December 14, 2021
ITVT is pleased to present the schedule of sessions (scroll below or click to our interactive version) for our next virtual conference, TVOT LIVE! New Year 2022, which will take place January 10th-13th.
The four-day online event will offer panels and keynotes featuring a sterling line-up of TV/video/advertising industry leaders; together with extensive networking and business-development opportunities; and the presentation of the 18th Annual Awards for Leadership in Interactive and Multiplatform Television.
Please note that:
11:00-11:05AM Eastern (8:00-8:05AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Welcoming Remarks by Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of ITVT
11:05-11:45AM Eastern (8:05-8:45AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Addressable TV: The Expert Perspective
With over half of US TV households now equipped with the technology for receiving addressable ads, and with the effectiveness of addressable TV advertising widely acknowledged (in a recent article in Variety, for example, a spokesperson for fast-food chain Wendy’s stated that the company had found that addressable ads were 22% more effective than traditional spots), what have the people driving addressable learned to date, and how do they envision the space evolving in the future?
A panel drawn from those people will address such topics as: how to assess and ensure the quality of the viewer data that drives addressable advertising; progress made to date in implementing addressable on linear TV; the potential of addressable to enable networks to win back ad dollars from streamers; new developments in server-side and client-side ad insertion; how NEXTGEN TV and other new technologies could impact the space; the status of such industry initiatives as OAR, OpenAP and Go Addressable; and how industry stakeholders, including competitors, should best collaborate to educate the market about addressable’s potential. Panelists include:
11:45AM-12:35PM Eastern (8:45-9:35AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Imagine Communications Hot Topic Session
Understanding Converged Selling: Emerging Strategies, Best Practices, New Solutions
With television audiences—and hence television advertising revenue—fragmented across platforms, screens and ecosystems, broadcasters need to transition to selling their audience using one campaign and one currency, regardless of platform. This kind of converged selling will need to maintain the quality and brand safety traditionally associated with linear TV, while offering the speed and precision targeting enabled by digital. This session will examine emerging converged-selling strategies and best practices and identify the new technologies and solutions that enable them. Panelists include:
12:35-12:40PM Eastern (9:35-9:40AM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
12:40-1:20PM Eastern (9:40-10:20AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Square Pegs in Round Holes—How Can Advertisers/Agencies/the Industry Move “Advanced TV” to “Just TV”?
While we continue to have ongoing interesting conversations about the “TV of Tomorrow,” consumers have, to a large extent, already gone there. They are watching less traditional TV on their living-room, large-screen set, and more (and more!) video across screens and through different devices and technologies. Our industry, however, continues to plan and buy TV in fairly traditional ways (think: Upfront, linear versus addressable, CTV versus OTT, etc.). Measurement plays a role. But so do habit, infrastructure, technology, and distribution. This panel will consider what we can and should do to enable us all to work in tomorrow’s TV world today. Panelists include:
1:20-1:45PM Eastern (10:20-10:45AM Pacific)
Main Stage
How to Turn TV Measurement into Incremental Reach
Marketers rank TV and video advertising as a top priority for accomplishing their goals, but most do not feel comfortable with reach and frequency measurement across linear TV, connected TV, and digital video. As more advertisers run ads concurrently across platforms, it is critical to have a 360-degree view of campaign performance and the ability to turn these insights into impact.
How are leading advertisers approaching de-duplicated measurement and using it to drive business outcomes? Join Michael Beach, CEO of Cross Screen Media, for a practical discussion and case study on how marketers are turning TV measurement into incremental reach for their true audience, and where the industry could be headed.
1:45-2:10PM Eastern (10:45-11:10AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Fireside Chat: JP Colaco, President of Advertising Sales at WarnerMedia, in Conversation with Nathalie Bordes, EVP of Measurement for Marketers at the ANA
WarnerMedia Ad Sales has established a notable track record of support for new forms of ad tech and for new audience-measurement methods. In this fireside chat with Nathalie Bordes, EVP of Measurement for Marketers at the ANA, WarnerMedia Ad Sales President, JP Colaco, will provide insight into the role that advertising and measurement innovation is playing at WarnerMedia, addressing such topics as the company’s plans for national addressability; how it is using what he has termed its “tremendous storehouse of data” in order to make advertising more effective; why it believes in maintaining a low ad-load for streaming content; how it is implementing an audience-based approach to media planning and buying; the importance of attribution; why he has stated that “IP is the new prime time”; and more.
