For a long time it looked as if the emerging streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc. would catapult TV broadcasters worldwide into irrelevance. Digital offerings from public and private TV stations were considered dull, ill-considered and barely used. The viewers of the future, it was said, would neither watch linear offerings nor the supposedly outdated content. The demise of classic television seemed only a matter of time.
But now the situation is totally different. In Germany, the media library at arte has long been considered an insider tip, ARD and ZDF have invested heavily in their streaming services, in Europe broadcasters' local services were gaining second place right behind YouTube in terms of use, the BBC is catching up significantly in the UK and streaming offshoot ITVX, which was launched at the end of 2022, recently broke the 2 billion mark in terms of views.
Broadcasters are now consistently putting their content advantage to good use: while Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc. focus primarily on series formats and films (and for some time now also on documentaries), TV stations can offer their audiences a broad mix of content: live events, sports, news, reality, documentaries, feature films, series. And they network their programming in the best possible way, aggregate third-party providers or introduce cross-platform recommendation systems.
Coupled with this, broadcasters also have an economic advantage: the combination of a well-established range of advertising, product placement and partnerships in the classic TV business with subscription models and advertising extensions of streaming.
But the transformation of the old broadcasters into the new world is costly. Above all, in terms of time. Because broadcasters are organisations with structures that have been developed over decades - in terms of technology, content and people. The transformation of value chains, workflows and content offerings is a challenge for all parts of the organization.
Moderator Holger Volland, CEO of the well-known business magazine brand eins, talks about this with Mark Harrison, CEO of the Digital Production Partnership (DPP) and Laura Jenner, Product Lead at ITVX. International developments and challenges inherent in this transformation will be discussed, as well as the actual transformation process using the example of ITV / ITVX.
Mark Harrison is one of the world's leading experts on the TV and streaming industry, and the organisation he leads, DPP, brings together over 400 broadcasters, streaming platforms, service providers and producers from Europe and the USA.
Laura Jenner is Director of Product for the content supply division at ITVX. Her product teams focus on transforming the supply chain of a multi-faceted company that is a producer, broadcaster, streamer and distribution organisation through
systemisation, automation and cloud-based infrastructure.