November has always been a big month in the conference circuit, and over the past several years, it has also turned into a big month for the online video industry. With major conference events like Streaming Media West, with the Online Video Platform Summit, and NewTeeVee Live, all taking place within the first two weeks of the month, these annual events have really put the "OV" in November.
Streaming Media West has been a mainstay event for me for over the last 10 years, and has been held in a number of venues in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, and this year it returned to Los Angeles on November 2-3. I've been a presenter, moderator and panel session organizer at Streaming Media West, and for the second year in a row, I've co-chaired the Online Video Platform Summit with Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen.
Also, for the second year in a row, I made it to GigOm's NewTeeVee Live event in San Francisco, on November 10. Last year, I moderated an analytics panel at NewTeeVee Live, and this year I went as a member of the press to cover the event.While Streaming Media West and NewTeeVee Live bring together much of the same community, to discuss similar topics and technology, the events are actually quite different.
First off, Streaming Media West is a multi-day, multi-track conference and exhibition, with an additional day of pre-conference how-to workshops on the latest streaming formats led by industry experts like Jan Ozer, Kevin Towes, Chris Knowlton. Attendance at Streaming Media West was more than 2,500 last year, and the show covers a wide spectrum of topics about the online video ecosystem from content creation and management, to monetization and distribution online video business models and technology. More than 100 speakers and 30 sessions are part of the main conference, and another 36 more speakers and 8 sessions for the Online Video Platform Summit. Streaming Media West also celebrates the industry each year with its own people's choice awards with its annual Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards.
According to Streaming Media conference chairman Dan Rayburn, this year's conference was a huge success, and while the numbers aren't in yet, he says that, "the number of paid conference attendees jumped by the largest number we've seen to date and part of that clearly had to do with moving the show to LA, which allowed for a lot more participation by local executives in the area from media, entertainment, broadcast and enterprise companies."
This year, as well as last year, I didn't get much time to attend Streaming Media West conference sessions or keynotes, and spent most of time at the Online Video Platform Summit, which is a featured event at Streaming Media West that focuses on the tools and techniques of online video publishing. But I did attend the Google TV keynote by Rishi Chandra, who like a number of other speakers at Streaming Media West also spoke at NewTeeVee Live the following week. I conducted quite a few interviews at both Streaming Media West and NewTeeVee Live, which I'll be posting in the coming weeks and months (stay tuned for details.) Also, in the coming weeks, videos from the keynotes, and conference sessions will be available at: Conference Videos - StreamingMedia.com, and you can download the Streaming Media West Archived Presentations here: Streaming Media West 2010.
Dan Rayburn highlighted some of the major news items coming out of Streaming Media West here, and more coverage is on Streamingmedia.com. You can also, check out this interesting post by @bruce_alfred who attended both Streaming Media West and the Online Video Platform Summit who provided some insightful analysis of the events and our "complex" and "nascent" space: The Two Words I Heard Most At Streaming Media West & Online Video Platform Summit 2010
In contrast to Streaming Media West, NewTeeVee Live is a much smaller, more intimate gathering of 400 attendees, speakers and exhibiters at UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center. It's a single-day, single stage event that is both about technology and content presented as a tightly timed event with keynotes, fireside chats and presentations by more than 40 speakers on stage or in workshops. According to GigOm, "NewTeeVee Live, now in its fourth year, is the online video industry’s flagship event. Uniquely positioned with a strong editorial heritage, top-tier speakers and unparalleled atmosphere, NewTeeVee Live represents a must-attend event for all participants in the digital video industry."
A big difference between Streaming Media West and NewTeeVee Live is that NewTeeVee Live is more about the future of television. Since the program is only a single day, most of the speakers get only 10-20 minutes each, so you don't get that deep dive or intense information overload like other conferences. NewTeeVee Live is also available as a live webcast, with archives of the event also available online soon after.Some of the key topics covered this year included: cord cutting, HD streaming, mobile video, Google TV, multi-platform and transmedia storytelling, open source video and 3-D video. Like Streaming Media, the speakers at NewTeeVee Live include a who's who in online video, with a real focus on the content business and how technology is shaping it.
One of the most talked about speakers was Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, who presented the morning keynote and also sat down with Om Malik for a fireside chat and answered questions from the audience. In his keynote, Kilar shared that his company will make more than $240 million in revenue in 2010, which is more than double what Hulu generated in 2009, which was $108 million. Additionally, Hulu's users grew to 30 million in October 2010, and watched 260 million content streams along with 800 million ad streams during that same month. Hulu's leading source of revenue is from advertsining, and will be experimenting with more personalized advertising models that will target male and female viewers and allow them to swap out ads that are more relevant to them. Watch the keynote below and read Janko Roettgers' write up on Kilar's keynote here. Also, for more about NewTeeVee Live, check out NewTeeVee Live 2010 in the News! and watch more videos at the NewTeeVee Live 2010 Video Archive.
gigaomtv on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free
Overall, Streaming Media conferences and NewTeeVee Live are really great shows to attend, and participate in, if you have the opportunity to do so. You can see many familiar faces, meet new friends and colleagues, hear from the shakers and movers in the industry about what's the latest and greatest technology, what's trending, what's the next big thing. I was happy to meet a many new friends at both events and I look forward to seeing you all again next time!
A quick shout-out to my friends at Front Porch Digital, Unicorn Media, Kaltura, @zbutcher, @unickow, @markrrobertson for the great time at Streaming Media West! My thanks as well to my co-chair Eric Schumacher Rasmussen and friends who attended and presented at the Online Video Platform Summit. Also, thanks to Erin McMahon Lyman at Magnify Communications and the folks at GigaOm for a great NewTeeVee Live event!
Stay tuned for upcoming interviews and analysis from these events.