2:10-2:35PM Eastern (11:10-11:35AM Pacific)
LUNCH BREAK AND NETWORKING, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
2:35-3:25PM Eastern (11:35AM-12:25PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Hot Topic Session, Sponsored by Centriply
Data isn’t the end of the story—it’s the starting point. This panel will explore the importance of aligning TV attribution goals with the actual media buy—starting with using data to find real people in real places, through to telling the story of TV ad campaign business outcomes. Panelists include:
3:25-4:10PM Eastern (12:25-1:10PM Pacific)
Main Stage
The Future of UX Is CX: Changing the Way We Design for Our Customers
Over the past two years, the streaming space has become increasingly crowded, creating more confusion, more fragmentation and more frustration for customers who have to navigate through several applications, experiences and screens to get to watch what they want.
This panel will discuss what it means to be customer-obsessed when designing for streaming entertainment, re-defining how we design for growing product and tech ecosystems, and evolving user experiences into valuable customer experiences that reshape cross-platform and multi-modal behaviors for millions of people. Topics to be discussed include: product design, UX and CX, advanced personalization and AI, natural user interfaces, data-informed and data-driven designs, and cross-device design and ecosystems. Panelists include:
4:10-4:55PM Eastern (1:10-1:55PM Pacific)
Main Stage
FAST Service Roundtable: The Opportunities of Being a FAST Platform
The FAST market is growing at a rampant pace with the number of services available to the US consumer more than doubling between 2019 and 2021. But what’s behind this streaming gold rush? This roundtable, moderated by Variety Intelligence Platform’s senior media analyst Gavin Bridge (author of the Life in the FAST Lane report), will explore what FAST services themselves see as the opportunities awaiting them, ask why they entered FAST, how they differentiate in a crowded market, and look at where they think the market is headed in 2022 and beyond. Panelists include:
4:55-5:00PM Eastern (1:55-2:00PM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
5:00-5:25PM Eastern (2:00-2:25PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Putting the TV in NFT: Embracing the Blockchain Future for Animated IP
A Fireside Chat with Scott Greenberg, CEO of Blockchain Creative Labs (a FOX Entertainment Company)
The past year has been a watershed for the new class of digital collectibles known as NFTs. As the entertainment world has started to explore the role that NFTs and underlying blockchain technology will play in its future, leaders in the television industry have made bold moves. FOX Entertainment and its Emmy Award-winning animation studio, Bento Box Entertainment, are at the forefront of media and content companies embracing the potential of blockchain and NFTs. Through the establishment of Blockchain Creative Labs and initial projects built around the FOX hit, “The Masked Singer,” the forthcoming Dan Harmon animated series “Krapopolis,” WWE, and SXSW 2022, Bento Box is poised to define how leading IP holders can employ blockchain and digital collectibles to change how we make, consume, and appreciate content.
This conversation with Scott Greenberg, moderated by “Televisionation: Screen Culture” host Lisa Crawford, will cover Bento Box’s extensive footprint in animated IP and how he and his team envision blockchain-enabled animation, including opportunities for fandom, storytelling, marketing and monetization, and what a “metaverse” might look for fans of animated content.
5:25-6:05PM Eastern (2:25-3:05PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Presentation of the 18th Annual Awards for Leadership in Interactive and Multiplatform Television
The Awards recognize individual and corporate achievement in 14 categories, each of which is judged by a who’s who of advanced-TV industry leaders:
MEASUREMENT – LEADER OF TRACK SPONSOR!
11:00-11:05AM Eastern (8:00-8:05AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Welcoming Remarks by Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of ITVT
11:05-11:30AM Eastern (8:05-8:30AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Leader of the Track Session: “The Future of Everywhere: Creating a Common Audience Definition Across Platforms”
Viewing consumers don’t think in terms of linear versus streaming versus digital — they think of content, and the rest is noise. Modern media measurement must reflect this cross-platform reality, with solutions built on experience, scale, and technology, combined with unique big data assets, innovative methodologies, and best-in-class services. In this keynote presentation, Comscore’s Chief Commercial Officer, Chris Wilson, will present Comscore’s vision for the future of cross-platform measurement, before sitting down for a virtual conversation with DISH Media’s Kevin Arrix to discuss the evolution and importance of cross-platform in the media marketplace in 2022, and beyond.
