08:30 – 09:15
How AI will Affect the OTT Industry

BREAKFAST PANEL

Maureen Kerr, Partner at Arthur D Little, talks to an all-star panel about how AI will affect the OTT industry across its various sub-sectors.

Gulliver Smithers, former SVP Product & Technology at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Maria Ingold, founder & CEO of Mireality, Joe Ward, CEO of EDGE and Kristan Bullett, founder and CEO of Humans Not Robots, will tell us about how AI might revolutionise content production, the changes that the tech will make on OTT user interfaces as well as in the back office, and the possible costs, human and financial, that implementing AI solutions may incur.

09:15-09:45
The Personalisation Journey at ITV 

FIRESIDE CHAT

In this Q&A session, Deep Bagchee, Chief Product Officer at ITV, talks to Renato Bonomini, VP Sales Engineering at ContentWise about ITVX’s evolving journey in viewer engagement, product development, and monetisation.

Key topics include the uses of personalisation in user engagement and retention, measuring the success of personalisation, vendor-provider relationships, unique industry insights, valuable lessons, and forward-looking strategies in the field.

09:45-10:15
From Coro to Convergence: An Update on ITV’s Pathway from Broadcaster to Contemporary Multidimensional Streaming Business

FIRESIDE CHAT

10:15-10:45
Warner Bros Discovery’s Big Year for Streaming 

FIRESIDE CHAT

2024 is going to be a huge year for Warner Bros Discovery and streaming, with Max successfully launched in the U.S. in 2023 and further strengthened with the addition of live sports and news. Next, Max is set to roll out in LATAM, EMEA and APAC starting this year.

This session – with Leah Hooper Rosa, SVP, Head of Streaming EMEA, at WBD and Lydai Fairfax, MD and Founder of Triple Crown Consulting – will give a status update on Max and the processes behind the EMEA launches with just months to go, discuss how streaming fits into WBD’s broader media and content ecosystem, and explore the role of strategic partnerships, innovation, and experimentation to drive further growth.

11:05-11:50
The OTT Scene in Germany

PANEL

With almost 40m households and more than 500 TV channels, Germany is one of the biggest and most diversified TV markets in the world.

Add to this a booming OTT scene (40+ streaming services), a growing trend toward cord-cutting (nearly 8% of households now exclusively access TV via the internet – up from 0.5% in 2018) and the willingness of local broadcasters like RTL to experiment with bundling (the new RTL+ incorporates video, live sports, music, podcasts, audiobooks and a suite of digital magazines in a single monthly subscription) and you have a dynamic and rapidly evolving TV landscape that reflects the changing preferences and behaviours of German viewers.

Joining OTT Question Time Live 2024 to tell us about – and help us learn from – Germany’s OTT environment are: Alice Mascia, CEO DACH & Group CMO, from DAZN, Linette Zaulich, Director Unscripted, from ZDF Studios, Gereon Joachim, VP Automotive Sales & Strategy and Ralph Wagner, CEO of Axinom. Marion Ranchet, MD and Founder of The Local Act Consultancy, asks the questions. 

11:50-12:15
Waking up to the New Streaming Reality

PRESENTATION

Ben Keen, OTT expert and member of multiple industry boards, provides a provocative perspective on the dynamics of the global market calling out the winner of the ’streaming wars’ and the opportunities arising from ‘glocalisation’ of content.

12:15-13:00
The Future of OTT Pay Models

PANEL

For a while in the last decade, it looked like subscriptions were going to take over the world. Netflix, Amazon and Sky (via NOW TV) led the SVOD charge and there was a sense that streaming may have decisively broken with the old broadcast advertising revenue model. We even talked about “the renaissance of AVOD” as if it was a historical curiosity like vinyl records compared to Spotify!

And then the pandemic, soaring inflation, cost of living crises and a crowded OTT market meant that as consumers looked for more cost-effective ways of watching TV, AVOD started to gain traction again.

What then does the future hold for OTT pay models? Will SVOD make its own comeback and resume its former dominance? Is advertising (Broadcast 2.0?) now just as important as subscriptions to streamers? And what place do PVOD, pay-per-view and bundling have in the mix?

Discussing this with Kauser Kanji, MD of VOD Professional and host of OTTQTL are Kate Dean, VP Direct-to-Consumer, Universal Pictures, Julie Mitchelmore, VP Digital, A+E Networks EMEA, Jonas Engwall, CEO, Bedrock and Paolo Cuttorelli, SVP Global Sales, Evergent.

14:00-14:30
Turning Audiences into Fans and What we Can Learn from Sports and Growing Lifetime Value 

FIRESIDE CHAT

With the focus more than ever on growing sustainable streaming services, what different tactics should we use to acquire new audiences in an increasingly competitive market, and extend the time they spend with us. How can we grow top of the funnel, and then optimise it to acquire and retain our next set of ‘super fans’ at a reasonable cost. And what practical examples can we take from the world of sport to increase fan lifetime value, including growing first party data and the use of new AI tools.

Simon Danker, Founder of Glandore Consulting, shares insights with Kauser Kanji from his work advising major sports broadcasters, leagues and streamers on their OTT growth.

14:30-15:00
Katie Coteman, GVP, Head of Ad Sales & Partnerships at Warner Bros Discovery, talks to Lydia Fairfax, MD & Founder of Triple Crown Consulting

FIRESIDE CHAT

15:00-15:45
FASTtech / Adtech

PANEL

As viewers, we’re now used to seeing FAST channels on our screens but in this session, we’re taking a look under the hood to examine some of the commercial, technical and regulatory issues that are helping FAST evolve.

Together with Kasia Jablonska, Head of VOD at BBC Studios, Jenn Batty, European Head of Content Acquisition at Samsung TV Plus, Stephen Byrne, CEO Nordics & VP Partnership Development at RTL AdAlliance, Valerio Motti, formerly VP FAST Channels, Fremantle, and Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Research Director, M&E, at Omdia, we’ll discuss:

– Trends in ad formats and monetisation strategies
– The adtech crucial to the functioning of FAST channels
– The role of data in optimising targeting and personalisation
 – Data privacy, brand safety and addressing fraud
 – And partnership, collaboration and the role of the big media houses

15:45-16:15
Amazon FAST Channels: Live Linear Television in the Age of Streaming

FIRESIDE CHAT

In this fireside chat, Lisa Rousseau, Head of Amazon Freevee UK, will discuss the growing free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) Channel offering from Amazon, why customers are so drawn to this “live” experience in a world of on-demand, and the future vision for FAST Channels on the service.

The conversation will be moderated by Gary Woolf, EVP Strategic Development at All3Media International.