When Tommy Flanagan at Faultline first mentioned an event in Bristol, the team at Radical Moves was a little excited. First of all, it promised to be a great event packed with interesting discussions. And second because we’re based in Wales and it’s just across the border, so it was just a relatively short drive. Since the first event it’s getting bigger and better each time, and the latest edition was no exception.
Touted as the big wrap-up and with an impressive line-up of panels, plus the promise of pizza, I set off for Bristol for the third edition. This was also the first to have awards and with two clients shortlisted in two categories, I was also excited to see if we might take home a win for one or other of them.
The panels were extremely interesting and covered some important topics, both in terms of talent and diversity and in terms of recent and upcoming trends. Here are my key takeaways:
Helen Weedon
Managing Director, Radical Moves Ltd
Attracting talent requires showcasing the potential
Talent acquisition is something that has been discussed a great deal. You only have to look around any broadcast conference to realise that we have an ageing industry and a lack of young talent bringing fresh ideas. And yet how can we stand out against other industries in an increasingly competitive landscape? One thing that was clear is that the range of skills we need in this industry has shifted a lot in recent years. It is also huge and varied. This presents a lot of opportunity to potential employees in what we all know to be an interesting and exciting industry. Attracting the right talent therefore relies on being able to showcase the opportunities available, something that was discussed a lot during the panel.
We have a long way to go to make the industry more diverse
Our industry is still lacking in diversity, however it does appear that some of the industry-wide initiatives and general awareness are starting to have an impact. Even just having an open discussion at event like this is a huge step forward. Some of the barriers to diversity are things that perhaps are not obvious to many of us. For example, the panel talked about how making it the norm to include pronouns on badges at events or in email signatures can be important for ensuring inclusion and acceptance for everyone. They also discussed how something as simple as choosing the right language for job ads can be important to ensuring it resonates with a more diverse talent pool.
As a woman in the media and entertainment industry, I of course feel it is important to enable more women to enter, and thrive in, this industry. However, I personally feel that whilst we have a lot of initiatives for women, I am not seeing so many for other minority groups. The only one I’m aware of is the Global Media and Entertainment Talent Manifesto which has launched mentoring for neurodivergent people. I personally would love to see some of the existing groups widening their reach to help other minority groups, but it was refreshing either way to see a truly diverse panel that talked about other aspects, including supporting women in the industry.
AI will become mainstream, but not for everything
Unsurprisingly, AI made an appearance and in several threads. For example, there is a rising use of AI to write CVs. It is easily spotted and while it doesn’t mean a candidate would be discounted, it does make the recruiter’s life harder, having to delve further to understand if the person does indeed possess the necessary skills. When asked about AI for screening the CVs, the panel was much less enthusiastic, stressing the importance of keeping the recruitment process as human as possible.
However, when it comes to streamlining media workflows and creating efficiencies, AI has a lot of potential. Jacob Arends at Bitmovin pointed out that many of his customers are starting to consider AI applications and are keen to know that vendors are ready to support that. Bitmovin has launched a number of AI-related updates recently, including AI Contextual Advertising, which extracts the relevant characteristics of every video scene and analyzes viewer engagement.
Deepali Narsiker from Women in Streaming Media, believes that AI will be particularly valuable for data curation and enhancing the user experience for faster globalisation and personalisation. Alexandre Paugam from Harmonic, even believes AI generated content will become mainstream though it was met with some disagreement from others in the room.
M&E continues to innovate
The OTT trends panel was full of discussion around numerous trends, from how do we reduce latency, the transition back to some on-premise workflows, and enhancing user experiences with more interactivity. At the same time, the panel think we will see a rise in super aggregators and innovation around both ad technology and in-car experiences. With such a wide variety of trends and predictions, it is clear the industry is undergoing massive transformations and innovating to recover and thrive following the last few years of economic uncertainty.
Gearing up for the next edition!
Another great event from 5V Video and Faultline, made all the better thanks to the very talented Bleuenn Le Goffic at Accedo scooping the “woman behind the screen” award. I am looking forward to the next edition!
