Marco Tinnirello, the new Chief Executive of Eurovision Media Services, the business arm of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), speaks about his vision for the organisation and his thoughts on the media industry today.
What first attracted me to Eurovision Media Services (EMS) was its reputation.
The media industry continues to see an unprecedented amount of change and the EMS’ track record for seamlessly delivering more than 100,000 hours of high-profile sport, news and entertainment events around the world each year is exceptional.
Secondly, as part of the EBU, EMS has a unique position on the market. With our understanding and access to the largest association of public service media organisations, we are able to develop better media services that meet the needs of such organisations. Finally, it was the team. You simply can’t deliver top quality services time and time again without having a great team with great skills.
Industry challenges
For major events, like the inaugural European Championships that took place in August this year, getting relevant content to the right audience at the right time on the right channel represents a major challenge for rightsholders.
As audiences take more control of their content with on-demand and on-the-go services, companies with the best user experience often take the lead. We help media organisations to successfully deliver their content strategies by providing tools and solutions that help them to personalise, maximise reach and attract new audiences.
“Media organisations will continue to have to look for innovative, transparent and streamlined ways to get their content where it’s needed”
The role of content owners, such as sports federations and event organisers, is also changing. In addition to working with rightsholders, they are now expected to interact directly with the fans and develop closer relationships with athletes and sponsors. This allows them to expose their events to a much wider audience but adds a layer of complexity since each of these stakeholders need access to the content but have different priorities.
Our goal is to support content owners with a one-stop shop solution – providing a full range of media services, from production/host broadcasting to distribution, postproduction and archiving, including media asset management and enrichment, from and to any platform.
Over the next year, my main priority is to focus on our portfolio. EMS provides a wide range of services, some of them very complex and technical, so it is extremely important that clients understand how each of our services help meet their needs.
We’re also broadening our offering, especially in the area of digital broadcast services and solutions. By continuing to refine our portfolio and communicate this to the market, we will better position ourselves for our existing clients and attract new clients.
Finally, I want people – both inside and outside the organisation – to see us as the best media service provider. I like to aim high and exceed expectations. Striving to be the best is rewarding for our team and achieving this gives our clients the confidence that they’re selecting a provider they can trust with their content.
IBC plans
It’s important for sports federations and event organisers to provide a more personalised experience for their audiences, no matter where they are in the world, which language or device they use. Until now, the only way to achieve some level of personalisation of an event distributed from the venue by satellite was to produce several signal versions and transport them separately to rightsholders – a costly and complex operation.
Our latest remote graphics service allows our clients to adapt the graphical overlays for different geographies to get closer to their key audiences and maximise the event value for their sponsors and partners. I invite you to stop by our demo at IBC (Stand 10.F20) to learn more and meet the team.
The outlook for the next year is clear: the digital train isn’t stopping any time soon. We’re going to see an increased interest from content owners in how to get their content to digital audiences as well as continuing to deliver their traditional offerings.
Media organisations will continue to have to look for innovative, transparent and streamlined ways to get their content where it’s needed. The need for trusted media service providers who can deliver this is going to become critical for success. And we’ll be there to make it happen.
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