11:30AM-12:20PM Eastern (8:30-9:20AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Elevating Measurement: Delivering on a Cross-Platform Promise
In today’s fragmented media landscape, there is a need for brands to reach their target audience irrespective of how they consume media across channels and devices. Providing deduplicated, unified measurement across media and screens to show true incrementality will be critical. In this session, hear from industry leaders on their views of the importance of true cross-platform measurement across linear TV, connected TV (CTV), desktop, and mobile. Join us for a conversation on how the world of media measurement will change in 2022, and on whether the industry will finally deliver on the promise of an elevated cross-platform value exchange. Panelists include:
12:20-12:45PM Eastern (9:20-9:45AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Presentation: The TV Industry in the Year Ahead
The television industry is undergoing fundamental change—from the emergence of new currencies, to the growth of converged TV, to the proliferation of streaming platforms, further fragmenting viewing audiences. In this presentation, Ron Pinelli, SVP of Digital Research and Standards and Associate Director of the Media Rating Council, looks at what impact these developments will have and details the guidance that the MRC has in development to help the industry navigate it all. Topics to be addressed include: how the TV Industry is changing and what we can expect in the year ahead; MRC guidance for the evolving CTV market; an update on standards development for cross-platform and outcome based measurement; and more.
12:45-12:50PM Eastern (9:45-9:50AM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
12:50-1:40PM Eastern (9:50-10:40AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Moneyballing Media: How Big Data Is Transforming TV
Big data is changing the media research and analytics game forever, forcing broadcasters, content creators, and advertisers to pause and rethink what sort of metrics are important for understanding today’s modern audiences and the content they engage with. This session brings together data scientists and research experts from across the media ecosystem to discuss the potential for big data to reshape wide swaths of our business, from traditional TV ratings and fan engagement to advertising attribution. Panelists will share examples of advanced analytics that offer promise, as well as discuss the challenges facing those who are trying to upend age-old systems (and mindsets) that have governed the media landscape for decades. Panelists include:
1:40-2:50PM Eastern (10:40-11:50AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Fresh Perspectives in Measurement Innovation
Measurement innovation is exciting for our industry. At the same time, this rapid pace of change requires a constant need to stay informed. In these three short conversations, you’ll hear from those industry leaders advancing measurement in several key areas. We’ll hear their perspectives on the latest in advanced ad targeting, identity graphing and CTV, and how they are helping marketers to quantify success.
Advanced Ad Targeting and Data
Advanced audience targeting, leveraging a deep understanding of the customer, benefits your marketing strategy by improving the effectiveness of marketing efforts, as well as the insights that drive future strategies. Learn how marketers can employ advanced targeting tactics to reach engaged audiences at scale and better quantify the impact of their investment. Panelists include:
About Identity: Exploring Identity Graphing and CTV
The combination of digital’s precision targeting with the premium content and scale of TV provides marketers with a growing opportunity to reach consumers across connected channels. As viewership continues to fragment, it grows more important to identify audiences as they move across devices and locations throughout the day. Learn about the platforms that can link people, households and devices for targeting that scales. Panelists include:
Quantifying Impact: A Conversation on Outcomes and Attribution
The growth of precise TV measurement tools puts even more pressure on marketers to demonstrate an ROI on their investment. Learn the performance solutions and campaign metrics that are available to help marketers quantify impact. See how content producers and platforms are using engagement metrics to better monetize their content. Panelists include:
2:50-3:15PM Eastern (11:50AM-12:15PM Pacific)
LUNCH BREAK AND NETWORKING, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
3:15-4:00PM Eastern (12:15-1:00PM Pacific)
Main Stage
The Emerging Cross-Platform Measurement Landscape: An Industry View into Alternative Providers
As viewing becomes more fragmented and diverse, so too do approaches to measurement across platforms. The past year has seen the emergence of an array of new and novel methodologies for identifying and assessing video consumption. Which provide the greatest potential for helping to advance true cross-platform measurement?
