IBC 2024 Unveils Conference Line-up Of Keynotes And Sessions

IBC2024 has unveiled a world-class mix of cutting-edge keynotes, presentations, panels, and other sessions at this year’s IBC Conference, which shifts to a new location within the RAI Amsterdam when it runs from 13-15 September.

The Conference offers delegates exclusive access to insightful, inspirational, and entertaining content from a diverse array of thought leaders from across the global media, entertainment and technology industry. The sessions will take a deep dive into issues and themes relating to IBC2024’s three core pillars: Transformative Technology, Shifting Business Models, and People and Purpose.

"The specific topics that our visionary line-up of speakers are addressing range from AI and human-machine collaboration to FAST and its impact on monetisation to the fight against fake news and disinformation – plus other disruptive trends that present both new challenges and opportunities," said Sally Watts, Head of Content for IBC. "In addition, the move to a new part of the RAI reflects the fact that the Conference continues to evolve while adding new and excusive elements that elevate delegates’ IBC experience."

Scaling up to three days in 2024 from two last year, the IBC Conference is moving to the Auditorium Complex at the RAI with two theatres and a large, self-contained Delegate Lounge open to all attendees for breaks, happy hours, roundtables and other exclusive events. The Lounge will exclusively offer all delegates complimentary refreshments, dedicated WiFi, a concierge service and semi-private meeting rooms to work, make calls or have quiet chat away from the bustle of the exhibition floor. The Conference will also play host to the IBC Innovation Awards on 15 September.

The Conference kicks off on 12 September with an IBC Welcome Party, to which all delegates are invited, on the 23rd floor of the nearby nhow Amsterdam RAI hotel. Event guests can enjoy breathtaking views of the city as they spend the evening networking with fellow attendees and speakers over drinks and canapes ahead of IBC2024 opening the following day.

The Conference itself will focus on some of the critical trends and technologies redefining the media landscape, beginning with Benedict Evans, the internationally renowned media and technology analyst who has worked with Orange, Channel 4 and NBC Universal, giving a keynote entitled ‘Navigating a changing media landscape: AI and everything else’. Evans will explore how disruption has become the new normal in the media and entertainment (M&E) ecosystem, looking at how immersive technologies, AI, new connectivity, personalised content experiences, and other developments are reshaping M&E.

This opening session will be immediately followed by a series of short fireside chats looking at tech innovation in digital media and broadcast, featuring:
• Grace Boswood, Technology Director at Channel 4
• Cristina Gomila, Managing Director of Content Technology & Innovation at Sky
• Sinead Greenaway, Director of Broadcast and End User Technology at the BBC.
These sessions culminate in a panel featuring all three women, entitled ‘Building the future of tech’.

The second day of the Conference features keynotes offering CTO Perspectives. These two sessions include: Girish Bajaj, Vice President of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios Technology, speaking on 'Building a future ready tech stack for an evolving media landscape'; and Phil Wiser, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Technology Officer at Paramount Global, looking at the winners and losers in the changing broadcast and streaming landscape and what business models will drive long-term monetisation in 'From ideas to impact: Blending technology, creativity and business'. There is also a joint keynote fireside chat entitled 'At the intersection of AI and creativity: Why the future lies in human-machine collaboration' with Sachin Dev Duggal, Founder and Chief Wizard at Builder.ai and Andy Hood, Vice President of Emerging Technologies at WPP. Both sessions will be chaired by Jeremy White, Senior Innovation Editor at WIRED.

Another Day 2 session that promises to be a big Conference draw is 'Olympics 2024: Technology to broadcast beyond expectations', featuring Israel Esteban, Chief Technology Officer at beIN Media Group and James Miles, Senior Director of Live Event Workflows at NBC Sports, discussing the tech used, lessons learned, and what that means for the future of sports broadcasting. The following day, another session on 'Gen AI in Paris 2024 Olympics: New analytics to reach new audiences' features Chris Jackson, Global Head of Digital Data and Analytics, Olympic Channel, discussing the real-time data challenges his group faces and how AI can help.

Other headline speakers at the 2024 IBC Conference include:
Chem Assayag, Senior Vice President of Home Services Innovation at Orange
Kerry Ball, Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer at BritBox International
David Bouchier, Chief TV and Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media O2
Laura Florence, Senior Vice President Global FAST Channels at Fremantle
Kasia Jablonska, Director of Digital and On-Demand at BBC Studios
Manish Karla, Chief Business Officer at Zee5
David Salmon, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of International at Tubi
Jonathan Thompson, Chief Executive Officer at Everyone TV
Joshua Tidsbury, Senior Manager of Technology Evangelism, Worldwide Developer Relations, at Apple

The Conference also offers delegates exclusive access to presentations on the IBC Technical Papers, which showcase world-renowned, peer-reviewed original research delving into solutions to real-world industry challenges. This year’s programme, running throughout the Conference, includes papers on:

Sustainability – energy efficiency, spanning devices to delivery systems
AI in Production – training and targeting
Audio & Speech – advances in production
Provenance – what can we trust?
Streaming – the view from each end
XR – advances in capturing, rendering, and delivering
Advances in Video Coding – encoder optimisations and film grain
5G Case Studies – public network slicing trials and striving for low latency
5G Technology – convergence with broadcast

The Conference will also feature in the Delegate Lounge a roundtable session with Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Research Director at OMDIA, presenting findings on current media and entertainment themes and trends, including the impact of AI, evolving business models, changing consumer viewing habits, the influence of smart TVs, and other M&E developments.

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