During two mid-November days in London, the media industry’s international community liaison DPP hosted its yearly Leaders’ Briefing.

Known for elite networking, and for giving attendees insight into the foremost thoughts and concerns of media companies’ top decision makers, the event shared key ideas that will shape the industry next year and beyond.

Two members of Unified Streaming’s team attended the DPP Leaders’ Briefing 2024: Product Marketing Manager Ksenia Rabinovich, and Streaming Solutions Manager Valentijn Siebrands.

The most high-level, general takeaway (no real surprises here) seems to be that the industry is changing, quickly. Margins are thin and getting thinner. No matter how difficult the transition may be, the old way of doing things is dying, and giving way to the new.

Shift in ad spending

According to one presentation at the Leaders’ Briefing, advertising spend has not see-sawed from broadcast to online and back again. It has only continued to tilt precipitously: from linear TV toward the new online, OTT world.

In 2018, broadcasters received $138.72 billion, or 24% of global advertising’s budget, but online received twice that, or 48%. In 2025 only $141.7 billion of the ad spend, or 13% of the total, will be allocated to broadcasters. Online will receive the lion’s share, 70%. So broadcasters have watched as their ad revenues, in short order, have been chopped almost in half.

Corrected for inflation, or putting 2025 dollars on par with stronger 2018 dollars, the budget for advertising is seen dropping from $138.72 billion in 2018 to $99.19 billion in 2025. This means that, in seven years, the advertising revenue for linear TV will have fallen nearly 29%. (Numbers in dollars are according to Siebrands’ research.)

What’s the upshot of the downturn in ad spend? New changes coming down the pike will need to be strictly efficient. To cover deficits, fresh revenue streams will be absolutely necessary.

Action list for vendors

Top companies report that minding and ensuring the cost usefulness of things, or value-proofing, concerns them. In order to secure contracts, their mandate is to guarantee that all solutions and components demonstrate measurable value and ROI (return on investment). This requirement is especially important in non-OTT spaces.

As regards AI integration, companies wish to invest in data-driven AI solutions that can address broadcasters’ efficiency challenges, while educating clients about the importance of quality data collection.

Simplification is in order. Products being designed should be scalable, intuitive, and comprehensive so that they can ease widespread adoption, particularly products for OTT workflows and live event scaling.

Companies need to develop tools that enhance rich metadata generation and management to support broadcasters’ online revenue streams.

By anticipating shifts in broadcaster priorities, and offering consultative transformation support to aid workforce adaptation, organizations may smoothen the transition from traditional operations to OTT-focused operations.
‍
Scalability and the capability to serve millions of viewers at once remain a critical growth area for OTT broadcasters. Companies, then, should focus on solutions that address this area, especially for live sports.

Promoting localized solutions for efficient onboarding and use can help fill language and literacy gaps in workforce training.

Trending at the top

1. The industry understands the necessity of changes.

2. CTO can now stand for Chief Transformation Officer, a role managing both the transformation of technology, and of people.

3. Searching for new niches, for new fandoms, is quite effective.

4. Companies are careful with spending. Counting costs (CapEx and OpEx) commands the attention of top brass.

Buzzwords from bosses

Understanding what’s now lighting up the industry can be achieved just by looking at current jargon.

Here are some buzzwords that got bandied about at DPP Leaders’ Briefing, categorized for your convenience.

• Technology and innovation challenges: transformation, fighting legacy, efficiency, innovation, quick wins, end-to-end workflows
• Meeting customer needs: personalization, customer data, quality of experience
• Organizational and cultural transformation: agility, fighting resistance to change, cross-functional teams, educating teams, learning new skills
• Costs and profit: spending less, quick ROI, CapEx vs OpEx, ​“saving money for viewers” mindset
• AI: practical approach, useful for small projects and PoCs (Proof of Concepts), can assist people with smaller tasks

Thoughts from Unified attendees

Ksenia has attended the DPP conference two years in a row.

​“While last year’s execs discussed embracing technology and innovation, this year’s focus was on … people. It’s normal, and very human, to fear change and to want to maintain the status quo. We worry that changes will make our work less effective. Or make us redundant due to new technology. So not only are a CTO’s technical skills important, but their managerial and personal qualities are key, too. Having good partners to support the changes is vital as well,” Ksenia said.

Industry vet Siebrands commented, ​“The future of broadcasting lies in bold operating model transformation, driven by a shift to OpEx through pay-as-you-go cloud services. Constrained budgets are pushing broadcasters to prioritize efficiency over growth, while also placing increasing emphasis on acquiring fresh knowledge and talent from other domains. Overcoming resistance to change and bringing in fresh perspectives from outside the industry, e.g. AI will be crucial for adapting to an even more OTT-driven future, where the right people and expertise are key to navigating this transformation.“

The DPP Leaders’ Briefing 2024, the 9^th annual, blended the communities of both vendors and content providers, and took place in person only. Over 30 media organizations’ senior execs participated. For attendees from DPP member companies, the gathering was free to attend.