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The enforced cancellation of trade shows put the entire sector into an existential spin from which it has not recovered. Major fairs like CES, NAB and ISE earlier this year were all significantly down on attendance and IBC will be no different.
But while there is genuine excitement about the return to Amsterdam in IBC’s regular September slot after three years absence, it’s fair to say the event itself has been through the wringer. Much of the debate at IBC 2022 will be about the show’s own future.
This is in no small part due to the last-minute abort of the already twice postponed show last December. Organisers were stung by the criticism that came its way from exhibitors exasperated by poor communication and angry that, in effect, they’d lost their deposit.
To recap, on November 16, 2021, IBC confirmed that its December event was going ahead only to reverse the decision a week later. Among losses for some exhibitors was the cost of shipping gear to Europe from the UK (or overseas).
IBC issued a mea culpa. “This late cancellation led to exhibitors incurring unrecoverable costs.”
Its statement continued, “It has become clear that IBC’s actions and position did not resonate with the industry, especially exhibitors. Perhaps the only mitigation worth repeating is the speed of the deterioration of the macro situation.”
Based on feedback from the IABM and other exhibitors IBC says it “recognises the emotional and financial pain the circumstances of 2021 created. There is a strong feeling that IBC’s communications and approach were detached from exhibitor sentiment, and we are extremely sorry about this.”
It even acknowledges, that the “by the industry, for the industry” mantra has become tarnished.
That is a pretty remarkable volte face, commendable in its candidness and published in full on its website. But the fallout goes further and impacts on a cut-down IBC 2022.
“There is an opportunity to ‘reimagine IBC’ not only for an adjusted Covid era, but also to address environmental concerns and drive more diversity in the media technology industry,” is one way of saying IBC 2022 will be a lot smaller.
At the start of this year it set up a new advisory group led by a trio of senior industry marketers to review its processes and communications plan. The group includes Nicolas Bourdon, Chief Marketing Officer, EVS; Grass Valley’s CMO Neil Maycock and Ciaran Doran, Director of Marketing at Rohde & Schwarz.
Its role is to ensure that IBC “remains in touch and is empathetic with” the market situation. This has led to an overhaul of the refund policy for exhibitors “seen to be harsh and needs reconsideration” and a slashing of many regular IBC events so that IBC can be run more cost effectively.
Gone is the set of cinema related technology and craft sessions known as the Big Screen. Gone too a screening of blockbuster movies in the main auditorium which takes some of the Hollywood sheen out of attendance.
More sparkle goes with the axing of the ‘red carpet’ IBC Awards Ceremony. The Awards themselves stay but will now be announced virtually in what is euphemistically called “a unique, digital-first online presentation.”
Also out, the Future Zone – always one of the more intriguing areas of the show not least in profiling the work of NHK. The Japanese broadcaster can now be found in Hall 10.
Gone is the frankly outdated Companions Programme which paid for spouses to enjoy canal trips. There’s no return for the eSports Showcase in which pro ESL teams played each other or the Next Gen Hub, both 2019 initiatives.
More significantly, the Conference has been pruned to just two days but remains a paid-for option (EUR600). IBC’s digital activities have also been reviewed.
As a result of this so called “back to basics” approach IBC says it is able to significantly enhance its Ts&Cs should the show be cancelled again.
You can expect a greater focus this year on the work of the event’s owners IABM, IEEE, IET, Royal Television Society, SCTE and SMPTE. This includes a wide range of thought-leadership, spanning the development of technical standards, training, advocacy through to diversity and inclusion. All laudable efforts but not exactly worth a trip away from home on its own. Nonetheless, these bodies (who fund IBC after all) have taken the opportunity to wrest back control from the razzamatazz of recent IBCs.
“The value the IBC owners derive from IBC and the massive contribution these organisations make to the industry need to be brought centre stage,” IBC states. “[We are] aware that all this good work is not always visible and so will be promoting this more widely in the future.”
