The streaming wars are over, but the battle for dominance in the connected TV living room is still in full swing.
In crafting the agenda for our inaugural Connected TV Festival, running online from April 29 to May 1, we wanted to spotlight how different sectors of the content business are navigating the CTV era, from the tech companies helping broadcasters make the streaming transition to the commissioners getting savvier about branded entertainment, the AVOD platforms taking advantage of subscriber fatigue and the IP owners looking for new ways to monetize their slates.
If you haven’t yet registered, there’s still time to do so here. Only those registered will receive access to our Exclusive White Paper on CTV trends, featuring key intel from the event in a compact, easy-to-digest format.
We open the festival on Tuesday with a keynote conversation with Jonas Engwall, CEO of Bedrock Streaming. The company, which powers Videoland in the Netherlands and partnered with M6 on the launch of M6+, is now working on transitioning RTL+ in Germany to its tech stack. Next up, we’ll hear from Bérangère Degni-Rezé, the head of TV Plus at Samsung Ads, about the CTV opportunity in Europe and Samsung’s multifaceted approach to working with brands. On the heels of her appointment to lead ZDF Studios’ B2C department, Linette Zaulich will weigh in on AVOD licensing opportunities, YouTube engagement and FAST channel rollouts. Day one wraps with a conversation with Brian Toombs, the head of Roku Brand Studio, a division of the connected devices giant that has had tremendous success aligning with advertisers on content opportunities.
Ross Appleton, VP and general manager for Tubi in the U.K., kicks off the festival on Wednesday. The veteran of ITVX will share with viewers the journey of the AVOD streamer in the competitive British market as it nears its one-year anniversary in the territory. To understand how “traditional” broadcasters are evolving in the CTV age, we’ve enlisted the expertise of Henrik Pabst, head of content at ProSiebenSat.1, about acquiring for linear and on-demand and positioning Joyn as a super-streamer. British public-service broadcaster Channel 4 has also been rapidly evolving its model, from having a well-executed YouTube strategy to being innovative about how it funds content. To explore its success with branded entertainment, we’ll hear from Rupinder Downie, content solutions leader, and Joe Churchill, digital commissioning editor.
The Thursday schedule kicks off with a data-driven presentation from Omdia’s media and entertainment team leader, Maria Rua Aguete, highlighting CTV advertising projections and the shoppable TV opportunity. The final two sessions of the festival seek to explore compelling YouTube strategies. In our Channel Surfing panel, we’re enlisting the expertise of VA Media’s Mark Ashbridge, pocket.watch’s Brian C. Janes and Future Today’s Soma Sengupta to discuss curation, refresh rates and analytics. Next, to take a deep dive into the process of going digital-first, Batyr Aidarkhan will give CTV Festival viewers expert insights on how Kedoo Entertainment is producing digital-native content for AVOD platforms.