Leading buyers and sellers will discuss how they’re viewing these emerging alternative measurement approaches and what they might mean for the future of better understanding and monetization of cross-platform TV/video viewership. Panelists include:
4:00-4:50PM Eastern (1:00-1:50PM Pacific)
Main Stage
How Does the Industry Prepare for an Evolving Currency and a Multi-Currency Marketplace?
Today, with the progress that challenger measurement companies are making, we’re more likely to live in a world with multiple TV currencies. But at the same time, with the evolution of media planning/selling and buying, the reality is that currency will likely evolve over the next few years. Instead of GRPs/Impressions, in a few years we may be trading based on unduplicated reach and frequency or outcomes.
The first panel in this two-panel session will feature buyers and sellers. They will share their perspective on dealing with multiple providers of linear currency today, and discuss how they view the evolution of currency in the future. Panelists include:
The second panel will feature representatives of major challenger and established media-research companies. They will discuss how they envision existing in a multi-currency marketplace, how they see the evolution of currency and how well they believe their infrastructure is suited for this evolution. Panelists include:
4:50-4:55PM Eastern (1:50-1:55PM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
4:55-5:40PM Eastern (1:55-2:40PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Measuring the Future: What Companies Are Doing to Be Ready for TV (Video) Measurement in 2030.
We know that there is a lot of discussion, and contemplated change in the TV/video measurement business right now. MRC accreditation losses, new currency pilots, US and global initiatives on cross-platform. Several other panels in this conference (and many other conferences) are discussing these. But let’s put on our futurevision glasses. Think about 2030. Only 8 years from now. Cookies are gone. Everything is “meta.” What are companies doing now, or what should they be doing, to be ready for video measurement then? This panel will talk about what they are doing for the long-term, and what the rest of the ecosystem needs to do. Panelists include:
5:40-6:05PM Eastern (2:40-3:05PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Fireside Chat: Shobana Radhakrishnan, Senior Engineering Director, Google TV, in Conversation with Colin Dixon, Chief Analyst, nScreenMedia
Google’s TV OS is powering the experience of some of the top televisions on the market today. In this session, Shobana Radhakrishnan, Senior Director of Engineering at Google TV, will discuss how experience innovation is at the heart of the OS’s success. She will talk about key experience technologies such as recommendations, voice discovery, moods and metadata, and why it is so important to get kids mode right. She will also expand on her journey via Netflix and Roku to lead development at Google TV.
11:00-11:05AM Eastern (8:00-8:05AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Welcoming Remarks by Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of ITVT
11:05-11:40AM Eastern (8:05-8:40AM Pacific)
Main Stage
The Future of Television: The Intersection of Innovation and Change
Television, advertising and society have been on a steady trajectory of change, never more so than the last two years. The continued reality of remote working has seen TV and video consumption rise. And the innovations driving the availability of enriched data across linear TV, OTT and VOD platforms have fundamentally changed the way marketers need to engage audiences on their terms. When combined, these changes present even greater opportunity for the entire industry to reimagine its approach to the business of media, where all parties win. Consumer habits are changing faster than the advertising industry—this session will explain how advertisers must work to keep pace.
Join Marcien Jenckes, President of Advertising at Comcast Cable, and Scott Schiller, Global Chief Commercial Officer at ENGINE, and Assistant Adjunct Professor at NYU/Stern, for a candid discussion on the key changes occurring in the way consumers are viewing video, on the question of whether people are really consuming video the way we think they are, on why a cross-platform approach is basic table-stakes to maximize audience reach, and on how the shift toward impressions and redefined monetization strategies is transforming the business of television.
11:40AM-12:20PM Eastern (8:40-9:20AM Pacific)
Main Stage
What Would You Do If You Ran___?
