M*A*S*H and the wonders of NAB 2019

Written by Paul Whybrow

For me the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show kicked off in a fantastic way as I watched a hero of mine be recognised with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the American broadcast industry.

Alan Alda, in case you are not aware, is a six time Emmy Award winning actor, who is best  known for his role of Hawkeye in the 11 year hit of M*A*S*H set in the Korean War. The final episode could even rival the final of Game of Thrones. In the US alone it was estimated that 77% of TV viewers watched the final episode as it went live to air. An amazing record that would be very hard to beat now.

As a veteran of the industry he had some simple thoughts. Why it is that “storytelling syncs up the power of communication and listening” and that now so many of us are watching great storytelling as individuals in different rooms “there is something missing when we are not watching with companions”.

He now does his own regular podcast  Clear and Vivid where he interviews guests on the role of communication and conversation.

With five days of immersion into the technology, creativity, and business and personal connections of the broadcast and entertainment industry, there was plenty of innovation, trends and insights to get myself across.

So, I have decided to share my personal observations in three simple buckets: what I learnt, what I saw, and finally, what I didn’t see.

What I learnt

Most of what I learnt was gained at the excellent Devoncroft Executive Summitheld on the eve of the main show, which has a reputation as the one place executives and technologists all gather to get the inside story on where business innovation is heading.

 

• Broadcasters are consolidating and in an ocean of debt – the rate of consolidation of broadcasters is still continuing at a strong pace, as entertainment businesses are also expanding their focus with their OTT offerings. The examples of Comcast purchasing SKY UK, AT&T with Time Warner, UK TV and Discovery partnership and the Fox Disney merger are beacons of what we have seen in a number of local markets too. The mergers though are not always built on cash-rich purchasers but on debt-driven investment. The warning here is that these new entities could cause cash flow challenges if the mergers don’t deliver highly profitable outcomes.

 

• OTT is finding audiences but not profit – As the analysts point out, there is plenty of evidence of OTT expanding rapidly. There is a lot of focus on OTT products at the NAB show. Audiences and content investment are still expanding in both local and global markets and the competition is certainly hotting up globally with entertainment giants like Disney+ about to enter the crowded market. The only major speed hump is that although investments and audiences are there, profits are certainly not. Many broadcasters small and large alike are finding out what print publishers discovered nearly 20 years ago, and that is that print dollars turned horribly into digital cents. That economic reality has challenged and can be said to have killed the print industry.

         Is the same thing going to happen to the broadcast industry with OTT?

 

• Broadcasters love building in-house – even if that doesn’t make sense now – There is strong evidence that the media and entertainment still loves building technology and systems in-house, rather than either outsourcing to specialists or integrators or buying products already built. It may be the natural creative culture that drives this desire however the practicalities are that it fosters a higher cost and more specialist technology framework that the industry economics just may not be able to afford anymore.

 

• IP is winning the systems workflow game – The architecture of IP connectivity throughout the broadcast chain is certainly becoming more accepted as the default going forward, however the jury is still out on whether there is actually a practical cost saving with some estimates suggesting IP can be up to 25% more expensive. There were some great examples of where IP is being integrated heavily into landmark projects like Sweden’s svt remote production with over 70 cameras covering a key skiing event all run out of Stockholm, or Disney shifting to cloud-based playout with master controls moving from tv operation centres to data centres.

 

• Micro services are desired even if integration and system integrators are alien – Talking to broadcasters there is certainly a buzz around creating a much more flexible way that all the technology services are brought together along with a strong focus on having many micro services that can be plugged in and out as required. On the practical side it still seems that many people are not using any type of ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) to facilitate this or are working with the many largescale system integrator companies that manage this as second nature.

 

• Relationships are misunderstood by outsiders – One of the key analysts at the Devoncroft conference made a really insightful observation of the way that business is done in this industry and the role of relationships. His point is that some of the larger technology service or product companies who are not intimate in the industry misunderstand how important the shared industry culture, knowledge, trust and relationships are in doing business in the sector. His advice is “don’t be arrogant as a supplier – size of business or experience elsewhere count less than industry-specific

 

What I saw

This year, as for all years, there were the buzz word areas that the NAB show organisers saw as the big-ticket industry talking points.

Some of those were strongly in evidence.

• Cloud – the shift to cloud services seemed to be mentioned on pretty much every stand and a strong topic of conversation on migration practicalities.

 

• Streaming – broadcasters seem to be fully embracing streaming as a core output along with all the other core Free to Air or satellite/cable standards.

 

• AI (Artificial intelligence) – is being promoted heavily although there still seems to be confusion on how machine learning and AI will really be used most effectively in the broadcast business chain.

 

• Engineering and IT are still yet to blend seamlessly – the practical debate is whether it is easier to retrain IT people into broadcast skills or broadcast engineers into broadcast knowledge. Either way the debate seems to show the blending is starting to occur, however many teams are still operationally or structurally separate, which is reducing the effects of the blending collaboration and benefits.

 

• esports is attracting many fans – esports popped up in several places at the show including a dedicated zone. It is fair to say that this seems to be a form of entertainment continuingly building industry interest.

What I didn’t see

There were a few areas that seemed not to be as much in evidence as I may have expected.

• 5G ready to make big waves – Certainly there is discussion on how 5G could revolutionise the industry, especially in sports and news production. At the moment though there seems less in the practical roll out.

 

• Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence at all! – I was pretty confident that immersive experiences would find strong traction in the entertainment space over time. In the marketplace the fizz has certainly arrived with no dedicated area for VR and AR at the show and very little demonstration of these technologies that I could see.

 

• Creativity over business efficiency – A personal observation is that at this show there seemed to be an overwhelming conversation about how the technology could be used to drive efficiency and so reduce costs. This to me was a big contrast to the themes over recent years of focus on improving the experience for viewers, whether it was more HD, 4K or immersive experiences. This is maybe simply a reflection of the priorities of survival and where the industry is at the moment.

 

Overall, there clearly is still a lot of change to work itself through the industry.

As one observer put it. “Media companies are used to being the big fish in their industry pool. The reality is that for technology companies that are increasingly getting involved in the broadcast sphere, media companies are actually relatively small business for themand that “the tv consumers are running as fast as Olympic sprinters in expectation for change and the industry is evolving at the pace of a jogger.”

I am certainly looking forward to what emerges at the next big global showcase which is at the IBC show in Amsterdam in early September – can’t wait!

 

For more on NAB 2019 from  take a read The simple survival guide to NAB 2019 in Las Vegas.

Paul Whybrow is the Entertainment and Media Transformation lead for Tech Mahindrain Australia and New Zealand.   He is the Managing Director and Creative Collaborator for Bodyboard Immersive Experiences. A boutique business with access to award winning creative, broadcast and immersive experience skills and consulting.  Our purpose is to be the creative connector for imagining the possibilities and crafting the practical, so you can share passionate storytelling.