Looking Ahead on Tomorrow’s Tech Advancements

In a previous article I asked industry experts to recall their most amazing technological advancements from their early careers. Now I ask them to look forward and give me their best technological advancement predictions for 2018. My prediction is that more collaboration between companies will result in a more standardized system for buying, selling and tracking media. I also see A.I. playing a greater role in establishing behavioral patterns that can be used to craft content and target advertising. 

Jane Clarke, CEO, Managing Director, CIMM: In 2018, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers will launch an open standard audio watermark that can embed content and ad identifiers from EIDR and Ad-ID, along with time stamps and station identifiers.  This will hopefully bring innovation to automating TV workflows, and in the ability to track playout and measure audiences in real time!  

Sheryl Feldinger, Media Consultant: I'm fortunate to work with some tech-forward companies, so I see a lot of early adopter behavior at large organizations. In 2018, I think more companies will take a page from the social media playbook and embrace video chat in the work place. It works great, and does not require expensive equipment. The more traditional media companies are still a bit camera shy, but I hope that changes because video chat is as close as you can get to F2F meetings without leaving your time zone.

Dave Morgan, CEO and Founder, Simulmedia: The biggest technological advancement in 2018 won't be a new technology per se, but better utilization of technology that we already have. In 2018, the biggest advancement will be on the technology user side. Every day, more and more people working in the media industry are learning how to better exploit technology, whether it is the cloud or machine learning or predictive analytics. The biggest technological impacts this year will be driven by people, not some new code.

Brad Adgate, Independent Media Researcher:  I think the use of Artificial Intelligence to help manage the amount of data that are being used to make media recommendations will gain traction in 2018 and in the years ahead.

Caroline Horner, Co-Founder, Spicy Tequila: In 2018 it will be 1) Addressable hits scale with advancement from Spectrum, Comcast, OTT/Smart TVs, and 5G and ATSC 3.0.  And other intermediaries. 2) Blockchain technologies prove capable of resolving ID across distribution points. 3) MTA and AI optimize performance in tighter and more responsive cycles. And in 2019 I believe that it will be the re-emergence of the creative role in ad effectiveness.

Mitch Oscar, Advanced TV Strategist, USIM:  I predict that we will still be grappling with the technology and its functionality. We can now fast forward but what if the technology was able to extract the commercials so if I watch in the recorded mode I did not even have to fast forward. Some services are offering that capability now with a new setting. I see that as a real concern going forward. I also believe that addressability was introduced in 1996 and it is going to happen any day now. 

Arlene Manos, President Emeritus, AMC Networks: Greater expansion of OTT, and increased social media application.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com