decision making.
This session examines how streamers are recalibrating their models around ARPU, retention, and customer lifetime value, and how advertising, pricing discipline, and smarter bundling are reshaping both unit economics and audience expectations across different types of services.
Talking to Lydia Fairfax, Founder & Managing Director, Triple Crown Consulting, are:
- Kerry Ball, EVP, Business Development & Partnerships, BBC Global Channels & Streaming
- Hendrik McDermott, Managing Director EMEA Networks, Hayu & International D2C, NBCUniversal
- Jane Dribinskaya, VP FAST & DTC, ITV Studios
The discussion will cover differing economic strategies between specialist and multi-genre services, the role of advanced modelling and econometrics and global versus local trade-offs.
13:00 Lunch |
14:00-14:40
The Economics of AI Content
PANEL
Kicking off “AI Afternoon” at OTT Question Time Live 2026 are the excellent Kat Gellein Viken, Co-founder, Metrotone Media; Daniel Gordon, CEO, Moonmax; and Kelsey Farish, M&E Lawyer, Reviewed & Cleared, who are talking to Maureen Kerr, Partner, Kerr & Partners.
Together, they’ll explore how AI is rapidly reshaping the economics of content creation, collapsing cost curves across development, production, and localisation – and where those savings do, and do not, translate into sustainable business value.
The discussion will range from ownership and rights – likeness, voice, performance, and training data – to what the recent Disney–OpenAI agreement signals about risk, licensing, and market precedent.
The panel will also examine how AI is enabling new content propositions, how festivals and industry gatekeepers are evaluating AI-assisted work, and where organisations are drawing ethical and commercial red lines, before looking ahead to a likely endgame where premium, human-led storytelling coexists with high-volume, AI-enabled content.
14:40-15:05
Personalisation, LLMs & Content Recommendation Systems
PRESENTATION
Session synopsis coming soon!
15:05-15:30
Microtransactions in the AI Era: Reshaping the Economics of Long-Form Content
PRESENTATION
Tom Paton, CEO and Founder of AiMation, the company behind the world’s first AI-generated feature film Where the Robots Grow and the groundbreaking AI reality series Non Player Combat, brings hard-won insights from the front lines of AI production.
As AI slashes costs and floods the market with cheap content, traditional long-form creators face collapsing revenues and shrinking audiences. This no-nonsense talk cuts through the hype: how microtransactions, paired with AI as creative co-pilot, unlock PGC (Professional Generated Content) – premium, human-directed work that commands real payouts in a fractured economy. The practical counterpunch traditional pros need against AI disruption.
Essential viewing.
15:30 Coffee & Networking |
15:50-16:25
AI Front & Backend Use Cases & Solutions
PANEL
As AI moves from experimentation to execution, the focus is shifting to how front- and back-end capabilities are orchestrated to deliver real, joined-up value. This session looks at what “practical AI” actually means inside a broadcaster or streamer: how teams align content operations, product, data, engineering, and commercial functions; where automation is already delivering measurable ROI; and where expectations still outpace reality.
Moderated by Gulliver Smithers (who holds a Masters in AI & Linguistics), the panel features Paul Kerrison, Head of Generative AI, ITV; Peter Docherty, Founder & CTO, ThinkAnalytics; and Sophie Bell, Managing Director, Toast TV.
Their discussion will span backend automation across metadata, compliance, rights, and scheduling; AI-driven search, discovery, and personalisation on the frontend; commercial innovation in advertising and creative production; and the governance, talent, and workflow changes required to deploy AI safely, responsibly, and at scale.
16:25-16:50
Keynote: Respeecher (Cool AF!)
PRESENTATION
Session synopsis coming soon!
16:50 Close of OTTQTL26 |
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