Google Play has become a critical platform for video developers to reach a wide and diverse audience and build successful businesses. In this talk, Serge Kassardjian shares some of the trends that Google Play is seeing in content, innovation, discovery, business models, and more. Google Play now also extends beyond phones and tablets to the living room with Android TV. Consumers are finding that their familiar consumer electronics devices, from cable boxes, to media players, to televisions, now give them easy access to great content – expanding the total addressable market for video developers.

Attendees to this session will learn how to use the social platforms to broadcast live video across Periscope, Facebook and YouTube. Learn how to create live streaming video for these platforms; how to shoot live video with solid quality; and how to use their interactive elements. Hear how streaming live increases viewer engagement and learn about additional hardware tools that make for great live streaming broadcasts. Led by Mario Armstrong, NBC TODAY show Digital Lifestyle Contributor, who has done over 600 Periscope broadcasts and uses Facebook live and YouTube live weekly.

These days, organizations are looking to support the complete live and on-demand video use case, including content creation, distribution, management, and reporting. As many of these initiatives are now enterprise-wide, one of the critical questions facing organizations is whether to deploy on-premises, cloud/SAAS, or hybrid. Listen as leading organizations discuss the considerations, benefits, and limitations of each deployment model, why their organization went in a specific direction, and what advice they have for organizations currently evaluating one or more deployment models.

Programming in UHD has gone up tenfold, although only a relatively small amount is still available.  More media enterprises are coming online with UHD broadcasts and standards have arrived to a certain degree, with initial support for content and devices. But we are still far from pervasive UHD-ready facilities and end-to-end workflows. This session will cut through the hype to look at what realistically can be accomplished in UHD today and experiences thus far in deploying UHD. The panelists also will cast an eye to the future, with discussion around topics such as live UHD event production and streaming and the potential for high dynamic range (HDR).

This session explores the current status of HEVC, including an update on the proposed royalty terms and status of High Dynamic Range Specifications, and the status of competitive technologies such as PERSEUS, VP9, and the codec from the Alliance for Open Media. The presentation then examines who’s using HEVC in 2016 and for which type of applications. The session concludes by presenting the key similarities and differences between H.264 and H.265, and techniques for optimizing the quality of HEVC encoding, particularly for those using the x265 codec.

Using operational streaming analytics to monitor and support streaming media deployments is as important as—and in many cases more mission critical than—just deploying an in-player streaming analytics solution. In-player and last mile solutions focus on issues as they affect the customers, which is often too late and does little to improve customer retention and minimise churn. Operational streaming analytics alert content distributors and live streaming solution providers to delivery problems as they happen and provide immediate solution responses, before they become end user issues.

Attend this session for your chance to win: GoPro camera

As a content creator or service provider, value in your application is determined by how quickly and easily the digital assets you create are delivered to your audience. A poor end-user experience causes lost viewers; while spending too much on infrastructure can quickly deplete capital. Learn how to solve these issues with object storage that combines massively scalable, searchable storage with direct HTTP access to radically simplify content storage and delivery infrastructure while reducing costs.

Attend this session for your chance to win: Beats by Dr. Dre wireless headphones

Led by the popularity of video games, virtual reality (VR) will, over the next several years, become a pop cultural phenomenon. It has few rivals in terms of its potential to provide a low-cost, portable, and yet highly immersive experience. Of course, none of this means that VR’s future as a mainstream platform is certain. This session addresses key questions including these: When will there be a meaningful market for VR video? How will marketers and advertisers influence this new medium? How should operators and networks (linear or on-demand) view the potential of VR? To what extent will VR impact the viewing of TV and movies?

Online video distributors facing the challenge of congested mobile networks are all seeking methods for reducing bandwidth while maintaining video quality. This panel discusses real-world methods, techniques, and solutions for moving beyond traditional fixed bit-rate ABR profiles to a content adaptive approach, where the encoding bit-rate is determined by the needs of the video vs. a pre-determined recipe. Come hear innovative thinking that, if adopted, can yield a 20% or potentially higher savings while improving the quality of your video encodes.

In this special session, Dan Rayburn presents a hands-on comparison showcasing the leading streaming devices, and content platforms. Devices from Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Roku, and Sony are compared, along with every major OTT service. You also see a demo of the latest 4K offerings and learn how to stream content from phones and tablets and display it on your TV.