IBC expects around 1,000 exhibitors for 2022, some 700 down on the 2019 peak, with around 35,000 visitors, down from 55,000 at peak. Those soft figures are to be expected in a year in which travel restrictions in some countries are only just lifting and the threat of Covid remains.
“It isn’t so much a product supermarket anymore, where people would walk around and touch and feel the kit,” said Michael Crimp, IBC’s Chief Executive Officer in a press conference. “There’s still a large element of that, but there’s an emerging element of people wanting to tell the story.”
At this stage, there appears no stardust booking of an Andy Serkis, Ang Lee or a James Cameron but there is Studio commitment in the form of senior executives on the technical side. Marvel Studios (Eddie Drake, Head of Technology), Paramount Global (Anthony Guarino, EVP, Worldwide Technical Operations); Universal Pictures (Michael Wise, SVP and CTO); Warner Bros. Discovery (Renard Jenkins, SVP, Production Integration and Creative Technology Services) and Sony Pictures (Bill Baggelaar, EVP / CTO) will all speak about efforts to move Hollywood production to the cloud in an initiative led by MovieLabs, the technology joint venture funded by the Studios.
Crimp explained the decision to divide the two days of paid for conference program, “which has been curated very carefully for those who want it”, from another two days of free sessions about technology narratives, or key issues that IBC believes are important, like sustainability and diversity, “that] we need to develop and may not attract paying customers.”
Other conference highlights include an outline of ITV’s plans to “supercharge” streaming, by Deep Bagchee, ITV’s Chief Product Officer plus an inevitable check on the Metaverse, what it is and what it means to M&E led by Lewis Smithingham of digital marketers Media Monks.
When it comes to macro themes reflected at the show arguably the quest for efficiency at scale comes top of the list. Huge advances in hybrid-cloud solutions have taken place over the last two years, taking broadcast into a new technological era. As OTT continues to dominate growth markets and linear audiences hold steady, broadcasters are experimenting with cloud-based playout, offering them flexibility to scale their distribution while minimising resource.
Another titanic area of innovation, catalysed by work-from-home demands, is remote access to workflows across the content supply chain.
Future of trade shows
The show has received a boost in the return of one major exhibitor that had originally announced that it would not exhibit at any live shows in 2022. Avid is back albeit with a much smaller footprint than before – a strategy that is likely to be replicated by vendors going forward. Such a move has been in the works for a while as more and more technology moves away from big blocks of hardware toward software, systems and services.
“The pandemic forever changed our marketing mix,” Avid president/CEO Jeff Rosica explained in an IBC and IABM interview. “Trade shows are an important part of what we're doing but we really learned the value of digital marketing content with many more virtual events because you can get to many more people around the world. We've learned that that's served us well. But obviously, things evolve as the market comes back to whatever that ‘new normal’ is. So I guess it's going to be a mix going forward.”
IBC itself says it is engaging with exhibitors through 2022 to explore “the future shape of trade shows in our industry”.
Soho in the Dam
So, what can we look forward to at the RAI? It’s not all doom and gloom. For a start, it is in Amsterdam, always one of the show’s prize assets.
“I’m looking forward to meeting colleagues in person again in Amsterdam,” says Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Research Director, Omdia.
“The thing I’m most looking forward to is being in Amsterdam,” says Paul Robinson, a member of IBC’s content steering group. “Not going to the coffee shops but going to the RAI.”
Overwhelmingly people are keen to get together and network, a facility at which IBC and Amsterdam does excel. As Jose Puga, CEO of Imaginario.ai puts it, “Being in front of a zoom screen for so long can affect your mind.”
“For the first time we’re back after the pandemic and that of itself is going to make a great IBC where the ideas begin to flow,” says Sandy MacIntyre, former AP vice president.
Morwen Williams, Director of UK Operations at BBC News concurs, “Shows like IBC are about being inspired by different things, knowing what I don’t know. It’s about going around and seeing what could work for me.”
Joe Newcombe, Media Technologist at Microsoft has a straightforward reason to return. “The beach, obviously,” he says, in reference to the canal-side bar which thankfully remains in place.
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