SPONSORED BY
We all say it, usually to ourselves or in private with our friends. Our frustrations with the moves made by content providers, distributors and streamers range from “What were they thinking?” to “WTF????” It’s time to take the gloves off and ask ourselves, “What would you do if you ran ___?” You have to deal with product availability, pandemic work disruption, conflicting strategic direction from newly acquired organizations and intractable (and often aggressive) investors. Let’s hear what some of the best independent thinkers have to say about some of the leading companies in our industry: Netflix, AT&T, Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon, Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+ and more. Panelists include:
12:20-12:25PM Eastern (9:20-9:25AM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
12:25-1:05PM Eastern (9:25-10:05AM Pacific)
Main Stage
The Emerging Smart TV Ecosystem
The smart TV ecosystem is booming, as the OEMs now have their own FASTs, ad sales teams and measurement. They have vastly improved their interfaces as well, so that users are abandoning dongles. This leaves the OEMs in the sort of gatekeeper role that MVPDs once played, in terms of which apps they carry on their platforms. What’s more, new players like Comcast, Walmart and Amazon are starting to enter the market as the industry becomes more aware of how central smart TVs will be to the future of television and what an advantage it is to own both the hardware and the software. We will discuss the advantages the smart TV OEMs have, what their newly expanded role means for programmers and advertisers alike, around both carriage and measurement, what this means for MVPDs and why the US market is ahead of the curve. Panelists include:
1:05-1:50PM Eastern (10:05-10:50AM Pacific)
Main Stage
It’s Advertising, but Not As We Know It: Innovating Ad Formats for Modern Audiences and Tech
Over the last few years, the drumbeat of innovation in the TV ad space has beat louder than ever. Whether seeking to enhance the consumer experience of advertising in linear or developing completely new inventory and formats in the streaming space, networks, platforms, agencies and brands alike have sought to innovate in pursuit of better results, stronger engagement and incremental revenues.
This panel brings together practitioners from across the landscape to discuss how they are working to leverage technology, consumer-centricity and creativity to create compelling experiences beyond the confines of the 30-second spot that engage viewers while delivering results for brands. Panelists include:
1:50-2:35PM Eastern (10:50-11:35AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Connected TV’s Growth in the Local TV Market
The local connected TV (CTV) segment is a breakaway part of the overall local ad market. BIA forecasts ad spending in connected TV platforms targeting local viewers will reach $2.0 billion in 2022, up $700 million from the $1.3 billion expected in total 2021 local CTV spending. According to Nielsen’s national data, streaming and broadcast TV reached parity at 28% of total TV viewing time in October 2021. In this panel, we’ll discuss the trends, drivers and what to expect in the 2022 local CTV market. Panelists include:
2:35-3:00PM Eastern (11:35AM-12:00PM Pacific)
LUNCH BREAK AND NETWORKING, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
3:00-3:10PM Eastern (12:00-12:10PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Presentation: Anne Schelle, Managing Director of Pearl TV
We will be announcing more details about this session in an upcoming issue of the ITVT newsletter.
3:10-3:50PM Eastern (12:10-12:50PM Pacific)
Main Stage
NEXTGEN TV Service and Receiver Adoption
Local broadcasters are rapidly rolling out NEXTGEN TV, the new broadcast technology (based on the ATSC 3.0 standard) that combines OTA with broadband, and that offers consumers an enhanced viewing experience, including audio capabilities not available anywhere else. In addition, those broadcasters have recently launched a significant Holiday promotion (running through January 30th), in support of the manufacturers of NEXTGEN TV receivers, many of which will be unveiling new devices at CES. This session will explore how broadcasters and device manufacturers are collaborating to facilitate consumer adoption of NEXTGEN TV, assess what we can expect in the NEXTGEN TV receiver market in 2022, and examine how consumers are reacting to the new NEXTGEN TV devices and the enhanced OTA services they enable. Panelists include:
3:50-3:55PM Eastern (12:50-12:55PM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
3:55-4:35PM Eastern (12:55-1:35PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Where Is the Early ROI of NEXTGEN TV for Broadcasters?
