Reed Hastings, Jeffrey Katzenberg Among APOS Speakers

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE: Media Partners Asia has unveiled the confirmed speaker lineup for this year’s edition of the Asia Pacific Video Operators Summit (APOS), taking place in Bali in April, with Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos; DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg, VICE’s Shane Smith and Disney’s Kevin Mayer among those set to participate.

The seventh edition of APOS takes place April 26 to 28 in Bali, Indonesia. The event will explore future growth of the Asia-Pacific video industry, which MPA values at $105 billion. Key themes include the future of content creation and distribution; major players in the battle among streaming platforms; content packaging and pricing; the role of social media; sports on digital platforms; the evolving ad market and capital funding sources. There will also be market focuses on Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and the United States, and case studies on customer acquisition and building OTT ecosystems in emerging markets.

Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, which has stepped up its Asian rollout this year, is participating at APOS, as is the platform’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos. Other U.S.-based execs on the agenda are Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO, co-founder and director of DreamWorks Animation; VICE founder and CEO Shane Smith; Christina Miller, president and general manager of Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang; Kevin Mayer, senior executive VP and chief strategy officer at Disney; and Rick Hess, founder and co-managing partner of investment bank and advisory firm Evolution Media Capital. Endemol Shine Group CEO Sophie Turner Laing is also heading to APOS this year. The lineup also includes executives from several leading pay-TV and telco outfits in the region, among them Astro COO Henry Tan, Optus CEO Allan Lew and PCCW’s Janice Lee.

Taking a close look at developments in China, APOS has lined up a range of speakers from key Chinese media companies, among them Li Ruigang, founding chairman of CMC Capital Partners and CMC Holdings; LeEco’s deputy chairman, Ma Guoli; Shanghai Oriental Pearl Media’s president, Ling Gang; and Yu Hang, VP of strategy at Le Sports. Leading South Korean media companies will also be present, with the lineup set to include CJ E&M’s DJ Lee and JoongAng’s Jeongdo Hong. OTT and digital will also be a key focus, with Fetch TV’s Scott Lorson and Stan’s Mike Sneesby, among others. Plus, Vrse’s Chris Milk and Drew Larner and Jaunt’s Jens Christensen will be on hand to talk about virtual reality.