Despite the gains that HEVC/H.265 codec developers continue to make with its efficiency and quality, questions around the readiness of the new technology surface daily. The hype is compelling: better compression and faster/cheaper delivery over lower bitrates. For content distributors delivering content to mobile devices over congested 3G/4G/LTE networks, these traits are highly desirable. In this session, learn how H.265 compression and deployment options can be utilized in typical online streaming workflows, and, more importantly, if your target audiences can benefit. Up-to-date examples, using FFmpeg with x264 and x265 output, are compared for bitrate, compression time, and file size. 4k input and output are also be examined.

Thanks to their experience serving over 1500 production houses as customers in 50 countries, VideoStitch, the pioneer in live VR video production, has developed an integrated solution to capture, stitch, and live stream VR content.

As video production and consumption increases within global enterprises, it has become imperative for IT departments to assess whether or not their networks are adaptable and controllable enough to accommodate the additional load and complexity. This presentation will discuss the latest network delivery technologies available, with a focus on those that best support the future evolution of video within the enterprise, including software-defined enterprise content delivery network (SD ECDN) technology, opportunistic multicast, and Web RTC.

Attend this session for your chance to win: Fitbit Fitness Tracker

HEVC's imminent upsweep has hit a strong stumble as royalty uncertainties worry broadcasters and new gains in AVC efficiency satisfy current needs for OTT and broadcasting applications alike. The shift towards virtualized and software-based real-time encoders and just-in-time transcoders also favors AVC for now. That said, new processors and consumer devices are making big bets on HEVC and there are indeed areas where HEVC can add significant value without significant risk. This presentation will present revised forecasts for HEVC uptake, along with recommendations on choice of codecs and architectures for popular applications, in the context of ongoing trends such as 4K, virtual reality and virtualization.

With the number of OTT providers growing every day, consumers are inundated with choice. With a few clicks of the mouse, they can unsubscribe from one platform and subscribe to another. In order to survive, OTT providers must figure out how to keep their viewers engaged. Is it through unique features? Specialized content? Interactive applications? In this panel, industry experts discuss some of the methods that they use to improve engagement with their content, appeal to different demographics, and, ultimately, drive subscriber loyalty. Join this lively discussion and dig into how to truly make a successful OTT platform.

In attempts to facilitate new modes of teaching, such as online and flipped classrooms, the behind-the-scenes process of building a course has quickly changed. On-demand video portals, recording studios, and web-conference sessions are working their way into many universities. This session explores the workflow universities have developed to deliver their online and flipped classes, along with the tech they use to make it possible. This session highlights what schools have found to be successful, efficient technologies and highlight lessons learned.

Adaptive bitrate algorithms are paramount for delivering content that is adapted to the multitude of devices and network conditions. Striking a balance between achieving the highest quality possible without causing stalls is a complex task that involves estimating unknowns such as bandwidth and CPU stress. Another challenge is that the optimal algorithms can vary greatly depending on bitrates, stream types and whether the content is live or VoD. This presentation is designed to give broadcasters a look into how adaptive bitrate algorithms work and, using examples of open-source players such as (dash.js & hls.js), how to optimize them according to your many business and technical considerations.

VOD is becoming increasingly popular for live sports events. Platforms such as MLB.TV, NFL Now or Eurosport Player enable fans to views games or highlights when they want and where they want. Content providers have to cater for their viewers' needs while still being able to monetize the service. Consumers must be kept interested through a rich, interactive viewing experience, but the platforms and infrastructures that enable the service must also be cost-efficient.

Attend this session for your chance to win: Cards Against Humanity game

In today’s online environment, users expect video to be available on every platform with low startup delay and no buffering. Due to a reliance on older technologies, many companies throughout the video industry are losing subscriptions, losing advertisers and losing money as their users become frustrated by slow video. This presentation will explain how to deliver the best possible user experience, through cutting-edge online video streaming solutions with cloud encoding and video playback with HTML5.

With most major television outlets developing some form of subscription or advertiser supported OTT video application—and countless upstarts developing new programming for the new format—the great unbundling of cable channels has begun. Is it true that the a la carte model is unsustainable? What are the advantages of an unbundled marketplace for content owners and consumers? What are the opportunities for upstarts in an infinite channel marketplace? How will content and marketing evolve in this new paradigm, and what are the principles of next-generation channel bundling and marketing?

Whether you want to broadcast a company-wide meeting or new employee training, streaming it through your internal network saves on time, travel costs and resources. This session looks at real-world architectures being used for distributing streams to all screens within an enterprise setting. Are newer peer-to-peer (p2p) or multicast technologies part of the answer? How do you also reach remote and mobile workers? You’ll walk away with recommendations on achieving the best-possible quality and broadest audience reach, along with best practices and lessons learned. Join us for this information-packed session on building an internal streaming solution to fit your business needs.