SPONSORED BY
With NEXTGEN TV now reaching nearly half of US households, and with an array of affordable NEXTGEN TV devices coming onto the market, this session will explore how broadcasters have begun to monetize their investment in NEXTGEN TV, and how they expect the business case for the new broadcast standard to evolve in the coming months. Panelists include:
4:35-5:15PM Eastern (1:35-2:15PM Pacific)
Main Stage
ATSC 3.0 Data-Delivery Opportunities
ATSC 3.0, the technology standard underlying NEXTGEN TV, not only enables a powerful new broadcast-video distribution platform, but also facilitates the delivery of non-real-time data, and thus presents opportunities for innovators in the automotive industry and multiple other areas. This panel will identify these opportunities and discuss how best to leverage them. Panelists include:
5:15-5:20PM Eastern (2:15-2:20PM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
5:20-6:05PM Eastern (2:20-3:05PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Realizing the Potential of CTV Advertising
Not only is connected TV now widely deployed but, according to recent research from eMarketer. there are currently around 55 million CTV-only households in the US, of which around 50 million watch ad-supported content. Not surprisingly, then, CTV spending is increasing, with 84% of buyers upping their spend not only because of the medium’s growth, but also because of its ability to deliver addressable and other advanced-advertising innovations, according to the IAB’s 2022 Brand Disruption Report. In addition, recent research from Statista has found that CTV allows advertisers to reach younger and more diverse audiences, as well as viewers who are nearly twice as likely to make a purchase after watching a commercial than are traditional pay-TV viewers, and who are also nearly twice as likely to be willing to share information in order to receive relevant advertising.
This session will bring together some of the people who have been driving the rapid growth of CTV advertising in the US to discuss the medium’s potential to reach new and underserved audiences, gather more granular data and enable new forms of advertising (shoppable, addressable, interactive, voice-activated and more). The panelists will also examine how CTV advertising should be employed as part of broader cross-platform campaigns; and debate whether we are yet taking full advantage of CTV advertising natively as a medium, or still thinking of it within a conceptual framework inherited from traditional TV. Panelists include:
11:00-11:05AM Eastern (8:00-8:05AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Welcoming Remarks by Tracy Swedlow, Editor-in-Chief of ITVT
11:05-11:50AM Eastern (8:05-8:50AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Twice Blessed
We will be announcing more details about this session in an upcoming issue of the ITVT newsletter. Panelists include:
11:50AM-12:40PM Eastern (8:50-9:40AM Pacific)
Main Stage
The Future of Streaming and the Technology Needed to Stay Ahead of the Game
Following an introductory presentation by Nick Thexton, CTO of Synamedia, a panel of experts will identify and elucidate a number of key technological and strategic challenges impacting the future of streaming. Questions to be addressed include: How will new technologies and devices accelerate OTT and expand the scope of growth and revenue generation, while also heightening user experiences? What role will business insights and data analytics play in creating more accurate churn predictions? Why is it important not to lose focus on the “big screen” when building UXs? Can niche content survive without super aggregator services? And how can piracy be tackled so as to protect premium content, while addressing place-shifting legitimate content and credential sharing? Panelists include:
12:40-12:45PM Eastern (9:40-9:45AM Pacific)
BREAK, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
12:45-1:10PM Eastern (9:45-10:10AM Pacific)
Main Stage
Fireside Chat: Jeremy Helfand, Head of Advertising Platforms, Disney Media, Entertainment & Distribution, in Conversation with Ashley Swartz, Founder and CEO of Furious Corp.
In June 2020, Disney created a new Advertising Platforms team and tapped industry veteran, Jeremy Helfand, to lead it—a move that was widely viewed as signalling a major commitment to advanced advertising. In this fireside chat with Ashley Swartz, Helfand will explain the reasons for that commitment, outline the roles that the various types of advanced advertising (programmatic, addressable, interactive, etc.) will play in Disney’s business strategy going forward, provide an update on progress the company has made towards its stated goal of implementing a unified ad platform across linear, D2C and digital, identify emerging opportunities for adtech companies to collaborate with Disney, and highlight some of the adtech innovations the company is planning to roll out over the coming months and years.
1:10-1:40PM Eastern (10:10-10:40AM Pacific)
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Hot Topic Session, Sponsored by Simpli.fi: Data Is in the Details
As we witness innovation and the evolution of CTV, understanding the data required to reach and engage your audiences for quantifiable results is essential for near-term and even long-term success. In this session, Jae Scarborough, VP of Enterprise and Channel Sales at Simpli.fi, will take a deep-dive into the importance of reviewing and understanding data insights in the CTV advertising space.
