The fourth edition of New Europe Market tackled topics about finances, struggles, problems and advances of new technologies.
Here you can read about the first day.
The second day of New Europe Market saw amazing discussions on new technologies and content revivals, a happy SpongeBob mingling with the attendees, a Hendricks Gin Cocktails filled happy hour and an exclusive announcement during the breathtaking party in the old town of Dubrovnik.
NEM 2016’s second day started with a delightful VIACOM Coffee Break, during which NEM’s visitors were able to mingle and take pictures with the real-sized SpongeBob Squarepants, who aroused loads of emotion on the NEM terrace.
A big audience gathered soon after in the panel room while waiting for the panel How Far We Come In OTT Monetizing. Scott Roxborough from The Hollywood Reporter moderated interesting discussion with his guests: Dražen Mavrić (Head of the Management Board, Nova TV Croatia), Nikola Francetić (Head of Group Content, Media and Broadcasting, Telekom Austria Group) and Gerald Biart (Director of Multi-platform Products and Business Development, VIACOM International Media Networks).
Mavrić mentioned that television in Croatia is still the strongest media and that OTT was first brought to Croatia by OYO, a service offered by Nova Group. Obstacles that always exist can be found while launching domestic products and attempt to distribute them on a larger scale. Biart said that VIACOM has a lot of experience an all platforms, since they are actively pursuing different dimensions: from linear TV to OTT. As OTT was described as flexible and convenient, the speakers concluded that OTT will stay the front runner in the future, while one of the politics of OTT platforms should be investing in brands that will provide loyalty for costumers and will be able to target them more successfully.
Is DTH Ready For OTT Challenge? actively dealt with a similar topic given earlier, but focused more on satellites and dishes being prepared for OTT platforms. USA is a leader for OTT traffic, and today’s market is dominated by Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and similar platforms. Chris Dziadul (Co-founder and Owner of Broadband TV News) questioned his guests about the possibilities of bringing OTT through DTH platforms and whether there will be an interest for that.
Stanislav Georgiev, Head of Broadcasting at Telekom Austria Group, said: „Netflix is boring for DTH platforms simply because they stream old series and movies. For example, Pickbox is beautifully compiled library and I congratulate for making available relevant content combined with classics. If something relevant comes with huge library of content, of course we, as operators, would like to deliver it to our clients. But if it is not relevant, there is no need for it.“
Apostolos Triantafyllou, Senior Vice-President of Sales for DACH, CE Europe, Israel, Caucasus and Central Asia of Eutelsat, pointed out that clients often compliment OTT, but today’s trend is mainly focused on better quality. Satellites have a prominent role here, mainly because clients don’t care how they are getting the content – and if they don’t care, then the traffic of content should be based in more reliable and quicker delivery ways. „We are ready to deliver OTT, and only we can do it“, concluded Triantafyllou.
After a coffee break courtesy of NEM’s Diamond Sponsor, Eutelsat, it was time to hear all about the movie that raised a lot of dust during its premiere at Tribeca Film Festival. Houston, We Have A Problem! was directed by Žiga Virc, with the help of Boštjan Virc, CEO of Studio Virc, and picked up great interest from Hanka Kastelicová, executive producer of documentaries from HBO Europe. The main idea was to come up with an interesting story and to deal with questions such as how does the media function, how people deal with different information, but mostly – where is the limit between reality and fiction.
The discussion Pressure Is On was dedicated to keeping up with everything digital. Dave Alpert, TV and Media Leader from BT, moderated the questions and answers posed by the audience. Jeremy Maddocks, regional director for Russia, CIS, CEE and Middle East from Cisco Systems, Irena Battelino, Content Acquisition Manager from Telekom Slovenia Group and Dirk Lüders, Sales and Business Development Director at Accedo.tv, mostly discussed the challenges that the market sets.
Maddocks also shared his impressions on New Europe Market, saying that this is one of the best conferences where people can learn something new while in the same time they can chill by the beautiful seaside and network, proving that NEM is definitely one of the leading conferences in the CEE region and Europe.
The conference part of the day ended with a wonderful intimate discussion Reboot, Remake, Revival – Are They Cluttering the Space For New Ideas? on NEM’s terrace. A gorgeous setup saw BBC presenter Aaron Heslehurst, Peter Nadermann, managing director of Nadcon Film GmbH and Sara Johnson, executive producer and head of co-productions of Keshet UK in a relaxed and very interesting discussion about concepts brought to life. On the example of his popular series „The Bridge“, he explained how intriguing it is to watch the development of the same concept, but in different countries. Nadermann and Johnson welcomed remakes, but only if they are written in the same spirit as the originals.
Temma-X, the Slovenian production experts and NEM 2016 technical partners, hosted a happy hour with a little liquid help from Hendrick’s Gin refreshing cocktails, during which they introduced a virtual reality gadget made for everybody’s pocket.
The day was concluded in the old town, at the beautiful club Lazareti, where VICE not only hosted a party to remember, but also surprised the attendees with exclusive information for the region. Dimitra Kontogianni, Managing Director for VICE Serbia, exclusively announced VICE will soon expand to our region, and will be available in almost all the countries of the Balkan region.
Here you can read about NEM’s third day.