Content owners and distributors increasingly focus more around the engagement around content, than pure consumption of any one piece of content. Unique views are no longer the most important metric around media consumption. Increasing engagement with your audience is paramount to the success of the content business. What are big media companies doing to increase engagement from seconds into minutes and hours? What impact does engagement have upon content strategy? Join us for this panel produced by the Television Academy as we discuss and share valuable insights around the business of content engagement.

This panel is presented by the Interactive Media Peer Group of the Television Academy

In this session, Roku provides an overview of its proprietary OS, available on Roku streaming players, Roku TV models, and Roku Powered players. The presenter shares tools and tactics, including an overview of the software developer kit, resources and services available to help manage channels and best practices. The session also discusses advanced topics, including integrated billing and the different ways to monetize content through advertising, on-device promotion, and other marketing opportunities.

Even when your video is perfect, nothing sours a streaming experience more quickly than poor audio. Whether you are running the whole show yourself or receiving an audio feed from the “sound guy,” there are several areas you need to pay attention to when combining audio into your live video stream. Learn about audio signals and how to speak with sound engineers using their language. Demystify elements of audio such as mic/line levels, balanced vs. unbalanced, dBu/dBV/dbFS units, crest factor, headroom, analog vs. digital clipping, and input attenuation/gain/trim so you can produce videos that sound as good as they look.

Attend this session for your chance to win: Epiphan AV.io HD Video Grabber

We’ll start by going from zero to 4K live streaming in minutes. Using Wowza and other technologies, we'll deliver live adaptive bitrate streaming using H.264, H.265, or VP9, record the video for on-demand playback, and deliver the live feed with global any-screen streaming. Then we'll take another few minutes to leverage 4K to create immersive VR/360 experience.

Attend this session for your chance to win: A Wowza Streaming Cloud high-volume plan for one month, including 100 hours of compute time and 5,000 GB of global CDN delivery ($600 value)

The cloud is having an unprecedented impact of the cloud on media and entertainment industry business models. Keith Wymbs, chief marketing officer for Elemental, will share insights about media leaders who are going “all in the cloud”. This keynote will delve into leading edge end-to-end media workflows, the advantages of video processing and delivery from the cloud, and how Amazon’s 2015 acquisition of Elemental represents the future of the media industry.

Last year was filled with announcements of new products and OTT experiences, creating lots of buzz, but how has that momentum continued into 2016? With reorganized options for viewing, consumers have more choices than ever before, some of which allow them to access their favorite content for a fraction of the cost of a cable subscription. This presentation outlines the new technologies leading the way toward the next generation of broadcasting. From integrated channel guides to place-shifting options, there’s never been more ways for consumers to view their favorite television programming without committing to a contract.

In this special session, Dan Rayburn demos the latest connected TV platforms from Samsung, Sony, Sharp, Vizio, LG, and TCL. Attendees see a hands-on overview of what each manufacturer has to offer in terms of the latest content apps, user interfaces, and video quality, and hear how these TV platforms are going to evolve over the coming years.

As the traditional television business and the streaming media business become more and more entwined, both are undergoing significant changes in the way content businesses are created, reach their audiences and make money. Whether you come to this new market from the television world or the digital pure play world, there are things you need to know about the other’s business to be successful. What kind of content and products will work as a streaming TV business? How do you value the direct-to-consumer relationship that traditional TV programmers did not previously have? How do you market and distribute these new services? How does advertising work in streaming television - how many ads can you run and do advertisers see this inventory as TV or digital? This panel produced by the Television Academy will explore those changes and what to expect as this market becomes a thriving business.

This panel is presented by the Interactive Media Peer Group of the Television Academy

Learn how content creators are using live streaming to create new formats, change production approaches and create more engaged interaction from fans. Hear first-hand success stories and pitfalls to avoid from content creators and platform enablers. This session will also discuss how content owners can use live streaming to market their content, find new audiences, create more advocates and increase consumption. Learn which formats are ripe for live streaming and hear about the new opportunities beyond sports, breaking news and music concerts that are taking advantage of live streaming.

Broadcast and cable networks have significant opportunities and challenges associated with OTT. There is an opportunity to expand audiences and monetization, but rights limitations, technical cost and complexity, sales focus/skill, and consumer viewing quality expectations can limit the ability to realize the opportunity. This session will focus on describing the opportunity and approaches to address the challenges.

A behind-the-scenes look at the technology and best practices used to produce a successful live stream from Times Square.