1:40-2:15PM Eastern (10:40-11:15AM Pacific)
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Friday Fireside on Thursday: George Schweitzer, Former CMO of CBS, in Conversation with Rick Howe, The iTV Doctor
George Schweitzer is Television Royalty. If you watched CBS between 1990 and 2020, you saw his work. And more importantly, if you were watching something OTHER than CBS, you saw his work—his job was to get you to WATCH CBS! George has experience and perspective on how to fix the absolute mess we’ve made of television. You need to hear what he has to say.
2:05-2:30PM Eastern (11:05-11:30AM Pacific)
LUNCH BREAK AND NETWORKING, Sponsored by Breakaway Communications
2:30-3:15PM Eastern (11:30AM-12:15PM Pacific)
Main Stage
Betting on the Future of TV Sports
Since the US Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling overturning the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and thus legalizing sports betting on a federal basis, a $26 billion online sports betting market has emerged—and a variety of television-industry players, including networks, local broadcasters, vMVPDs and technology providers, are looking to get a piece of that market.
This session, which brings together representatives of some of the companies leading TV’s embrace of sports betting, will discuss recent developments and future opportunities and challenges, and attempt to predict the role sports betting will play in the TV of tomorrow. Topics to be addressed include: the nature of the new partnerships being forged between TV companies and sports leagues and teams; best practices for developing TV betting apps; AI-powered real-time sports analytics and other new technologies emerging in the space; how the way we consume sports programming could change fundamentally as betting becomes increasingly seamlessly integrated into sportscasts; regulatory and PR pitfalls to be avoided; and more. Panelists include:
3:15-4:00PM Eastern (12:15-1:00PM Pacific)
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Television Innovators Showcase
This session will explore how new technologies—and new thinking about narratives, engagement strategies and the viewing experience—are being employed to enable new forms of television programming and new ways of using the medium of television itself, across scripted entertainment, sports, education and other areas. A panel of television innovators will showcase their latest work, critique one another’s projects, and share their visions for the TV of tomorrow. Panelists include:
4:00-4:45PM Eastern (1:00-1:45PM Pacific)
Main Stage
How the “Streaming Wars” Will Impact Television’s Monetization, Content and Consumer Experience
This session will bring together representatives of the various kinds of streaming services that have emerged over the past few years (subscription-based, ad-supported, local-broadcast, etc.), as well as representatives of the companies developing technological advancements for the streaming space, for a thorough examination of how the so-called “streaming wars” are impacting not only the monetization, but also the content (e.g. what types of programming are proving most successful on each of the different kinds of streaming platforms? what new forms of content are emerging on those platforms, and to what extent do they present an opportunity to reach communities hitherto underserved by TV?), the consumer experience (e.g. what is emerging in lieu of the traditional pay-TV bundle? how are consumers discovering content across multiple disparate services?), and the marketing (how is the viewing behavior of streaming consumers evolving? how can service providers leverage insights from this behavior to sell new services?) of television. Panelists include:
4:45-5:25PM Eastern (1:45-2:25PM Pacific)
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Meet the FAST Distributors: Companies that Sell to FAST
FAST services like Pluto and Roku Channel may attract the most headlines, but there are over 1,000 FAST channels available in the US, and they are only made possible by the many content producers licensing their movies and TV shows to services. These range from TV giants like AMC and A+E Networks to niche SVODs creating linear channels. This panel will explore why FAST is part of the business plan for these companies, the upside to FAST distribution versus SVOD and whether we’ll see more companies opting to distribute via FAST in the future. Panelists include:
5:25-6:05PM Eastern (2:25-3:05PM Pacific)
Main Stage
A Holodeck in the Home? How the Metaverse, Theme Parks, New Special FX Production and More Could Shape the TV of Tomorrow
Our Grand Finale session will explore how our experience of TV could change dramatically in the next 5-10 years, thanks to new technologies and new forms of creativity that are emerging in such fields as VR/the Metaverse, amusement-park rides, live theater, movie special effects and beyond. Led by a prominent TV UI/UX designer, a panel of experts will share the latest developments in those fields—including innovations they’ve been working on themselves—and debate how these developments might shape the TV of tomorrow. Panelists include:
